Christmas Day

Our readings for Christmas Day are:

1. Isaiah 52: 7-10
   
2. Psalms 98: 1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
   
3. Hebrews 1: 1-6
   
4. John 1: 1-18
   

• Your God is king!
  
• Whenever a lot of chaos is in evidence, the first question to come up is "who's in charge here" be it a crime scene or a commercial loading dock.  We want to know whether there's a plan in place, whether all of this frenzied activity has any direction.
• What are some events in your life that make you think that God is in charge in your life?
• What was your role in those events?
• How might you have been more open to God at that time?
• What did you learn?
  

• What are you praising God for lately?
  
• Organized praise is a tricky matter.  On the one hand, you don't want to be so structured that it becomes nothing more than a formality.  On the other hand, (at least for those of us in the OCD ranks) too much freedom in a large group can lead to liturgical mayhem.
• What would you like to praise God for in a large gathering?
• How would you go about expressing that praise?
• Do you think that it matters to God whether you express that privately or in a large setting?
• Do you think anyone else is interested in hearing why you think that God is great?
  

• The physicality of sacrament
  
• Presence comes to us in many ways.  A warm hug, a sunrise that takes your breath away, the sight of a soaring hawk, the baptism of a close friend, that close friend themselves.
• What are some ways that Jesus is present to you?
• How are they the same?
• How are they different?
• Why do you think that God comes to us in so many ways?
• What do we lose if we miss one or more of those Presences?
  

• Have you incarnated today?
  
• The incarnation is not an event, it's a process.  Bringing God's Presence to the earth is not limited to Jesus.  How could it be?  He told us to follow Him.
• How have you been that Presence to others in your life?
• How has that gift that you give changed you?
• How do you know when you have given enough?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might God be looking for my participation in His kingship?
   
2. How might I express my appreciation for/to God more deeply?
3. Where is God Present to me that I may not have noticed?
   
4. Where might God be calling me to give of myself in new ways?  What might he want me to leave behind?
   

Arrival

I can't hear the angels singing anymore.

At least not the way that I used to.

But I hear the sound

Of my mother's blood

Washing back and forth

In a responsorial chorus to her great heart.

I feel my heart too.

Different it is, from hers.

The to and fro, not as stately.

The rhythms not as slow.

Separate, yet not alone here.

Her blood keeps gentle company with mine.

While we wait together

For the day when we will part.

I belong.

Here, with her, right now.

Finding my way in the world through her.

Shaking with her laughter, mourning in her tears.

All is arrival, all is sacrament.

This season of togetherness and oneness.

Makes all birth holy, all blood sacred.

All water a baptism, a doorway.

My hands feel each other in the dark.

My fingers interlock.

Separate, yet one none the less.

I stretch out my hand and feel -

Feel the walls of my new home.

Feel the tidal rhythm of my mother's breathing.

Know our oneness, and separateness

In our flesh, shared, yet distinct.

This place I tabernacle in is holy.

Holy as it has been since the beginning.

This embrace of flesh surrounding

Surrounding and sustaining.

This flesh is not a wall, but a door to an ancient love.

An old old love with a new expression.

An intimacy unimaginable,

Yet one imagined so long ago.

Rhythmic spasms pulse through us,

My limbs are squeezed through the narrow door.

My lungs emptied of the familiar fluid.

My eyes open for the first time.

I get my first glimpse of creation through these eyes.

I smell the warm moistness of the cattle, sheep, chickens,

I feel the rough cloth upon my tender skin,

And I am comforted by the sound of angels singing once again.

Shalom!