My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am writing to you with great sadness. As all of you know, yesterday Dr. George Tiller was assassinated in the narthex of Reformation Lutheran Church. I feel the need to write to you to explain how we as Christians and as Episcopalians are called to respond.
The greatest gift of the Episcopal Church is our ability to disagree, to think and to dialogue within the context of our faith. We are a church where you can bring your questions, your doubts, your disagreements and know that you are loved by God. I know that members of this church have many differing views on the issue of abortion. No matter what your perspective, this issue can never be resolved by violence.
When we disagree, it is an opportunity that God gives us to deepen our understanding and reach one another. Relationship is nothing without dischord, it is what makes us stronger. Resorting to violence is an act of despair. It tears at the fabric of our community. The only way to respond to such violence is to double our efforts to communicate with one another, to reach out in love and respect, to pray for one another.
Please join me in praying for Dr. Tiller’s family and loved ones, for Reformation Church and for the man who chose to murder Dr. Tiller. I will be in the sanctuary here at St. James at 7:30 pm this Wednesday night. If you wish to join me, we can say Evening Prayer and pray for this community and this city.
The Episcopal Clergy of this Convocation, along with Bishop Wolfe, have drafted a statement which should reach the paper tomorrow.
God bless you all.
In Christ’s love,
Kate+
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Naming the Holy Spirit
I am grateful that I have to wear a black shirt and a collar every day to work because I have absolutely no style at all. If I had to put together an outfit every day, it would be a nightmare for me.
My husaband and I have a running joke. If I step out of the closet and ask him, "Does this work?" The answer is always, "NO." In fact, these days JD won't even look up from what he is doing. If I step out of the closet and ask him if an outfit works, he will say no without even looking up.
In all the years that I have been a priest, about once a month or so, someone will ask to speak with me in private. They will tell me about a miracle that occurred to them. One woman told how she saw a strange man across a crowded room some seventy years ago and she heard a voice say, "That is your husband." And they did marry and stayed married for over sixty years. Another woman was widowed in her thirties with two small children. She stopped at a traffic light one day, feeling completely lost and overwhelmed, and a presence of peace came over her, a peace like nothing she had ever felt before.
People tell me these incredible stories that they don't dare mention to anyone else and then they ask me the same question,
"Was that God?"
And my answer is always, "YES!"
In fact, I don't even need to hear their stories anymore. The answer is always YES.
The season of the Holy Spirit is approaching. Pentecost. It is a season of great mystery, of wild miracles and people who speak in tongues. But we have become shy when it comes to speaking of the Holy Spirit. We worry that people will think we are mentally unstable or somehow medieval. We are afraid to name God's activity among us for fear of being judged by others.
In Peter's day, it was not embarrassing to name God's presence. It was considered an honor to be visited by God. So Peter spoke openly about his visions and his faith in Jesus. He loved to speak of the Holy Spirit.
A friend of mine lost her grandson when he was just 15 years old. He loved to play golf. His name was Chris. Every year, on the day of his death, his family plays a round of golf. It is their way of celebrating his life.
This year, it was pouring down rain when the grandmother and her son (the boy's father) found themselves trying to play golf. They both felt like fools. They could hardly see the ball. Chris' dad teed up and promptly hit the ball into a pond. So they went over to the pond, already sopping wet, to fish out the ball.
Chris' dad managed to salvage the ball from the pond, but he just stood there looking at it. His mom came over to see what was wrong. Without a word, he handed her the ball. There, written in someone's handwriting was his name, Chris.
Name it-The Holy Spirit. It is God's activity among us. It is the idea that just pops into your head from nowhere. It is the math problem that you couldn't solve that just seems to resolve itself in your mind in your sleep. It is running into just the person you needed to see. It is the smile on the face of your loved ones. Name it!
Don't be afraid to name it. You are not crazy. You are just Christian.
My husaband and I have a running joke. If I step out of the closet and ask him, "Does this work?" The answer is always, "NO." In fact, these days JD won't even look up from what he is doing. If I step out of the closet and ask him if an outfit works, he will say no without even looking up.
In all the years that I have been a priest, about once a month or so, someone will ask to speak with me in private. They will tell me about a miracle that occurred to them. One woman told how she saw a strange man across a crowded room some seventy years ago and she heard a voice say, "That is your husband." And they did marry and stayed married for over sixty years. Another woman was widowed in her thirties with two small children. She stopped at a traffic light one day, feeling completely lost and overwhelmed, and a presence of peace came over her, a peace like nothing she had ever felt before.
People tell me these incredible stories that they don't dare mention to anyone else and then they ask me the same question,
"Was that God?"
And my answer is always, "YES!"
In fact, I don't even need to hear their stories anymore. The answer is always YES.
The season of the Holy Spirit is approaching. Pentecost. It is a season of great mystery, of wild miracles and people who speak in tongues. But we have become shy when it comes to speaking of the Holy Spirit. We worry that people will think we are mentally unstable or somehow medieval. We are afraid to name God's activity among us for fear of being judged by others.
In Peter's day, it was not embarrassing to name God's presence. It was considered an honor to be visited by God. So Peter spoke openly about his visions and his faith in Jesus. He loved to speak of the Holy Spirit.
A friend of mine lost her grandson when he was just 15 years old. He loved to play golf. His name was Chris. Every year, on the day of his death, his family plays a round of golf. It is their way of celebrating his life.
This year, it was pouring down rain when the grandmother and her son (the boy's father) found themselves trying to play golf. They both felt like fools. They could hardly see the ball. Chris' dad teed up and promptly hit the ball into a pond. So they went over to the pond, already sopping wet, to fish out the ball.
Chris' dad managed to salvage the ball from the pond, but he just stood there looking at it. His mom came over to see what was wrong. Without a word, he handed her the ball. There, written in someone's handwriting was his name, Chris.
Name it-The Holy Spirit. It is God's activity among us. It is the idea that just pops into your head from nowhere. It is the math problem that you couldn't solve that just seems to resolve itself in your mind in your sleep. It is running into just the person you needed to see. It is the smile on the face of your loved ones. Name it!
Don't be afraid to name it. You are not crazy. You are just Christian.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Pruning
Every branch that bears fruit, I will prune back...
The Gospel of John
This past Saturday, the clouds parted for a few hours and I began to plant some flowers. I have this tiny garden in our front lawn, under the shade of a tree. There is a statue of St. Francis and I like to surround him with flowers each spring. A friend of our, Felix, who is 8, helped me plant.
Unfortunately, the flat of flowers sat there for one week before I had the time to plant them. The flowers had grown tall and spindly. In order to keep them healthy, I had to prune them, cutting off the flowers and planting the green stems. Felix was perplexed.
"Luke's mom," he said. "Why are you cutting off all the pretty stuff?"
I had to explain to Felix about the pruning process. "I have to cut these flowers off so that the plants will be healthy and eventually make more flowers," I said.
That's what Jesus does sometimes. He prunes us. He prunes back those branches that bear fruit. His followers who love him and who are genuinely are trying to follow him--he prunes us back. And we never really understand why.
A lady in our parish had to move into assisted living this week. The process nearly did her in. She refused to leave, went on a hunger strike, beggged and cried. But our deacon finally convinced her. It was time for her to be pruned back. She had to get rid of many of her belongings in order to prepare her soul for God. It was so hard for her to say goodbye to so many keepsakes and memories, but she did it in the end. And now she is enjoying herself in her new space.
Consider that some of the hardship you endure is really a pruning back. Suffering is not the enemy. Often, it makes us grow. We may never fully understand what God is trying to do with us, not in this life, but we can use our suffering as a way of learning and become stronger.
My flowers are doing well. Some new buds have come out, tiny ones that will take awhile to bloom. They are coming.
The Gospel of John
This past Saturday, the clouds parted for a few hours and I began to plant some flowers. I have this tiny garden in our front lawn, under the shade of a tree. There is a statue of St. Francis and I like to surround him with flowers each spring. A friend of our, Felix, who is 8, helped me plant.
Unfortunately, the flat of flowers sat there for one week before I had the time to plant them. The flowers had grown tall and spindly. In order to keep them healthy, I had to prune them, cutting off the flowers and planting the green stems. Felix was perplexed.
"Luke's mom," he said. "Why are you cutting off all the pretty stuff?"
I had to explain to Felix about the pruning process. "I have to cut these flowers off so that the plants will be healthy and eventually make more flowers," I said.
That's what Jesus does sometimes. He prunes us. He prunes back those branches that bear fruit. His followers who love him and who are genuinely are trying to follow him--he prunes us back. And we never really understand why.
A lady in our parish had to move into assisted living this week. The process nearly did her in. She refused to leave, went on a hunger strike, beggged and cried. But our deacon finally convinced her. It was time for her to be pruned back. She had to get rid of many of her belongings in order to prepare her soul for God. It was so hard for her to say goodbye to so many keepsakes and memories, but she did it in the end. And now she is enjoying herself in her new space.
Consider that some of the hardship you endure is really a pruning back. Suffering is not the enemy. Often, it makes us grow. We may never fully understand what God is trying to do with us, not in this life, but we can use our suffering as a way of learning and become stronger.
My flowers are doing well. Some new buds have come out, tiny ones that will take awhile to bloom. They are coming.
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Ten Commandments
Two years ago, I took my family to the Grand Canyon. It was breathtaking, but I couldn't take it in because I had Max and Max was two.
Bringing a todder to the edge of a steep cliff was one of the most frightening things I have ever done. All I could do was imagine Max toddling over the edge. As I result, I could not enjoy the view. I was just too terrified.
If only they had a place for parents and little kids, I thought. They would have a huge chain-link fence, strong and durable. The kids could play freely, protected from the monstrous heights by that wonderful, sturdy, impenitrable fence. If only that fence existed, I could enjoy the view!
When God gave us the Ten Commandments, God was really giving us a fence. God was giving us the boundaries that we must respect if we were to be safe, happy and free. You cannot have a healthy civilization if you kill one another, or steal or commit adultery. These laws were the strong, sturdy rods of the fence. These laws would keep the Israelites safe from their own darker nature, safe from mayhem and chaos, safe from violence and revenge.
It is strange to think of laws as freeing, but they are. If we are not safe from one another, then we are not free.
Bringing a todder to the edge of a steep cliff was one of the most frightening things I have ever done. All I could do was imagine Max toddling over the edge. As I result, I could not enjoy the view. I was just too terrified.
If only they had a place for parents and little kids, I thought. They would have a huge chain-link fence, strong and durable. The kids could play freely, protected from the monstrous heights by that wonderful, sturdy, impenitrable fence. If only that fence existed, I could enjoy the view!
When God gave us the Ten Commandments, God was really giving us a fence. God was giving us the boundaries that we must respect if we were to be safe, happy and free. You cannot have a healthy civilization if you kill one another, or steal or commit adultery. These laws were the strong, sturdy rods of the fence. These laws would keep the Israelites safe from their own darker nature, safe from mayhem and chaos, safe from violence and revenge.
It is strange to think of laws as freeing, but they are. If we are not safe from one another, then we are not free.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Satan
Get behind me, Satan! For you are concerned with things that are of humans and not of God.
Mark
Why in the world does Jesus call Peter "Satan"? Peter was a bumbler but he was not a bad guy. He made some bad mistakes, but he also made some great comebacks. He was one of Jesus' closest disciples. He gave up his entire livelihood to follow Jesus. He was a good man.
Peter had just finished identifying Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, and then this happened. At one moment Jesus called Peter the Rock of the Church, at the next moment, he was calling Peter Satan. Both can't be true...
This conversation happened at the height of Jesus' ministry. The crowds were all over him. Everyone wanted to be touched, healed. Everyone wanted to hear Jesus' words. Everything seemed to be going perfectly. Peter says what everyone must have been hoping, that Jesus would save the Jewish people.
Jesus recognized that he was the Messiah, but then he began to describe the real plan that God had in store for him. He would suffer. He would die and then rise again. And Peter could not accept this. Peter scolded Jesus...
No, Lord, that is not the way that things are supposed to go. That's not what everyone wants and needs. You are supposed to rescue us from oppression and rule as king, not die. That just can't be right.
And that's when Jesus caled him Satan. Because the words that Peter spoke, the thoughts that he was articulating, were the thoughts of the Adversary.
The Satan first appears in the book of Job. The title literally means The Adversary. The One who opposes God.
Whenever we let our actions be determined by what others want and not what God wants, we follow the impulses of the Adversary.
Satan is not a red man with horns. He is the personnification of everything that slides into our minds to confuse us, to redirect our intentions away from the will of God. That is why the image of the snake is so powerful. The impulses of the adversary sneak into our lives and lure us away from God's purposes.
And one fundamental way that Satan distracts is to make us care more about pleasing people than about pleasing God.
In the 1960s, Dr. Stanley Millgram, a professor at Yale University, ran an experiment. There were three players: a doctor in a white coat, a volunteer taken randomly from off the street and a student named Carl. The doctor explained to the volunteer that he was to ask questions of the student. When the student got an answer wrong, the volunteer was to adminsiter a small electric shock. The voltage of the shocks was to increase as the student got more answers wrong. The purpose of the experiment was to see how the human brain might be capable of greater intellectual prowess when faced with discomfort.
Before the experiment began, the student, Carl, mentioned to the volunteer that he had a heart condition. The doctor gave the volunteer a small shock, so that he would feel what the student would be experiencing. It hurt.
The experiment began.
Carl got question number 3 wrong. The volunteer administered the electric shock and Carl began to sweat.
The experiment continued and with each successive incorrect answer, the volunteer administered another electric shock, turning up the dial each time so that the voltage increased.
Carl began to beg for them to stop. The volunteer looked to the doctor for guidance, but he simply nodded and smiled.
This continued. Carl pounding on the chair, shaking excessively, and begging for them to stop. But the volunteer, upon the insistence of the doctor, continued. In the end, the volunteer administered 400 volts of electricity. Carl was almost incoherent.
When the experiment was over, its true nature was revealed. Carl was an actor. The real purpose of the experiment was to see just how much pain one human being was willing to inflict on another just become someone told him so.
How often do you make decisions based on what others think or will say? Whenever that happens, you are in danger of following the Adversary.
How many people, after the fall of Nazi Germany, told the world that they felt Hitler was wrong, but they just kept thinking that everyone else seemed excited. So they silenced their reservations and followed him.
Jesus identified the mind of Satan immediately, forcefully. He recognized temptation. We are much slower to identify temptation.
How often do you let the opinions of others determine your actions, determine who you are? Pay attention to your own mind, so that one day you too will be able to say no to temptation.
Mark
Why in the world does Jesus call Peter "Satan"? Peter was a bumbler but he was not a bad guy. He made some bad mistakes, but he also made some great comebacks. He was one of Jesus' closest disciples. He gave up his entire livelihood to follow Jesus. He was a good man.
Peter had just finished identifying Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, and then this happened. At one moment Jesus called Peter the Rock of the Church, at the next moment, he was calling Peter Satan. Both can't be true...
This conversation happened at the height of Jesus' ministry. The crowds were all over him. Everyone wanted to be touched, healed. Everyone wanted to hear Jesus' words. Everything seemed to be going perfectly. Peter says what everyone must have been hoping, that Jesus would save the Jewish people.
Jesus recognized that he was the Messiah, but then he began to describe the real plan that God had in store for him. He would suffer. He would die and then rise again. And Peter could not accept this. Peter scolded Jesus...
No, Lord, that is not the way that things are supposed to go. That's not what everyone wants and needs. You are supposed to rescue us from oppression and rule as king, not die. That just can't be right.
And that's when Jesus caled him Satan. Because the words that Peter spoke, the thoughts that he was articulating, were the thoughts of the Adversary.
The Satan first appears in the book of Job. The title literally means The Adversary. The One who opposes God.
Whenever we let our actions be determined by what others want and not what God wants, we follow the impulses of the Adversary.
Satan is not a red man with horns. He is the personnification of everything that slides into our minds to confuse us, to redirect our intentions away from the will of God. That is why the image of the snake is so powerful. The impulses of the adversary sneak into our lives and lure us away from God's purposes.
And one fundamental way that Satan distracts is to make us care more about pleasing people than about pleasing God.
In the 1960s, Dr. Stanley Millgram, a professor at Yale University, ran an experiment. There were three players: a doctor in a white coat, a volunteer taken randomly from off the street and a student named Carl. The doctor explained to the volunteer that he was to ask questions of the student. When the student got an answer wrong, the volunteer was to adminsiter a small electric shock. The voltage of the shocks was to increase as the student got more answers wrong. The purpose of the experiment was to see how the human brain might be capable of greater intellectual prowess when faced with discomfort.
Before the experiment began, the student, Carl, mentioned to the volunteer that he had a heart condition. The doctor gave the volunteer a small shock, so that he would feel what the student would be experiencing. It hurt.
The experiment began.
Carl got question number 3 wrong. The volunteer administered the electric shock and Carl began to sweat.
The experiment continued and with each successive incorrect answer, the volunteer administered another electric shock, turning up the dial each time so that the voltage increased.
Carl began to beg for them to stop. The volunteer looked to the doctor for guidance, but he simply nodded and smiled.
This continued. Carl pounding on the chair, shaking excessively, and begging for them to stop. But the volunteer, upon the insistence of the doctor, continued. In the end, the volunteer administered 400 volts of electricity. Carl was almost incoherent.
When the experiment was over, its true nature was revealed. Carl was an actor. The real purpose of the experiment was to see just how much pain one human being was willing to inflict on another just become someone told him so.
How often do you make decisions based on what others think or will say? Whenever that happens, you are in danger of following the Adversary.
How many people, after the fall of Nazi Germany, told the world that they felt Hitler was wrong, but they just kept thinking that everyone else seemed excited. So they silenced their reservations and followed him.
Jesus identified the mind of Satan immediately, forcefully. He recognized temptation. We are much slower to identify temptation.
How often do you let the opinions of others determine your actions, determine who you are? Pay attention to your own mind, so that one day you too will be able to say no to temptation.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Those Wise Guys
My dad was in a Christmas production years ago at a local public school. He played one of the three kings. He got to wear a big crown and march down the aisle singing. All the kids loved it.
About a month later, my dad was walking on the sidewalk near the school and a little boy ran up to him. Grabbing hold of the chain-link fence, the boy yelled, “Hey! I know you! You was one of those WISE GUYS!”
Wise Guys. I like that. The Wise Guys. They were probably not kings. What kind of a king could just up and leave his kingdom? The Bible does not say that they are kings, but we seem to have assumed that they were royalty because they give such profoundly wealthy gifts. Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. Gifts FOR a king. Treasures for the Son of God.
The Bible does not say much about these men except that they were wise and that they came from the East. They were wise because they sought out the Christ child and they found him. They were wise because they recognized Jesus before anybody else did. It took most of the disciples until after the resurrection to begin to get it! Peter understood who Jesus was after walking around with him for about a year and a half. Most people never understood who Jesus really was. But the Wise Guys got it. They really got it. They must have been truly awake, watching and waiting. They seemed to know what they were looking for.
When JD and I go on road trips, we occasionally get lost. I will suggest that we ask for directions, but JD will usually refuse until I insist. I will needle him until he finally pulls into a gas station with a sigh, as if to ask for directions is to give up. Why is it that most men don’t like to ask for directions?
My folks got a GPS system for Christmas. They call it Gertrude. She speaks in a British accent and calls the highway the moterway. My folks will never be lost again, but I find her presence kind of confining. There is no wandering with Gertrude on your back. There is no getting lost, no asking for help, no searching for the destination. She maps it all out for you.
Most of us like to map out our lives. We want to know exactly where we will be in five years, ten years. We plan our careers and plan for retirement, we map out our children’s education and how we are going to pay for it. We make New Year's resolutions and five year plans. And there is no room for wandering. There is no room for God to guide us because we have already made up our minds. When we come to a fork in the road, we are told which way to go. Our minds are already made up.
I think that those Wise Guys wandered. That was part of their wisdom. They did not have everything planned out. They were willing to take off on the spur of the moment, travel in the dark to follow the light of a distant star. We know that they must have felt lost, for they go to King Herod to ask for directions!
I’m not saying that New Year’s resolutions are bad, but don’t plan your life so tightly that there is no room for God. You can lead a smooth life on a strict plan, but if you want to lead a life of meaning, you must be willing to wander around in the dark for awhile. Following God is not always a straight shot. Even Jesus did not always know what was going to happen next. On the cross, he wondered if God had abandoned him. But he was willing to follow God’s surprising curves rather than map out his own life. From a worldly perspective, Jesus’ life was a complete failure. Only God could know that his resurrection would change the world. Only God could take an unknown Jesus peasant and alter human consciousness with that one life freely given.
On the way home from the holidays, I sat next to a pilot on the airplane. He loves his job. He says that when he gets busy and distracted my the details of daily life, he goes up in an airplane. He sees the most beautiful sunsets. He looks down from the heavens and marvels at how small we humans are. And everything seems to fall into perspective.
Maybe we should make a different kind of New Year’s resolution in 2009. Maybe we should aim to be Wise, like those Wise Guys. To watch, to wait, and to wander in search of the Christ.
About a month later, my dad was walking on the sidewalk near the school and a little boy ran up to him. Grabbing hold of the chain-link fence, the boy yelled, “Hey! I know you! You was one of those WISE GUYS!”
Wise Guys. I like that. The Wise Guys. They were probably not kings. What kind of a king could just up and leave his kingdom? The Bible does not say that they are kings, but we seem to have assumed that they were royalty because they give such profoundly wealthy gifts. Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. Gifts FOR a king. Treasures for the Son of God.
The Bible does not say much about these men except that they were wise and that they came from the East. They were wise because they sought out the Christ child and they found him. They were wise because they recognized Jesus before anybody else did. It took most of the disciples until after the resurrection to begin to get it! Peter understood who Jesus was after walking around with him for about a year and a half. Most people never understood who Jesus really was. But the Wise Guys got it. They really got it. They must have been truly awake, watching and waiting. They seemed to know what they were looking for.
When JD and I go on road trips, we occasionally get lost. I will suggest that we ask for directions, but JD will usually refuse until I insist. I will needle him until he finally pulls into a gas station with a sigh, as if to ask for directions is to give up. Why is it that most men don’t like to ask for directions?
My folks got a GPS system for Christmas. They call it Gertrude. She speaks in a British accent and calls the highway the moterway. My folks will never be lost again, but I find her presence kind of confining. There is no wandering with Gertrude on your back. There is no getting lost, no asking for help, no searching for the destination. She maps it all out for you.
Most of us like to map out our lives. We want to know exactly where we will be in five years, ten years. We plan our careers and plan for retirement, we map out our children’s education and how we are going to pay for it. We make New Year's resolutions and five year plans. And there is no room for wandering. There is no room for God to guide us because we have already made up our minds. When we come to a fork in the road, we are told which way to go. Our minds are already made up.
I think that those Wise Guys wandered. That was part of their wisdom. They did not have everything planned out. They were willing to take off on the spur of the moment, travel in the dark to follow the light of a distant star. We know that they must have felt lost, for they go to King Herod to ask for directions!
I’m not saying that New Year’s resolutions are bad, but don’t plan your life so tightly that there is no room for God. You can lead a smooth life on a strict plan, but if you want to lead a life of meaning, you must be willing to wander around in the dark for awhile. Following God is not always a straight shot. Even Jesus did not always know what was going to happen next. On the cross, he wondered if God had abandoned him. But he was willing to follow God’s surprising curves rather than map out his own life. From a worldly perspective, Jesus’ life was a complete failure. Only God could know that his resurrection would change the world. Only God could take an unknown Jesus peasant and alter human consciousness with that one life freely given.
On the way home from the holidays, I sat next to a pilot on the airplane. He loves his job. He says that when he gets busy and distracted my the details of daily life, he goes up in an airplane. He sees the most beautiful sunsets. He looks down from the heavens and marvels at how small we humans are. And everything seems to fall into perspective.
Maybe we should make a different kind of New Year’s resolution in 2009. Maybe we should aim to be Wise, like those Wise Guys. To watch, to wait, and to wander in search of the Christ.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Shaving Down to Us
Merry Christmas!
I don't know about you, but I have felt different this Christmas season. Maybe its the state of the economy, the stress that everyone seems to be under. Or maybe I feel differently because of what happened to our tree this year.
We bought a large tree, much taller than our normal tree. We thought that we could place it by our staircase. All three of my boys liked the idea of a big tree, even my husband JD was OK with it. It took us hours to decorate.
I was sitting in the kitchen resting for a moment on Christmas Eve morning, when I saw it happen. The tree just slowly began to fall. I felt like I was watching in slow motion as the thing crashed to the ground, 0rnaments smashing and scattering, water everywhere.
I hollered at the boys to come help. Max, my littlest one, saw the mess and said, "Mom! Is Christmas over now?"
His comment made me so mad that I picked up the whole tree and stood it upright again. I don't know how I did that. I remember yelling as I lifted it. Bionic Momma- that's what I became in that moment. I couldn't stand to see the look on Max's face as he asked that question. It was scary to me that my son thought Christmas was about the tree and the trappings.
But we all tend to link Christmas with stuff. Christmas means shopping. Christmas means new stuff wrapped in packages. Christmas is supposed to be this perfect day, idyllic in fact- that's what the commercials tell us. In fact, we pile our expectations of Christmas so high that they are bound to come down crashing.
A lady I know went to the Post Office a month ago to order Christmas stamps. They asked her what kind of stamp she'd like and she said, "I'd like stamps of the Madonna, please." The young woman behind the counter replied, "Ma'am, we don't carry stamps of people that haven't died yet and Madonna is still performing."
What is happening to us? Have we completely forgotten what Christmas is about?
Christmas is about something that hits you in the gut, something so incredible that it can only be caught in glimpses.
I caught a glimpse of Christmas years ago when I went to visit the home of a man who had been diagnosed with cancer. He was about to undergo radical chemotherapy. He was a tall, handsome man with a head of majestic white hair. When I came, he was sitting in his bedroom with his thirty-year-old son.
"Kate," he said. "I can't stand to watch my hair fall out, so I'm just going to shave it. Will you come with me?"
I followed him into the bathroom. He sat down at the vanity and began to shear off his beautiful white hair. His son stood in the doorway, tears streaming down his face. Then his son said, "Wait! Dad, just wait a minute!"
His son went somewhere, I guess to his suitcase and came back with another razer in his hand. He stood directly behind his father in front of the mirror and began to shave his own head.
"You shave, I shave." He said.
When his father protested, the young man said, "Look, Dad. I can't make this better for you. I can't take away your pain. But I can be there with you, every step of the way. So, you shave-I shave."
That's what Christmas is about. God saw us suffering in a world that is broken of our own disobedience. God could not fix the world for us, for we would learn nothing and we would not be free. So God came, just to be with us.
God shaved down to the form of a tiny baby, born in one of the most violent parts of the world, born to a couple who had no place to sleep, born in the dirt of a cave where they kept the animals.
Have you ever noticed that when someone you love is suffering, giving advice doesn't work? Trying to fix others problems usually backfires. But you can be there. You can just be there with them, and somehow, miraculously, that seems to help.
Remember what Christmas is really about. It is about God saying to us.
"I am here."
And once Jesus came, He never really left. He's always been with us, in one form or another. Didn't Jesus himself say it at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Once you realize that Jesus is here, it hits you right in the gut. And you realize that you are never, ever alone.
I don't know about you, but I have felt different this Christmas season. Maybe its the state of the economy, the stress that everyone seems to be under. Or maybe I feel differently because of what happened to our tree this year.
We bought a large tree, much taller than our normal tree. We thought that we could place it by our staircase. All three of my boys liked the idea of a big tree, even my husband JD was OK with it. It took us hours to decorate.
I was sitting in the kitchen resting for a moment on Christmas Eve morning, when I saw it happen. The tree just slowly began to fall. I felt like I was watching in slow motion as the thing crashed to the ground, 0rnaments smashing and scattering, water everywhere.
I hollered at the boys to come help. Max, my littlest one, saw the mess and said, "Mom! Is Christmas over now?"
His comment made me so mad that I picked up the whole tree and stood it upright again. I don't know how I did that. I remember yelling as I lifted it. Bionic Momma- that's what I became in that moment. I couldn't stand to see the look on Max's face as he asked that question. It was scary to me that my son thought Christmas was about the tree and the trappings.
But we all tend to link Christmas with stuff. Christmas means shopping. Christmas means new stuff wrapped in packages. Christmas is supposed to be this perfect day, idyllic in fact- that's what the commercials tell us. In fact, we pile our expectations of Christmas so high that they are bound to come down crashing.
A lady I know went to the Post Office a month ago to order Christmas stamps. They asked her what kind of stamp she'd like and she said, "I'd like stamps of the Madonna, please." The young woman behind the counter replied, "Ma'am, we don't carry stamps of people that haven't died yet and Madonna is still performing."
What is happening to us? Have we completely forgotten what Christmas is about?
Christmas is about something that hits you in the gut, something so incredible that it can only be caught in glimpses.
I caught a glimpse of Christmas years ago when I went to visit the home of a man who had been diagnosed with cancer. He was about to undergo radical chemotherapy. He was a tall, handsome man with a head of majestic white hair. When I came, he was sitting in his bedroom with his thirty-year-old son.
"Kate," he said. "I can't stand to watch my hair fall out, so I'm just going to shave it. Will you come with me?"
I followed him into the bathroom. He sat down at the vanity and began to shear off his beautiful white hair. His son stood in the doorway, tears streaming down his face. Then his son said, "Wait! Dad, just wait a minute!"
His son went somewhere, I guess to his suitcase and came back with another razer in his hand. He stood directly behind his father in front of the mirror and began to shave his own head.
"You shave, I shave." He said.
When his father protested, the young man said, "Look, Dad. I can't make this better for you. I can't take away your pain. But I can be there with you, every step of the way. So, you shave-I shave."
That's what Christmas is about. God saw us suffering in a world that is broken of our own disobedience. God could not fix the world for us, for we would learn nothing and we would not be free. So God came, just to be with us.
God shaved down to the form of a tiny baby, born in one of the most violent parts of the world, born to a couple who had no place to sleep, born in the dirt of a cave where they kept the animals.
Have you ever noticed that when someone you love is suffering, giving advice doesn't work? Trying to fix others problems usually backfires. But you can be there. You can just be there with them, and somehow, miraculously, that seems to help.
Remember what Christmas is really about. It is about God saying to us.
"I am here."
And once Jesus came, He never really left. He's always been with us, in one form or another. Didn't Jesus himself say it at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Once you realize that Jesus is here, it hits you right in the gut. And you realize that you are never, ever alone.
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