From whence does my help come?

Recently, I listened to the youth in my Sunday morning class talk about what they did to bring the New Year in! They talked about sledding, they talked about late night parties, and they talked about the excitement of ringing in the New Year with family and friends. New Year’s Eve is like the capstone of our Christmas celebration. For four weeks we prepare to receive the Christ child, anticipating the light that comes into our darkness and shines all around us and we take that same light – that light so much a part of Christmas night, and bring it with us into the New Year. 

It may have been a cold winter night for the psalmist or perhaps an ending and a new beginning similar to our New Year celebration when the psalmist penned the words, “I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?” Whatever the context of the question, we can conclude that our psalmist was curious and in a reflective state of mind. Such is the opportunity that greets us as we begin another year. It’s easy to find a New Year’s party or spend a quiet evening with family, ringing in the New Year with a glass of wine, bubbly grape juice or a toast to the New Year with some Champagne. It takes less revelry and a little more time to stand at the threshold of a New Year and ask, “where does my help come from?” It is probably not something that many would ask at midnight after all the shouting, but maybe this is the time – the time to look to the year past and say thank you for the memories, the joys, the sorrow, the challenges, and the unexpected events that changed our lives. Maybe this is the time to lift our eyes to the hills, acknowledging God’s careful and attentive attention to each one of us and to our families and friends. This is the time to look into the New Year with unfettered hope and a wild imagination that envision a closer relationship with God and God’s heavenly realm.  

I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? The psalmist answers, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth…” The psalmist wrote a song, a poem. The wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The angels brought a song to sing and the shepherds brought their curiosity, their sheep and their excitement about the Child King, the Messiah. In our secular world of memorable Christmas songs, the drummer boy plays his drum for baby Jesus and Mary keeps all of these things as special memories of the heart.  What can I give? I can give my life. As we leave the light of Christmas behind and cross the threshold of this New Year, may we embrace this year confident that the Lord will keep us from harm and watch over our coming and our going from this day on and forevermore? 

Prayer: 

God, one year has passed and a New Year is within our grasp and you have made this possible for us. God you created the world, your words have been heard through the ages and your voice calls us from a future yet unknown. God, may the light of baby Jesus shine upon us and may we find peace in knowing that you do not leave us alone and watch over us on this day and forever. Amen.  

A Newspaper Boy's Advent:Love

“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 John 3:18) Besides many retail stores on newspaper route number one, I had a few residents at the end of my route.  There were a few customers that were more memorable than others. One such customer was elderly man who had difficulty walking and was on oxygen from time to time. I remember this man who would wait expectantly for his afternoon newspaper and was so happy when he could open it up at the end of the day and review the news since his last delivery.  It was a warm feeling to see the twinkle in his eyes, sitting on his porch waiting for his newspaper. Many years later it occurred to me why this simple act of receiving the newspaper was really an act of love. I was the newspaper boy responsible for delivering the newspaper – the daily news and for this dear man, I was a messenger of God’s love. 

What is love? Love is a relationship. Whether it is a family member, a friend, a sibling, a spouse, it is a relationship. Love is the dependable paper boy who could be counted on each day to be a messenger of love. It wasn’t the news, the newspaper, the time of day that was so meaningful and what the elderly man was looking for, it was my relationship with him.  I remember spending several minutes each day talking to my elderly customer. I remember this man as not having family and he didn’t get out much. His neighborhood was pretty limited. There was a Convent, a school, and a Catholic Church and so I and the mailman were sometimes the only the human faces that this elderly man saw in many days – we represented something fundamentally human – a meaningful and dependable relationship – love in action. “Little children, let us love…in truth and action.” This is love. 

This is the fourth week on the journey toward Christmas morning. It is the week of love. Late this evening, in the early hours of Christmas morning a child, the son of a loving, living God will be born amongst us. This night shows us a God that is more than a spiritual presence in our midst. This night is about a God that is incarnational. It is about love in action.  It came upon the midnight clear and the world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing – to sing a song about the love that is born this night, love not in word or speech, but love in truth and action.

Just as the elderly man waiting for news from the world comes to its fulfillment in delivery of the afternoon newspaper, so does our wait for God’s incarnational and unconditional love come to its fulfillment in a drafty stable, on a cold night when all the world is hushed and waiting for the song the angels sing, “Fear not, I bring you good news…”  This is love in truth and action. 

Prayer:   

God you are love and love is what we celebrate this night. Help us, O God, to see our lives as more than random and isolated events that have no connection to one another. Help us, O God, to be the incarnational love that brought you to earth in baby Jesus. Help us to love, not in words or speech, but in truth and action and may the gift we bring tonight and every day be pleasing to you. Amen.

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.