God of the living word, give us the faith to receive your message, the wisdom to know what it means, and the courage to put it into practice. Amen.
Son of God, light that shines in the dark, child of peace, help us to come to you and be born anew this holy night. Amen.
“In the beginning was the word….”
In the beginning, God’s good people struggled to have a more clear sense of their Creator. Today, we still seek to know God in the context of the scriptural message promising us that God’s good word has indeed been with us from the beginning of time.
Humor columnist Dave Barry describes one of our more bizarre modern rituals as we seek in this holiday season the True Word-- the “Light”—or, more specifically, a better parking place.
“Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the holiday season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space.”
In the beginning, parking spaces were limited and precious, especially during particularly busy times on the calendar.
One day, a Roman Catholic monk of Louisville, Kentucky does something we Americans know all too well: he drives to a shopping mall. From the quiet isolation and comforting discipline of a close-knit spiritual community, the monk walks into a foreign world of commercial frenzy, long lines, and, yes, few parking places. What a difference from the monastic life of prayer and meditation.
In the words of this monk, Thomas Merton, one of the more renowned theologians of our 20th century, “I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.”
He continues, “The conception of ‘separation from the world’ that we have in the monastery too easily presents itself as a complete illusion.”
Merton describes the moment in the shopping center as a major turning point in his life, a new awareness of the presence of the Holy not just in the world around him, but also in his own heart, his own soul.
“In the beginning was the word…”
A few evenings ago, we worshiped together a new liturgy, “The Longest Night,” in this sacred space of Holy Comforter. From this Winter Solstice of the 21st day of December, the light of the sun upon the earth, in our hemisphere, will begin a daily increase, brightening our lives ever so gradually as we move from winter to spring.
During the worship service, we lifted up Mary and Joseph, the earthly and most humble mother and father of the Nativity. The young couple had lived with both burden and promise since the visit of the angel—a visit of profound announcement, first troubling and even frightful, now revealed as glorious, life-changing, wise and wonderful.
As you and I bumble through our own life journeys, we do, thanks be to God, have our own serendipitous moments of clarity and hope. Those moments, often in community, may carry us over to the other side from darkness and doubt, loss and despair.
“In the beginning was the word….”
We might say, “Well, I am just not religious or inspired enough. I’m not a disciplined monk, like Merton. I am just too jaded, task- scheduled and tired. Seven days is not enough to get it all done, and now I have to worry about Christmas bills, health insurance and the future of my children.”
Still, the mystery of God calls--in the most ordinary of moments—and we are reminded of that impossible and unavoidable connection to one another—and to our beginning in time, our Creator. Like Merton’s moment of recognition, like the epiphany of Mary and Joseph, we may be startled by the sacredness of something so small as a meal with special family and friends, the appearance of a loved one at our doorstep or the smile of gratitude from a stranger.
“In the beginning was the word…”
In all of the distraction of our crazy lives, we seek pause, a place of still sanctuary—if only for a minute—and we listen for that presence, the call of the angel and the lantern of Good News. Christmas warms our hearts and lightens our souls with a most incredible claim: Emmanuel, God is with us in birth, life and death, in a crowded store or pew, in a time of grief and pain, in the confusion of preparation and the cry of a newborn baby and the joyful tune of a carol offering praise and a new day.
“In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Amen.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, a parish of The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
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