Christmas Greetings From a Fairy to a Child

This poem is from Lewis Carroll and comes to us by our Urban Skye friend and school teacher, Marilyn.

Lady, dear, if Fairies may
For a moment lay aside
Cunning tricks and elfish play,
Tis at happy Christmas-tide.

We have heard the children say--
Gentle children, whom we love--
Long ago on Christmas Day,
Came a message from above.

Still, as Christmas-tide comes round,
They remember it again--
Echo still the joyful sound
"Peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Yet the hearts must childlike be
Where such heavenly guests abide;
Unto children, in their glee,
All the year is Christmas-tide!

Thus, forgetting tricks and play
For a moment, Lady dear,
We would wish you, if we may,
Merry Christmas, glad New Year

A Genuine Choice

Maggi Dawn, Beginnings and Endings (and what happens in between): Daily Bible readings from Advent to Epiphany, (Dec. 20 reading)

Between the lines of this story, though, is also woven the intriguing idea of a call being a genuine choice. God calls Mary to be the mother of God; he doesn’t insist that she will be or impose his will upon her. He waits for her acquiescence. Some have wondered before now whether God had made this call to other ‘Marys’, who had not been willing to grasp the possibility. There is almost the sense that while Mary ponders and questions and considers, heaven waits with bated breath to see whether this time the offer will be received. What kind of God is willing to allow for the unfolding of salvation to hinge on the decision of a teenage girl in a rural backwater? At the creation, God worked with nothing to create something (Genesis 1:1-2), but this new creation was worked in partnership with humans, and God’s plan unfolded only with Mary’s cooperation. The call of God is an invitation, not an imposition.

Celtic Evening Prayer for Blessing during Advent.

God of the watching ones,
give us Your Benediction.

God of the waiting ones,
give us Your good word for our souls.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,

And of the angels in heaven,

And of the child in the womb,

give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest and rise
in the kindness of Your company.

In the name of the Father,
And the Son,
And the Holy Spirit
Amen.

Angel Texts

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

A Brief History of Angels and Demons

How many angels can stand on the head of a pin? This was a serious question among Middle Age theologians (I’m talking about the medieval kind, by the way). They wondered if angels occupied any space? The question was part of a highly developed theology of the spirit world over which they poured much time and energy. Angels and demons were aplenty, in their mind if not their world, and the perched gargoyles we see in surviving churches remind us of the influence of spirit beings in more than architecture.

The Middle Ages gave way to the Reformation when a split in the Church moved many theologians toward a more carefully defined biblical theology. Conjecture and tradition took a back seat to the Bible Alone and as the Protestant Bible did not offer great detail regarding the spirit world, neither did the reformers. John Calvin in his "Institutes", for example, summed up angeology with one biblical verse, Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)

The Enlightenment came on the heels of the Reformation and transcendent beings of all kinds went the way of the dodo. The spiritual world was explained rationally or dismissed altogether. One of my favorite theologians, Stanley Grenz, describes it this way, Angels became an embarrassment to Christian theologians who sought to articulate the faith in an age of science and rationalism.

This brings us to the Current Era which seems to borrow from its three predecessors. Mostly, I think, we are reacting against the anti-supernatural bias of the Enlightenment. Angels and Demons have reemerged into our national consciousness in this bizarre mix of highly sophisticated technology (thanks to the Enlightenment) combined with a deep, primordial craving for the transcendent (thanks for God).

With the musical group Train who is “Calling all angels”, we question where they are more than are they there.

Annunciation

Anna Kamienska
Translated from the Polish

He stood wrapped in air
he said like an angel do not be afraid
then he announced something in a language
which I didn’t comprehend
Lord how much we don’t understand of the most important things
then I remained alone

No one can know
how lonely it is
when an angel departs
the world is then immense open and empty
and the voice cannot describe it
and no hand is friendly enough
words are all mute tied

From no on even an eternity
would be too short for expectation

The Question of Evil

With its screen presence, The Lord of the Rings has captured the imagination of yet another generation (who, unfortunately, may never feel the need to read the book). One low point in the compelling drama comes at the battle of Helm’s Deep. A fortress that had never been breeched in its glorious history was overrun by dark creatures hell-bent on the destruction of all things good in Middle Earth.

The armies of men and the elves who fought beside them had retreated as far as The Deep would allow. Trapped in the last enclave, it was the King of Rohan who uttered the despair that most were feeling,

What can be done against so much evil?

That’s the question, isn’t it? And, it’s not only a fair question, it is a necessary one. No theology that refuses to tackle the question of evil is worth its salt. How does God deal with systematic, widespread evil? We look to the past and see some disturbing trends; evil often seems to have its way. We look to the far future with hope it won’t be an issue in eternity. We simply try to avoid it in the present.

Not since Reagan’s “Evil Empire” references has the concept of evil made its way into the national conversation. A kinder, gentler nation – 9/11 notwithstanding – rarely names the darkness. Instead, we allow fingers to point in all directions especially up at The One who is supposed to be sovereign. Armed with our modern “What’s God done for me lately” theology we scream heavenward believing that He will never answer.

But maybe He already has.

In the nativity we see God take on the darkness. And it was dark. Widespread, systematic evil was embodied in a king who killed on whims and ruled his empire with the sword. Women were raped without any way of recourse, the poor were jailed without a trial, no one spoke their mind in public for fear of punishment. On one unthinkable occasion, this threatened king deployed his Roman troops to kill baby boys in a small town out of fear that one might fulfill an old prophecy.

What can be done against so much evil?

Invade the darkness with a Greater Power, one that has to ability to unnerve the violent and give hope to the violated. One that is animated by a source not of this world while being intimately involved in it. One that is shrewdly innocent, so shrewd in fact that it will look like a monumental failure to most but will overcome evil in such a fashion that that evil itself can be transformed.

Unto you a Savior has been born. Advent. That is the response to evil.

Watching and Waiting

I went to buy stamps in December. By any account this was a silly move, especially on a Saturday. I did have the presence of mind to go to our small post office hidden in the back an Ace Hardware. Seeing only one gal in line as I passed the corner display of yule logs, I was feeling brilliant. That was before I was told that the particular stamps I needed for a mailing were completely sold out.

So, I hurried over to the big post office in downtown Littleton. I arrived at 11:57 and joined the line. Not that I’m counting, but there were fourteen people in front of me.

How do we wait?

Some wait by staying busy. They got on their phones to attach themselves to someone not in their miserable situation. They may have been multitasking, getting some things done while “wasting time” in a line. More likely, they called a friend refusing to face 30 minutes with nothing but their own thoughts. Stay occupied and it won’t feel like waiting.

Some wait by complaining. Nothing seems to build unity out of diversity like a common foe. Thank God for the United States Postal Service. Why are there only three windows open? They sure are chatty up there! Do you see the guy with a dolly full of packages! Focus on your discontent and maybe the time will pass more quickly.

I decided to wait by watching. I watched people. I watched the guy two people up stepped out of line for ten seconds to look at some packaging options displayed on the wall. He even pointed his back foot toward the line like a ballerina as it to say “I still have a spot.” We all knew what he was doing but that didn’t stop the woman in front of me to move up forcing him to squeeze back in to his place. What a waiting game we play.

A lot of my watching, however, was not of people but of time.

12:07 I made it out of the lobby into the mail room.
12:12 I’m half way there, only seven in front of me and I get to rest on the large island counter.
12:16 I get excited to see a couple move to the window that I had counted as two singles!
12:19 I’m at the window placing my stamp order.
12:22 Victory! I walk out past the line slowly enough to count the poor mortals still waiting.
There are fourteen.

Waiting and watching.

We cannot watch unless we wait, but waiting doesn’t guarantee our watching will be any more than killing time. I can see that longs gaps without any sense of an advent, or coming of God into my life leads me to any of the above. I may stay busy, complain, watch how others respond to the silence, or get caught up in counting the time. I suppose that, like me, the Church has done all of these over the years.

But, as Thoreau once said, you can’t kill time with injuring eternity.

So, with eternity in mind I seek to be more intentional in my watching for the coming of God in and around me. If God has already revealed Himself in the lives of an old priest and his wife, a young small town girl and her fiancé, a guy and his family who had a stable, and some crusty shepherds then He is probably already doing things around my humble circumstances.

I’m watching for it.

The Slaughter of the Innocents

Who Says
Julia Hartwig
Translated from the Polish

While the innocents were being massacred who says
that flowers didn’t bloom, that the air didn’t breather bewildering scents
that birds didn’t rise to the heights of their most accomplished songs
that young lovers didn’t twine in love’s embraces

But would it have been fitting if a scribe of the time had shown this
and not the monstrous uproar on a street drenched with blood
the wild screams of mothers with infants torn from their arms
the scuffling, the senseless laughter of soldiers
aroused by the touch of women’s bodies and young breast warm with milk

Flaming torches tumbled down stone steps
there seemed no hope of rescue
and violent horror soon gave way to the still more awful numbness of despair

At that moment covered by the southern night’s light shadow
a bearded man leaning on a staff and a girl with a child in her arms
were fleeing lands ruled by the cruel tyrant
carrying the world’s hope to a safer place
beneath silent stars in which these events hade been recorded centuries ago

Herod, The Great

The Need for a 3rd Way
Every good story begins in innocence and then introduces the tragedy to be overcome. In the Nativity Story, the innocence is seen in an elderly priest and his wife who never had a baby and the young love of a small town couple. The tragedy was embodied in the King of the land, a man named Herod.

Herod was a threatened but powerful king, a dangerous combination. He had murdered family members as well as competitors including his favorite son just days before his own death (giving rise to Caesar Augustus’ famous quote, "I’d rather be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.")

We’re told he was terrified at the rumor of another king being born. Intimidating the religious scholars, he found out the prophecy of where the child king was to be born and proceeded to manipulate the unsuspecting Magi to confirm it. Then, the response:

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious,
and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were
two years old and under…(Matthew 2:16)

Herod committed so many crimes against humanity that what the Church refers to as “the slaughter of the innocents” did not even warrant a footnote in the annals of Roman history. Perhaps it was because “only” a couple dozen little boys killed in the hunt for the Baby Jesus.

We remember early in our Advent journey that The Third Way is needed because Love has enemies.

The Third Way

“Fight or flight” was coined by American Psychologist Walter Cannon in 1915 to describe a natural response to a percieved enemy. Originally applied only to the animal world, these two ways are also used to describe how we human animals respond to threats. Simply put, when
backed into a corner we tend toward one or the other. Understandable. But, when “fight” or “flight” become our only options for any perceived threat, these “natural” ways will harm us rather than heal us. If unrestrained…

… the First Way will respond to any threat with a fist. Return evil for evil, abuse for abuse, until the scoreboard lights up in your favor.

… the Second Way will run from the fight. Tell yourself that cooperating with evil will work out in the end and that turning a blind eye is better than getting another a black one.

The soul (as well as the body) suffers when violence or passivity reigns. A Third Way is needed. It is needed wherever the struggle is with matters of justice and mercy, for ourselves and for those we love and champion. On a grand scale, it’s been practiced within nations, but it also works itself out in the common places of life: marriage, parenting, work, neighbors, even strangers.

During this Advent let’s take a four-week walk in the Third Way. Adventus.

Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus.
Behold, the Lord, the Ruler, is come.

Welcome to Advent

Advent is the season when we remember the Coming of God into the world in the most unexpected of ways. It is a holy season, marking “sacred time” – the beginning of the Church calendar – as opposed to “ordinary time.” Historically, it has always carried with it the theme
of preparation. In this sacred time we prepare ourselves to make Him room. That’s tough sledding these days.

Our typical preparation for Christmas is a bumper-to-bumper on-ramp for the Holiday Superhighway. It has a kind of violence to it, spiritually and emotionally, if not physically. Ubiquitous marketing. Mindnumbing jingles. Shameless insistence that we must consume more now than the rest of the year. And, HURRY! By all means, hurry to get it all done or you won’t be merry! (God rest ye merry gentlemen must surely refer to those recovering from the holidays.)

This Advent, join Urban Skye in our counter-cultural attempt to slow down and bring some spiritual intention to these four weeks preceding Christmas. Our blogging this season will be an invitation to enter the Story of the Nativity through the theme of The Third Way.

May you find Peace in His coming. May you find your Way.
The Urban Skye Community in DenverWelcome to Advent

4th Week of Advent, 2006

It is early on Christmas Eve day. I sit with Charlie in front of the fire (a real one with logs and smoke). Like any sane kid, he’s mesmerized by the dancing light. He’s also commenting on how slow the day seems to be going. I’m waiting for the girls to stir so I can yell, “Christmas Eve Gift!” a tradition from Shari’s side of the family which results in an early present. I owed everyone last year even with the advantage of being the first one up.

Shari and I spoke last night on the way home from our last pre-Christmas gathering. We thought back through the last couple of busy weeks and asked out loud the question, “Do you feel less stressed this year?”

I suppose the “stress meter” is not the most positive way to view the success of Advent, but it is a real one for us. What we sensed was that in the midst of the crazy season we both found some places of peace this year. Peace. That is the ticket for all of us. Peace deep down, solid enough to stand on. Peace you can’t conjure but only, somehow, receive.

Certainly this kind of peace is not circumstantial. It’s not our right for surviving the holidays.

Before we had this conversation, our day was not full of peaceful things. My car overheated and died unexpectedly on Broadway. 4 hours later through the efforts of two good friends and James, my new AAA buddy, my only “snow car” settled into holiday resting place.

Hours before this, very early on the 23^rd, we get the call we’d been anticipating. Shari’s grandmother has passed away. She was 91 and ready to go be at home with God but it is sad not to see her in our world again. Tears have been part of our Advent.

Certainly peace is not like a present under the tree that always gets to be opened just because of the holiday. For it’s not the holidays, but Him that brings us peace.

In our search for true peace, let’s turn our affections this last Sunday in Advent, to the mother of our Lord, the one who birthed Peace. Her posture in the face of all the hopes - the gift of a child, the visit from an angel, a new husband, the filling of the Holy Spirit - and all the fears - searching for a place to give birth, escaping to Eygpt, hearing chilling prophecies about her baby - was to treasure and ponder. She ran from nothing. She embraced everything. She found peace.

May you receive the peace that He offers.

May Christ Himself meet you in your places of light and darkness.

Merry Christmas, Dave