A Newspaper Boy's Advent: Peace

A Paper Boy’s Advent: Peace

It was long before Mp3 players, iPods, and Walkmans that I delivered papers to retail stores throughout the downtown and I remember the excitement I felt when delivering papers to the retail stores at Christmas time.  Going into the stores, listening to the taped music piping through the sound system quickened a young boy’s Christmas spirit and brought joy and a quiet peace that blessed a paper boy delivering his newspapers along paper route number one. 

The familiar songs of Christmas bring a peace that feeds my spirit in a time that has become more harried and stressful in recent years. I enjoy listening to the familiar, beloved Christmas songs that have been a part of my life from the days of hanging tinsel on the branches of the family Christmas tree. Whether it’s Frosty the Snowman, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire or Hark the Herald Angels Sing, the music of Christmas brings me peace – peace that gave me joy along route number one or a quiet peace that blesses my daily life today.

The candle of peace is the second candle of the Advent season and one that not only speaks to what we would hope for all human kind in all the nations of our fragile world, but it is also what we pray for our own spirits. Peace like the gentle falling snow on cold December night or the quiet, peaceful music streaming throughout a retail stores is God’s gift to us in this season – this season of waiting, hoping and anticipating. May our spirits be filled with peace in this season and may the music of Christmas be the medium in which the angels of God bring us daily blessings.

Prayer

Even in the midst of crazy holiday schedules, harried family members, tinsel, and Christmas music, may we find the peace we seek and the simple joys of everyday tasks whether it is delivering papers, preparing food for the family, or preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

A Newspaper boy's Advent:Joy

There is an Easter hymn that I like very much. It is called, “There will be Joy in the Morning.” Although the specific arrangement has been sung by many church choirs over the years at Easter time, it is also a message for this season of Advent. The chorus builds with the words, “There will be joy! There will be joy in the morning on that day. There will be joy, joy, joy in the morning on that day!” Joy is a wonderful expression for the season Advent too. 

As I recall my newspaper route in the retail section of a medium size town, I remember what joy looked like to a newspaper boy at Christmas time. Joy looked like the Christmas decorations hung beautifully from telephone poles and across telephone wires that lined the streets of downtown. Joy looked like the chocolate bag of candy that the clerks at J.C. Penny’s offered to me at Christmas time. The bustling, busy shoppers loaded down with packages and bows looked like joy to me. The first crunchy, tasty bite into a steaming Coney Dog smothered in onions at a storefront restaurant and the Christmas punch and cookies at the fire-house filled my heart with joy. Oh yes, the warm, welcoming smile of the owners at Gustafson’s Paint store – so warm and friendly that you thought you were visiting you grandmother looked like joy to me. The narrow, ancient steps leading up to the Odd Fellows club and the smoke filled room, the clink of billiard balls, and 25 cents for a bottle of Coke looked like joy to a paper boy at Christmas time.  This is joy – joy, joy, joy in the morning on that day! 

What does joy look like to you?  The Christmas story is a story of mystery, a story of joy, and story of promise. Mary was surely surprised about the news she received from an angelic newspaper boy named Gabriel. Once the shock wore off and she began to process this recent news, joy looked like a song to her and with a heart of gratitude and soul of grace. “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” (Luke 1:46-48) This is joy! This is Advent.

Prayer:

God, you fill our hearts with joy at this time of year. You are joy to us! God, in your mercy, may the eyes of our hearts and the voice of our soul, like Mary, sing praises to you – praises of joy and may we see the joy of everyday as one more surprise from the one who gives us life. Amen.

Quarreling with the Mystery

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12.  This passage is a favorite among weddings and funerals. Some know this as “Paul’s love chapter” and the poetry and the images Paul uses in this text are powerful and probing. Besides the metaphorical understanding of love that is a good part of this passage, even more compelling is the thinly veiled mystery that is behind every word and phrase. 

An older woman was facing surgery and we began to talk about the anxiety and the fear that comes with any surgery – no matter how simple or routine it may be. There is always an element of mystery with anything that is unknown and even Paul quarreled with the mystery – the unknown. As for me, a part of the joy of living is quarreling with the mystery. What do I mean, quarreling with mystery? Life is a mystery and the human race continues to search for answers to life’s most complex and difficult questions, but I believe that in questioning the mystery we discover the presence of an Eternal God. “For now I know only in part – then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known”.  Even the way this phrase is penned by Paul, mystery is implied. 

I woke up this morning and saw one of the many beautiful sunrises over the hills and plains of Indiana – a mystery that does not so much beg for an answer, but seeks to brighten my days. From the time I was a small child, the smell of autumn and the crunch of leaves beneath my feet was comforting. It was comforting not because I needed answers to a changing season, but rather that I was comforted by a mystery that for everything there is season, a time for every matter under heaven. I am drawn to solar eclipses, stories of animals struggling to survive in a hostile world, and attempts to explain the big questions of life, but not that I need to disprove God, but, rather,  to hold onto a mystery – a sacred blessing – “For now I see in mirror dimly, but then face to face…” Quarreling with the mystery is not a statement of doubt or burning questions that unsettles my soul; no quarreling with the mystery is to appreciate life as a series of sacred questions and its answers draw me closer to the Source of all life – a life that is fully known as I have been fully known. Today, as in everyday, I want to live in the tension of knowing and to be known. 

Prayer: 

God of Holy mysteries, probing questions, and unending grace, may my spirit never stop quarreling with the mystery – the mystery that opens my eyes to see you face to face. Now I know in part and one day I will fully know as you have known me and this, Holy God, will be a day of rejoicing! Amen.

I Spy

I spy something green, what do you think it is? I heard a tiny voice shouting back, the grass! Yes, that’s right, now it’s your turn to “spy” something. Our neighbors were playing this game with their twin girls outside on a warm Sunday afternoon and I listened to the progression of the game.  The glee and laughter of the tiny voices brought back similar memories when I played “I spy” with my boys and even further back, with my sisters as we traveled across the country one summer in search of yet another camping site.

The notion of “spying” something assumes that you are looking for something. The great Sherlock Holmes snoops around a crime scene and through his discriminating mind and uncanny observations, Holmes spies the missing piece to a criminal case he is trying to solve. Whether it’s Holmes on the path of a confounding case or a family playing “I Spy…” we’ve known times when it feels as though we have lost something and we set out on a journey to find that missing piece that will bring the wholeness we are seeking.

The scriptural passage that is often quoted in times of seeking and searching comes from John. It is the Johannine passage that defines Jesus as the good shepherd. The phrase that is quoted is at the very end of verse 10 in John 10: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” This statement begs the question, “what is abundant life?” I cannot speak for you for you must spy your own understanding of abundant life, but I will reflect a little on what it means to me.

Abundant life is not a phrase used to convince, persuade, or argue for a reason to be a Christian, but a promise that says that in following the example of Christ, I will know fulfillment even in this life. Abundant life is not about the sweet by and by that will be mine if I am obedient to God’s will, but a promise that says that in following the example of Christ, I will know joy even in the midst of suffering. Abundant life is not a shallow, scriptural response to a searching soul, but a promise that says that God delights in me, just as I am. This is abundant life – it is what I spy in life dedicated to Christian living.

Prayer

God help me to find fulfillment in living as Christ would live, joy, even in the midst of suffering, and help me to delight in you as much as you delight in me. Amen.

A Wonderful World

I see trees of green….red roses too. There are skies of blue and clouds of white. Bright blessed days and dark sacred nights. The colors of the rainbow…so pretty…in the sky and the faces of people passing by, shaking hands are saying I love you. These words express how one song writer and singer’s view of the world that we know and love.  This world is wonderful, but it is also a fragile sphere of interdependent life forms that create beauty for our senses and gives us the quality of life that we would want. 

Fifty years ago, before global warming and concerns about the melting ice-caps, Rachel Carson wrote her bestseller and classic reading today, Silent Spring. In much detail she writes about the dangers of chemicals on the environment and the impact our humanity has had and continues to have on the world that God so proudly and carefully knit together for our joy and appreciation and for God’s joy and appreciation also. “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” Psalm 8:3-4

What are human beings that you are mindful? Louis Armstrong in his gravelly identifiable voice sings about a beautiful world and his joy in living in God’s bountiful creation.  Rachel Carson writes about a beautiful world and the importance of being careful and responsible with this fragile, magnificent world that is lovingly imagined and created by God. The psalmist marvels in its beauty and we think to ourselves, what a wonderful world.  

 In his letter to the Corinthians Paul writes, “All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.” 1 Corinthians 10:23.  These are thoughtful, cautionary words that remind all of us of the importance of caring for and being good stewards of God’s amazing world. May the choices we make today build up God’s wonderful world so that generations to come can look to the heavens and say as we have said what a wonderful world.

 

Prayer:

           God you created each detail of the earth with love and greatness. Help us to live our lives with thoughtful prayer as we embrace the wonder and joy of this awesome world. This is a gift that you’ve entrusted to our care, O God. Help us to be good stewards of the earth so that many more generations may enjoy the mystery and awe of your wonderful earth.   Amen.