Do You Hear?

Words, words, words! They never stop.  Whether it's a constant news cycle, our kids asking for Christmas gifts, or our work lives demanding more deadlines and time away from our personal lives.  

But most upsetting, I've suddenly noticed that most words come from my daily life.  It's what I've done or not done.  It's what is planned for next week. It's my inner-self talking about all that needs to happen today, tomorrow or next week!  It's so loud in my world.  The focus is now, December, my problems, my excitement, my worry about sickness, Christmas gatherings.

It's also a season that gives me my faith.  But the words of Christmas get so easily drowned out.  How can I hear the real message?  Am I willing to listen; for 'to hear' means I must stop and listen.

One Christmas years ago...in the midst of the hustle and bustle...I received a call to come home.  My mama was dying.  I remember driving to Jackson, Mississippi with my flashers on and driving way over the speed limit.  I arrived but she was sleeping.  The sleep before you pass.  I could touch her though.  I could see her sweet crooked fingers, see her beautiful face.  I could sit with her and remember the days, the tears, the celebrations, the love.  Her earthly story ended on December 24.  As I look back today, I'm so very grateful I listened and heard a call to go home.

We see a similar occurrence in the Christmas story.  Mary heard, Joseph heard, the shepherds heard a call. The heard a voice saying, life is not how you expect it but trust me, hear me, have faith in me.  My perspective is bigger than yours.  I have a plan and it's being fulfilled.

This Christmas season, I want to hear.  I want to listen for the call.  I want to acknowledge the bigger plan.  The plan that life overcomes death.  The plan that glory comes in a little Baby King.  To believe the unbelievable.  

Do you hear??

KathyHayes.blogspot.com

Presence (December 5, 2020)

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.   (Luke 24:25-27)

Last week, I read a Facebook post that made me chuckle.  My friend posed a question:  “Are there any of you who regularly talk to yourself?”

I thought that was funny because it seemed to me the better question would be, “Are there any of you who don’t regularly talk to yourself?”

There’s always a lot of crosstalk and noise going on in my brain.  In fact, if my mind were a television, I think it would look like this…

...several programs playing at once, some are re-runs, some are previews, all are playing at full volume.  The result is that I’m distracted, not only by what’s going on around me, but by what’s going on within me.

Just like the two travelers on the road to Emmaus, my eyes are prevented from seeing because I’m distracted by my story, my suffering, my life.  I’m not present.

What does that mean, to be “present?” When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart…all of your soul…all of your mind…and all of your strength.”  To be completely there emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically…fully attuned and attentive with every aspect of my being.

I think this is hard to achieve and takes practice.  It’s hard to stop the many programs playing in my mind…but necessary.  It’s difficult to eliminate the distractions…but essential.  It’s seemingly impossible to get out of my story…but I must!

This means practicing a new way of showing up with God.  It means prayer is no longer just a time for making announcements to God.  It means opening a quiet, listening space for the heart.

And once that space is open, the word we hear can transform us.

What does “word” mean in this context?  Maybe it is an actual written or spoken word in our native language, but I’m going to invite you to imagine something bigger.

Think of  word as it is used so mystically to open the Gospel of John:  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Used this way, word (“logos” in Greek) refers to the means by which God expresses God’s self.  How does God to that? Where is that “word” found?  And how is it experienced and understood?

An obvious answer to those questions would be scripture, and there are many who believe that the Bible is the only means by which God speaks to us—in New International Version English and translated by Americans, of course!  But that makes me wonder…what word was God using before the printing press?

Of course, we know “the word” – God’s expression of God’s self – is “spoken” in many ways:

• ·        through the words and experiences of others written across the centuries…
• ·        through the stories, questions and answers of other seekers who today are probing and questioning and wondering…
• ·        through the lives of faithful social justice activists who continue to show us that achieving the "beloved community" comes at a great price…
• ·        through beautiful music and poetry that reaches down into your wounds, all the way down to your heart…
• ·        through nature. It was Saint Francis, living long before the written word was widely available, who taught that the "word" was found in creation, our first "Bible."

These are all ways that I am experiencing the word of God…but only if I’m aware…attentive…present.

If I am mindful of Jesus' teaching that God lives within each and every one of us, perhaps the place to start the practice of presence is with those who are closest to us…by loving them with our whole hearts, souls, minds and strength…and that we are loving God by doing so.  What a good Advent practice, to be completely present to others.  We just may hear the word of God in a brand new way.

Scott Elliff

 

A 2020 Christmas

 It's almost Christmas AND we've almost finished 2020!  We're pretty excited about both of these occurrences.  This month we have the joy of saying hello to an amazing BIRTH celebration as well as saying goodbye to an amazingly strange, difficult, socially distanced, separated, disease-filled year.  But we find that even as we now anticipate the joy of Christmas, we need to find meaning in the lessons of 2020 for we're convinced they are numerous.

The two liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent have both similarities and differences.  They are different in that they bookend the life of the historical Jesus with two very different events: his birth and death

And Advent is usually seen as a time of “preparation,” while Lent is experienced as a time of “penance.”

Yet, they are similar in their invitation to make a retreat…to go inward…to reflect…to contemplate…and, perhaps, to be renewed.

The text that we chose for this Advent experience is neither new, nor is it “Christmasy”.  In fact, it’s over 25 years old and is not a nativity narrative, but a post-resurrection story: the account of two people walking to Emmaus after crucifixion of Jesus.  The book we are studying is entitled, With Burning Hearts.  And Nouwen suggests that we can embody a recurring five-step pattern in our daily lives…

· Acknowledging our suffering and losses
· Being attentive to God’s presence in our story 
· Affirming our belief
· Intimacy
· Taking action

Nouwen writes about the familiar story of two men on a journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  This story occurs just after Jesus has been hung on the cross, died, and was buried.  Women have gone to the Jesus' tomb but have found it empty.  These two travelers were men who had great hope in the new teacher but alas are now confused, sad, depressed that he has been killed.  The men were experiencing dashed hopes and dreams.  Their expectations for the year had been rudely ripped away from them.  Nothing was what they expected.  They were downcast looking for reason and trying to make sense of all that had occurred.  Luke 24:13-23

Does this sound familiar to you?  It seems very similar to our 2020.  We've been surprised, disappointed, and perplexed with next days.  We might say we've been confused and trying to sort it all out.

Let's also remember the story of Mary and Joseph and the unexpected pregnancy they experienced!  Do you think life as they expected was interuppted?  Were they shocked?  Were their parents disappointed and did they experience a life change, a new way of life?  Could their year have been ANY worse?  They had no eyes to see the future. Certainly, they had tears, questions, and confusion.  Again, just like us in 2020.

There are three things we can learn from these stories:

1. God was with them.  He walked right beside them and listened to all they needed to say.

2. God encouraged them to express their mourning for the life they expected and lost and, in that pain, they begin to SEE with new eyes.  Once they voiced their pain they were able to see God's hand in their lives.
3.  Faith won the day.  They each took steps of faith.  Faith that believes even when it cannot see.

Today, we have the same assurance.  He is with us.  He has never left our side.  He knows the pain of 2020 and he encourages us to voice the mourning of what we lost this year.  And somehow, in that awakening to our losses, our recognition that we need a healing God, we actually begin the process of being renewed.  It's a way of living called Faith.  Faith in who God says He is: the beginning and the end, the Savior of the world, the Hope, the One who loves unconditionally.

Let's join the these fellow travelers and recognize that God is with us.  Let's express our sorrow for the year and give Him all that pain.  And then, express Faith that He indeed is our Savior and He is coming!

Kathy and Scott

Can We Open our Presents Yet?

THIS is the time of the Christmas season that as a young girl I begin to moan..."Can we open our presents?  Please, just one?"  My parents denied this request over and over again until Christmas Eve. Their rule was that we could open only one gift on Christmas Eve; and unfortunately Mama got to decide which gift!!  As I child I hated this rule as I wanted to decide which gift I would open!  I think my children felt the same way as we continued the same tradition...and still do!

Over 35 years ago, on Christmas Eve I was cooking special bread for friends.  I had been cooking all day long.  I was making cream cheese braids and it was a process of mixing, rising, filling, baking, waiting and then drizzling icing.  I was bone tired as we had prepared over 30 loaves of bread that day.   I had on my soiled apron, my face was flour-tinged, my hair was falling out of my pony tail, I had no makeup on and was ready to collapse.  It was around 6 p.m. when my boyfriend, who had helped me all day, told me that I could open one present on Christmas Eve.  Suddenly, I wasn't so tired any longer.

We entered his little den where a small Christmas tree waited with a few gifts underneath.  There was this very small ring-shaped box that I wanted to open!  As I looked at Ray with hopeful eyes, he simply shook his head and handed me another thin, shirt-sized box to open.  Again, I was denied what I wanted.  I took the gift Ray handed me and with hidden disappointment I began to unwrap the gift.  My mind was filled with thoughts of the years I had longed for a ring from this man; the one I loved and hoped to marry.  But, it was not to be on this night.  Chin up, I thought!  You must act pleased.  I unwrapped the box to find long white gloves...the type my mother wore in church in the 1950's.  I was stunned and really had no great exclamations of excitement.  "Oh, how nice I stumbled."  Ray, not to be deterred, hardly noticed.  He encouraged me to try them on so I slipped the right glove on..."it's pretty," I stammered.  Upon Ray's urging I continued to the other glove.  As I slipped it on my hand I felt something in the finger of the left hand.  What??? As I hurriedly removed the glove, there lay a perfect diamond ring.  As I looked at Ray, he simply said, "Will you?"

My heart hammered in my chest and burned with love for him, our future, the love he offered me.  The gift I wanted to open was not the one that was best for me that night.

This Christmas, we will be receiving many gifts from those we love but there is ONE gift that is the very best for you and me.  It's the One we must open to receive all the love offered.  His gift for us awaits us.  Let's not let the ONE gift lie unopened on Christmas morning.  For that's the nature of gifts, we must open them up and receive them.  Surely our hearts will hammer and burn like never before.  This gift of love is like no other.

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, "Were not our hears burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"  Luke 24:31

'Twas the Night Before

Mary and Joseph entered a tiny village with no where to bed;

She was very pregnant and perhaps he was filled with dread.

For where would they stay?

This blessed couple on whom the Christ child lay.

They were rejected by hotel and inn; 
but had knowledge that new life was about to begin.

Surrounded by the cold, the hay, the animals, the smell; 

But grateful the day had ended; e're not so well.

The stirrings began and soon came the One;

Who knew what had truly now begun?

Miles away the rough shepherds, like me and you; 

Looked to the sky and were startled anew.

But once they saw, once they heard;

There was no question that life would forever be altered.

They followed the love, they followed the call, they followed what their hearts could see.

He had come.  Finally, finally He had come.  No more hollow hearts, no more tears, no more striving to be more, finally freedom to be, to be who He created me to be.

Where do I find myself this week, this week before the birth?  Am I struggling to find rest?  Am I harried with the cold, dread of what lies ahead...the errands, the cooking, the company, the craziness we call Christmas.  Can I pull away and find the stillness that Mary and Joseph found in the birth place of Jesus?  Can I pull away and find myself as a shepherd in the quietness of a hillside?  For that is where the Glory will appear in this week before.  Choose for yourself today and break away to the quietness of the Christ.  He is coming.

The Fore Telling

We are a people who like to know what's coming next!  As a young girl, I loved going to the State Fair in Jackson, Mississippi.  Foolishly, my girlfriends and I always wanted to visit the palm reader.  We were in middle school wanting to know what was coming next.  Will I find a boyfriend who will like an overweight girl with freckles?  Will I go to college? Will I marry?  Will I have kids?  The palm reader would read our palms and all the answers seemed amazingly similar for each of us but we somehow didn't notice.  For she was telling us what we wanted to hear.  So, we happily paid our few coins and anticipated our futures!

Much more significantly, God also fore told some great news about our lives.  The Christmas season offers us a joyful type of fore telling....Christmas is coming!  Get ready!  Only 17 shopping days left!  Children are anticipating, excited for Christmas morning.  We know what's coming and we anticipate!  But isn't the fore telling pointing to more than gifts, food, lights and ribbon?

Recently, a Chinese friend experiencing Christmas for the first time asked me, "Ms. Kathy, if Jesus was born so many years ago, why do you still anticipate his birth?  I mean wasn't he already born?  Shouldn't people just have a birthday party for him?  It seems like such a big celebration for a simple birth."

What am I anticipating this Christmas, I pondered?  Yes, it was a simple birth but the birth of a complex Baby.  Let's remember that for generations and generations people had been anticipating a Savior King, waiting and watching for His arrival. For a Savior would save them from their difficult lives, they're persecution, the hard times of life.  Two thousand years later, it seems we too anticipate such a savior.  Our worlds sound similar, don't you think?  People are looking for someone to remedy their pain, someone to fill the void.  And this simple baby, complex King came then, comes today, will come this Christmas.

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  For no word from God will ever fail.”  Luke 1:30-32, 34-36, 37

Mary received news that she could have never expected.  How could such a fore telling have been expected?  The news was too unreal to comprehend or understand.  And even today, when we hear that Christmas is coming perhaps we too hesitate to truly comprehend the news.  Perhaps we get stuck in the to do list of the season.  Maybe the news of Jesus' birth is taken-for-granted so that it's not even Good News to us but just OK news (Mike Yaconelli).  

What is the big deal, she asked?  He was already born, right?  My answer to the student was, "Yes, He has come, He is coming and He will come again.  The greatest gift of life is coming to find me and you.  He didn't wait for us to find Him; He comes today, tomorrow and yesterday to meet us".  That's the big deal.  That is the fore telling of the Savior.  Anticipate this wonderful, incredible miraculous fore telling of the Savior.  He wrote your story on His hands.  He wrote His story on our hands.

Get Ready!

Some dear friends of ours are expecting.  They're expecting their first puppy!  This pup will be the first "baby" for these friends.  One of these friends has been hoping and praying for this gift, while the other was initially more hesitant but has now come to fully embrace the idea.  Their joy is palpable.  We've seen pictures of the family, heard stories about the naming, learned about house preparation.  And what we see in their faces is pure, delightful JOY.

A new world is about to open to them.  And for those of us who have walked this road ahead of them we know puppy-life is so very sweet...and so very, well..."puppilicious".  It's a world filled with exuberance, excitement, confusion, difficulties, crying (only from the pup) but forever love.  The shoes you love...gone.  Grandmother's hand-made quilt...in tatters.  Newly planted flowers...goodbye.
And yes, we'd all have a puppy again and again.  For there is nothing quite like that new, precious pup.  He forever changes your life.  Our friends are preparing to receive this new love.

It's time for us to prepare too.  For we are approaching a new love ourselves.  A birth that often gets lost in the preparation.  In these next few weeks, we will be preparing many things for many people in our lives.  My question is, are we preparing ourselves? Will we give ourselves this gift of preparation?  Just like my puppy-minded friends, we too, can excitedly be mindful of the gift that lies ahead.

Our Gift will be a gift of great value.  It will be a gift that we hardly understand or fully comprehend.  It will be a gift for this December and a gift of forever.  It will be a life-changing gift.
The worries in my life...He will resolve.
The pain of my past...He will heal.
The questions of tomorrow...He will lead.
The joys in my life...He will expand and renew.
The people I grieve over...He comes as a gift for them too.

How is it that our God is here today, yet coming tomorrow, and furthermore, coming in the future?  These are traits to be celebrated and anticipated and prepared to receive.  Mary prepared for His birth. John the Baptist, cried out, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord'.  Luke 3:4 encourages us,

"As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

    make straight paths for him.. "

How do we prepare the way for the Lord?  How do we make the paths of our heart straight for him?
Let's be aware.
Let's be thoughtful in anticipation.
Let's be exuberant about the gift.
Let's rejoice in the change He brings, the wildly exciting experience and the joy of a Savior.
Let's look forward to our lives forever changing.