Did you notice?

 

I'm always on the look out for the one who is on the margins of things; the kid who is only at the youth group meeting because her Mom "made" her go, the one who shows up to a gathering alone and keeps looking at his phone because he feels so uncomfortable in the setting where seemingly everybody knows everyone else. I think I am in tune with those folks because for much of my youth, I was those kids...no cell phone, of course, so I would either look at the countour of the table or just sit hoping not to be noticed, seen in my aloneness and awkwardness.

Father Greg Boyle has my new favorite quote: "To notice the notice of God." 

God notices each of us and is so in love with each of us, God, cannot contain the joy and love bursting from God's Divine Self!  I really like that in a God!  Imagine the impact in our lives, our congregations, our communities if this was the message we believed and taught and loved until it was caught!

Christmas is God's big NOTICE EVENT.  Doubt God is love? Feel God is out to get you and is just about to hit the "smite" button when you scroll across God's computer? 

Christmas is God's shout out of LOVE to you, to all, to creation! Did you notice? 

While making my baked pineapple dish (and they say there are no more Christmas miracles) I was listening to NPR and the chaplain being interviewed said, "I believe in a God who smiles at me a lot." ......me too.

Have you noticed this God?  

Merry Christmas!

Let there be light

 

A clergy colleague shared the story of her seven-year old son's first experience of a night baseball game at PNC Park surrounded with the many large stands of lights he commented, "the darkness doen't go down that far."

I loved that story the first time I heard it years ago and in these dark, scary times through which we journey (and we will make it through...) and on this longest night of the year (welcome Winter!) I appreciate it even more and return to it often. 

Perhaps it's the fact of being born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania where we average only 60 sunshine days a year. I was shocked when I first learned this fact, yet, admit I like the cloudy November days, they are familiar, they are home to me. Please understand, I also really like sunshine!  Bright days of summer are glorious and I am energized by sunny days in winter, the light glistening off the snow.

Light has a constancy to it; a reliability that in the morning the sun will shine. In these uneven and uncertain times, I need that constancy. With today's official start of the winter season, minute by minute light makes a comeback!

Salt and light are two metaphors Jesus used to define his disciples; add a little flavor to your witness, make 'em thirsty for more!  

Be the light;

Bring the light;

Bear the light --- this is the one needed most in this current time when it is easier to just bemoan and quit. Yes, we are scared, angry, troubled, divided.....the perfect time to be who we claim to be --- light, to be the very best version of our disciple selves. Let there be light --- bring it!

Las Posadas

 

Today, December 16, marks the start of "Las Posadas."  A Mexican tradition, posadas means shelter and in an imitation of Mary and Joseph and their journey to Bethlehem and seeking shelter, people go from home to home singing Christmas carols and seeking a safe space; only to be refused and to eventually return to the church where they are welcomed in (don't you wish that really was so????) to a party with hot chocolate, cookies, candy and a pinata filled with even more goodies!

Searching for something new that would emphasize and offer a teachable moment for our call to be hospitable and welcoming to all, I held Las Posadas several times at congregations where I served as pastor.  The first couple events, we had someone in the congregation who knew someone who provided a donkey to make it very realistic!  Those were major successes as a group of people walking a donkey around a small Pennsylvania urban or suburban town was sure to draw attention. Once we got back to the church, the kids took turns riding the donkey, petting the donkey, taking photos of the donkey and feeding the donkey on occasion carrots, yet, mostly cookies and pretzels.

Of course, part of the event was choosing what kids would play the role of Mary and Joseph. We followed the ol' Biblical tradition of drawing names.  Worked.  I confess to one whiny child who "never got picked to do anything" (I wonder why....) I did drop the, "hey, it's Biblical...." quieted him right up.

One year in Erie, we planned the event and the woman who had the donkey bailed on us the day of. The chair of our children's ministry team suggested that I be the donkey (feel free to insert, well, you are an ass comment here) and made a very impressive donkey head piece with ears and a belt with a tail and then face-painted my nose black and the rest is Las Posadas history. I carried Mary on my shoulders and held Joseph's hand as we walked the neighborhood. 

In the Las Posadas event, we'd approach a home and the resident would come to the door and we'd start to sing carols, one of the adults in the group would whisper to the homeowner to answer, when asked if they have any room for us, "No. Sorry. I have no room." Of course one woman just didn't get it. When Mary and Joseph asked, "Do you have any room for us?"  She answered,  "Sure, I do!  You all can come in!  There's a pot of coffee on, I can make some hot chocolate, I'll get out some cookies....don't worry about the donkey, you can tie him up to the railing."  As she is going on and on, I the pastor, am waving my arms as if trying to land a plane, shaking my head vigorously and doing my best Nancy Reagan impersonation as I mouthed to her the words, "Just say no."  ....it's hard to know how to be helpful sometimes....