We the Innkeeper????

 

I wager a case of...M&M's.... that 95% of churches have on their sign board ALL ARE WELCOME.  Great sentiment, something a person driving by likes to see in front of a church building.  Lovely. Makes me all warm and tingly.  

Unfortunately, the majority of churches don't live the signage, far from it.  My experience has been the welcoming spirit of many congregations are as wooden and frozen as the sign upon which the words are printed.  Admitedlly, we don't welcome well in our communities and are seemingly unaware of the global community which we can no longer ignore nor pretend does not impact us.

Foundational to the entire Hebrew and Christian scriptural narrative is the call to be hospitable to all, we notice, we invite, we are genuine with the invitation and then, most importantly, we welcome in, receive, provide care and involve in the life of the community.

Our world confronts many crises; to name a few: ever increasing poverty (in the USA with our incredible wealth, tonight 1 in 6 children live in signifcant poverty and hunger), a shocking lack of adequate, acessible and affordable housing, and a raging refugee movement on multiple borders around the world. 

The Hebrews were refugees, the Law commands "welcome the stranger, for you were once strangers in the land," the entire Advent narrative culminates in a young couple seeking shelter and being denied, closed off, shut out. 

Pope Francis called the response of the "faithful" to the refugee crisis "a culture of indifference." I call it we just don't care.  In both instances....shame...shame...shame on us, the faithful.

Recently, I find myself more and more convicted. You?

Specials

 

'Tis the season...so who or what is your must see Holiday special character? Are you a Rudolph and Hermey?  A why mess with a classic...it's the Grinch! Do you sing along with the Heat and Cold Misers?

As we know, I could've listed many, many more....as many as there are Holiday Specials filling our viewing hours on nearly every channel.

When this pandemic began...sigh.....I checked-in on my crew of self-advocates to let them know I was thinking of 'em and to make certain they were doing OK. In the Spring of 2020, Jan, a person with cross-disabilites shared, "So long as my collection of Christmas movies holds out, I suppose I'll make it through." 

Her answer as to why she watched Christmas specials in the spring is similar to why we watch them year after year:

• They are famiiliar, consistent, known 
• The endings are always happy 
• They call us to our "better angels"
• They connect us back to our innocence

Consider in the midst of a pandemic and how scary and unsettled and upset and worried ---- Jan's choice of watching Christmas specials was a great idea, a comfort.

Enjoy your favorite Chrismtas special.  May the lessons iimparted, the positive energy and hope received be what we embody and share all year round....off the screen and in our lives;

Body language

There is a lot of physicality to hope.  Say the phrase...."I hope......" and I naturally inhale, put my shoulders back, head up, jaw set, a slight grin, eyes wide and with forward intention.  The posture of hope is one of readiness and anticipation. 

On Sunday when the news broke of another variant and today when there was yet another school shooting, I hung my head, my sholders sagged, I looked down, I folded in upon myself....I think it's what they mean when they say one is deflated.

Hope is integral to this Advent season, it's the first candle we light, the word emlazoned on banners and church paraments. 

Hope fills us, we expand and look outward, we stand ready and set.  The major lesson of the season is that God, the Creator of all that is, comes to be with us...to be human, to become enfleshed, one of us.  Wow.  It's one of the way cool notions of having a body. You want positive body image?  God became human.  That works.

Throughout this season of Advent pay attention to your body, how you carry yourself. Are you more inflated or deflated?  Are you fearful and downcast or trusting and looking up?

Listen to your body language...you speak volumes.