From the Pastor
I’ve always liked this Advent meditation by J. Barrie Shepherd:
Just when you were convinced that the inevitable was already
happening, just when the dailyness of every single thing had finally
persuaded you not to expect, not even to look,
just when tomorrow had completely lost its meaning
as distinct from everyday,
a melody of dancing was caught from far away,
one sigh became transmuted in mid-air into a gasp of sheer astonishment,
and now a word, He comes, new whispered on December’s wind,
melts grim-set lips to simple speech and framing salutations.
At the Nelson home, I’m sure there are Halloween decorations we still haven’t put away, not to mention left over Thanksgiving turkey, and suddenly the Advent and Christmas seasons are upon us once again. Once again…for me that is the key phrase. What can be said about Advent and Christmas once again? Anything new? Or is it even necessary to say anything new?
A colleague writes, “I have always enjoyed reading to my children. When they were younger and I got to the end of the story they would almost always say, ‘Again!’ Children, unlike adults, know the value in repeating a good story.” Thinking about that, it occurs to me that there is one story before which we are children still. We do not tire of it, because it stirs something in us each time. This is a season when we all say, “Again! Tell it again!” About how Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem. “Tell it again!” About how the baby was born in a manger when there was no room in the inn. “Tell it again!” About the angels and the shepherds. “Tell it again!” About how God so loved the world that God sent the only begotten son. “Tell it again!”
Yes, the world remains mired in suffering, violence and oppression. Peace on earth, even peace in our hearts, seem as far away as ever. Old grief, old pain, old anxiety refuse to let us go. And then, “new whispered on December’s wind,” we hear an old story that remains forever new, and hope is reborn. Join us this Advent and Christmas as we tell it once again. Gene
