Dec 11

I'm not sure why, but I seem to be attracted back to Ann Weems poetry this time of year.  They are poems I've read several years ago, and some just seem to stay with me and arise in my thoughts at certain times.   I was recently at a friend’s house for breakfast with their 5 year old and was reminded of how profound the simplicity of raising your glass to another can be – even a glass of orange juice at breakfast!  I'm a huge lover of brunch and this time of year often make brunch dates with friends I don’t get to see often enough.   And as I will do with them, I also invite you to raise a glass to those you love and care about, to those you hold deep in your heart,  to those you dine with, whether it’s a glass of orange juice at breakfast, a mug of tea or coffee at brunch, or a glass of wine in the evening!  Here’s to you!  

   To You!  

"This morning I was toasted by a two-year old Who raised her orange juice glass to mine and said, “To you!” She brought the morning; she moved a mountain; She brought flowers out of barren land and sunlight from darkness. What a way to start the day – affirmed and celebrated!  

Remember to celebrate those across the breakfast table. When did you last tell them they are precious? You told them to take out the trash, to make their beds, But did you tell them they are cherished? You told them they were wrong; you told them to hurry up; But did you tell them they are beautiful? We celebrate events or days or heroes, But take for granted the joy of the familiar.  

So here’s to you, familiar faces at my breakfast table! Here’s to smiles, sleepy kisses, and theological questions at dawn! Here’s to unbrushed teeth, unmade beds, and unpicked-up clothes! Here’s to dirty tennis shoes with one blue sock and one brown! Here’s to last night’s scores and news told before I read it! Here’s to my cold cup of coffee, to the lunch forgotten! Here’s to the little girl who wants ice cream with her eggs! Here’s to the daddy who thinks that’s funny! Here’s to the man who loves us so and lets us know! I cherish you who breakfast with me. You are sun in my rain – sustenance and star.  

O Lord, free us to thank God for each other! Free us to click orange juice glasses clear across your Kingdom In every family and in the larger family of the gathered church. Here’s to you, saints who remembered to love! Here’s to those who heal, teach, listen, comfort; Who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give a cup of cold water, Weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice, And stand by to pick us up and brush us off! Here’s to the peacemakers and the prophets – Their justice, their mercy, their humility, Their strength that does not falter! Here’s to those who have been freed to free us, To their song that never ends, To the saints who keep on dancing! Here’s to you!"   

And the only thing I would add to this is, May it be so, and may we never take for granted the joy of the familiar!   Amen! And Amen!

Blessings, Eric Hamlyn! reminded of this poem” To You!” From Reaching For Rainbows.

Dec 10

The wolf shall live with the lamb The leopard shall lie down with the kid The calf and the lion and the fatling together, And a little child shall lead them.  Isaiah 11: 6  

What is it that makes us use violence to settle our conflicts? Why do nations make military budgets a priority?  Why do we punish the lawbreaker withoutoffering effective rehabilitation?  Why is it that the only way we know how to build ourselves up, is by somehow diminishing another?  

Our instincts make us want to protect ourselves and those that we love and that which is ours, first and foremost.  That is why the image of the peaceable kingdom is so startling.  It goes against our instincts.   

The image of those who would normally be adversaries, of those who have immense power over another- co-existing in harmony, rattles our sensibilities.  And yet, this vision that upsets our innate impulses reveals to us what our deepest yearnings are made of.  Even deeper than our instincts, lies the desire to live in right relationship.  This is how God fashioned us.  This is God’s deepest yearning for us.  

And through the birth of a tiny, poor and vulnerable baby, we live in hope for this deepest yearning to be fulfilled.   We know this because we know that it is not through our own instinct that we forgive a friend for revealing a confidence, or that our hearts open to the plight of the Syrian refugees, or that we give away our money to help others in the midst of this spending frenzied season.   We know the yearning for authentic and right relationship is real because it is awakened deep within us, through the cry of a newborn child.

~Rev. Lori Megley-Best

Dec 9

On Advent, from Frederich Buechner, Whistling in the Dark

The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised the baton.

In the silence of a midwinter dusk there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen.

You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff in the air of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you've never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart.

The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.

The Salvation Army Santa Claus clangs his bell. The side-walks are so crowded you can hardly move. Exhaust fumes are the chief fragrance in the air, and everybody is as bundled up against any sense of what all the fuss is really about as they are bundled up against the wind-chill factor.

But if you concentrate just for an instant, far off in the deeps of yourself somewhere you can feel the beating of your heart. For all its madness and lostness, not to mention your own, you can hear the world itself holding its breath. ~Rev. Dan Chambers

Dec 8th

The Road is Not Lonely

Advent, Christmas happen with or without us.  As we journey closer to the manger, the demands on our ministry tend to increase.  It's tempting to think we are responsible for everyone's deep and meaningful experience of the season, including our own.  Of course we know we are not, but when we are caught in this thinking it can help to remember not only the Great Giver of Gifts, but also the company of others who have prepared the way before us and those with whom we tend the fires today.    The words of this prayer by Jan Richardson have helped me remember:  "For all the generations that have prepared the way; for all the unseen hands that have made ready every space; for those who light the fires of welcome and who tend to every resting place, O God of every pilgrim, we bless you with our thanks." (J.L. Richardson "Night Visions" United Church Press, Cleveland, 1998) ~Rev. Nancy Talbot

Dec 4th

Today's Advent Reflection thanks to Dan Chambers of BC Conference's Spiritual Care Network.
Three Quotes for the day

“You see things and say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’”
George Bernard Shaw

Dec 3rd

Stable or Inn? Polly Berends in her book “Gently Lead” talks about the conditions under which the Christ Child is born.  “Suppose the Inn and the Stable are really just two states of mind” she says.  “What is the Inn Conciousness in which there is ‘no room’ for the Christ Child?  What is the Inn too full of? People, trying to get ahead, looking out for themselves, jockeying for position, and trying to get comfortable at each other’s expense.   What about the stable?  In the stable there are only lowly animals.  They don’t think they know what’s good for them.  They don’t have much and they aren’t trying to get more.  They don’t worry about the future or where their next meal is coming from.  They trust, serve and are interested to see what’s next.  They are humble, open and willing, like a baby.  That’s where the Christ child gets born.  To maintain Stable Conciousness all you have to do is keep shoveling out the manure and bringing in fresh food.” I wonder what needs “stabilizing” in your life this Advent season?  What are you too full of?  What needs to be cleaned out and brought in?  ~Rev. Nancy Talbot       Advent Blessings from the BC Conference SCN Committee, Dan Chambers, Karen Millard, Nancy Talbot, Eric Hamlyn, Lori Megley-Best, Sally McShane, Treena Duncan and Brenda Wolff