CHRISTMAS DAY IS THE FEAST OF THE INCARNATION, the celebration of God with us. That which we have longed for has entered our human experience. In Christmas services, we hear the pronouncement of the angel: “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.” Families and churches often represent the Incarnation
The Gift of Christmas The Christmas season is such a beautiful time of the year. Lights, candles, and cutout snowflakes begin to decorate our city’s streets. People begin to adorn their homes with the colors of red and green, wreaths, candles, and dazzling arrays of lights. These decorations even spill into our schools and businesses. That’s the Christmas season! That is the Christmas season? This past week, as I was speaking with one of my
THE CRECHE CHRISTMAS EVE is the beginning of the feast of the Nativity, the celebration of God with us. All of the waiting and preparation of Advent leads us to this night. On the evening before the celebration of Christ’s birth, the church gathers for a vigil. Images of darkness and light suffuse our worship during the Christmas Eve liturgy: we are entering into the dark night of our Savior’s birth, when Light will come
THE BRIEF AND POTENT PRAYERS OF THIS WEEK of the Advent season so beautifully weave together all the many themes of Advent. They have been used at least since the seventh century in [Western Christian] monasteries, which are among the few remaining communities still singing them to mark the week beginning December 17 as a special time in the Advent season. Some Benedictine hospitals keep this tradition as well; only in the pediatric ward will you see
The Russian Nativity Icon The Russian nativity icon vividly portrays the Christmas perspective of the Orthodox Church. Through symbolism and teaching about Gods incarnation (becoming human) the icon presents Christmas as a “feast of re-creation.” The word icon is a Greek word meaning “image” or “likeness.” The nativity icon is done in an art style dating back to the sixth century Byzantine Empire. Orthodox iconography is a purely idealistic art form. Through the Byzantine style
Thin Places (Part III) More hectic than holy? If you visit Bethlehem today, you’ll find that it doesn’t have the same kind of pastoral, quiet and mystical aura of a thin place like Iona. There’s jostling with a long line of pilgrims waiting to get into the Church of the Nativity, monks yelling instructions to be quiet, cameras flashing, security officers mulling about — all for people to get one chance to touch the star
Thin Places (Part I) A thin place, according to the ancients, was the small space between heaven and Earth, and if you could find such a space, you were indeed blessed. Was — is — Bethlehem such a place? The Isle of Iona in Scotland is a tiny, windswept place in the western Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It’s a skinny little island, only about 3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, but
SOMEONE TO SURRENDER TO And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. – JOHN 1:14 Let me begin with a quote from twentieth-century writer G.K. Chesterton: “When a person has found something which he prefers to life itself, he (sic) for the first time has begun to live.” Jesus in his proclamation of the kingdom
THE BLIND FAITH OF MARY AND JOSEPH Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. -ISAIAH 7:14 Kingdom people are history makers. They break through the small kingdoms of this world to an alternative and much larger world, God’s full creation. People who are still living in the false self are history stoppers. They use God and
THE PROPHET MALACHI, chosen in church tradition to conclude the Hebrew Scriptures, has for us both a blessing and a warning. Yes, the Lord we seek will come, suddenly, to his temple. “The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” This passage is echoed in the Revelation to John, when
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