Dec. 20-We read the story of Mary today. Another lectionary reading is the famous quote from Micah on the place of the Messiah's birth. Bethlehem is still a hamlet. God does not always work with the large. God can work through the small to inaugurate a great work. We carry a Bethlehem inside of us; each one of us does.Our very lives are a manger for Christ to rest.

 

Monday- In the new Christian Century, Rodney Clapp ends his piece with this quote by the Blumhardt's (father and son) "our prayers are hammer strokes against the bulwarks of the princes of darkness; they must be oft repeated. Many years can pass by...before a breakthrough occurs. No single hit is ever wasted, if they are continued the most secure wall must finally fall. Then the glory of God will have a clear path to stride forth with healing and blessing for the wasted fields of mankind."

Where can you imagine that your hammer blow of prayer finds its easiest and most difficult object?

 

Tuesday Calvin on the Incarnation- "Jesus Christ is our mediator. We can know Jesus familiarly as one of ourselves. No one can be perplexed where to seek the Mediator, or how to reach him. He is near to us, no, contiguous to us, as one of our flesh.The proximity was near enough, the affinity strong enough, for us to see God dwelling with us." (Inst. 2.12.1, order edited)

 

Wednesday-The holidays can be difficult for the bereaved. I don't think pushing them out of one's mind is all that helpful. Perhaps  better is to admit you miss them and make a ritual, a letter, a special ornament, a memorial for them. Include your grief in your prayers, even at table grace. that way, the looming aura of absence is addressed and it loses some of its potency.

 

Christmas Eve-We are to light luminaries for tonight. A girl, maybe already older than Mary was, will sing O Holy Night. In our house, we eat when the first star appears at night. I don't know if anything can live up to the expectations that encompass this night. I'm glad that so many churches allow us to worship together tonight. May your time with family have a worshipful cast to it, so that your gathering has a semblance of Communion to it.

 

Christmas-For me Silent Night always applies a bit to this day. Just as I always think of Good Friday as cloudy and gloomy, I think of this day as peaceful quiet, even when the kids are ripping away at presents. When I was little, I would always go out at some point to luxuriate in the silence, especially if the only sound was the snow or sleet hitting my coat, or the runners of a sled going downhill. Christmas quiet is a peaceful spirit that knows Emmanuel, God with us.

 

Saturday-Do not let this day after Christmas take the spiritual wind out of your sails.With some of the business done, maybe you can actually give yourself the gift of time to reflect on Christmas. Some folks have a celebration today, as the needs for the families require. I always admire the generosity of folks who don't insist that their family must, must be there at a certain day and time. In that sense, we are not bound to the exact date on a calendar, so we can carry the spirit of Christmas no matter the date. Some things, such as family visits, are not at our control. the spirit we carry to our families is available to us, even the day after Christmas.