God With Us

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. ~ Isaac, a Mennonite Pastor

You will have to excuse me if I have posted this song, God With Us, by Todd Agnew before.  It is one of my favorites, so I watch for videos that use its lyrics.  Plus, many artists have used scenes from The Nativity so I get confused on what I have shared where. : )

God with us, Immanuel.

During recent weeks I have journaled my thoughts, my questions, my insights around this truth of Christmas.  God came to reside WITH us.  Immanuel.  Still, it is difficult to discover God within the pain, the despair, the suffering of life.  Of both my life, lives within the communities nearby, and lives of those I only see from a distance on TV.

A wordle expresses this Biblical truth, God With Us.

So, as a pastor, as a seeker....I hold both.  The despair and the pain along with the truth as found in scripture, Immanuel, God with us.

In his Advent sermon, Pastor Isaac uses two edgy quotes of a monk by the name of Sebastian Moore that give me thoughts to consider as I struggle with the tension of what I see and the truth I read.

Christ is present to us insofar as we are present to one another. It’s a call to receive God’s love from one another, and to be present, to make Christ’s love available—to wait, and watch, and hope that Christ will come in and through us.

The second challenge of Moore's:

...look forward to the point when the whole mystery of God will be known in the clasp of your brother [or sister’s] hand. But when we feel those hands, as we pass the peace, we must also remember that the One we worship has holes in his hands. Yes, Christ has come to us, but he is also standing with holes in his hands, awaiting our discovery.

(sigh...) Discovering Immanuel, God with Me, in the messiness, the pain, the discomfort of life.

I am certain I have journaled (verses just "thinking" it) that I believe we, the Church, tend to sugar coat, to romanticize, the Christmas story. My prayer has been that during this season of waiting, Advent, I might look deeper into this familiar story with all its familiar characters and discover Immanuel in a new way.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi 

Unexpected Gifts

Christmas presents. Gifts bestowed and received. Maybe a surprise or two. You, the Gift surpassing all other gifts, bring us more than we might expect. Presents that did not make our list, something to wear on the inside of us such as truth, generosity, patience, reconciliation, and respect for one another. Each Christmas, another gift of growth. What will you gift us with this year? ~ Joyce Rupp, Fragments of Your Ancient Name

Such a strange way to save the world...

Gifts bestowed and received...Presents that did not make our list, something to wear on the "inside" of us...

Chapter 6, What Do You Want?, begins with an unexpected gift in the midst of a tiring ordinary day and, even though Ann has spent much time recording gifts, she needed a loving presence to redirect her gaze from the ordinariness to help her see the extravagant gift a mere two steps away.

His whisper brushes the curl of my ear, "When I saw it, I knew you'd want it too."...he who made vows to a woman and chaser. No - he didn't actually make vows to that woman. But this is the woman I am becoming. That eucharisteo is making me - fulfilling thanks vows to God. I am starved and the feast makes me wild. Because really, who gets to touch the moon? Tonight, she's close. I might. (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts, p 104)

Racing across the field, camera in hand, Ann runs, laughing...drinking in all that is and she celebrates the realization that she IS STILL a child.

Who am I to see glory with unveiled face? Is that what the child seeks? Is that why I escape motherhood at the dinner hour, because I can't see the glory there, here, right in the moment? Still? And me slowing for the hunt, looking for even one thousand gifts, sanctuaries in moments, seeking the fullest life that births out of the darkest emptiness, all the miracle of eucharisteo. (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts, p 105)

I am wondering who helps me to notice graces and gifts I might otherwise miss.

As I wonder I believe that it may be the Grands, who step into life ready to discover and ready to be surprised.

A small child.  One of the most vulnerable and even insignificant members of our society, it is they who help me to notice.

How I wish we could not push that sense of wonder, of vulnerability from a child's heart by burdening him with the world's stuff.  Yet, there is hope for me, for all children, that we can grow up, regardless of how old and wise we might be, we can grow up and regain a sense of that wonder....within the smallest and most ordinary moments.

Ann too thinks how after all she has learned, how she is still learning...still growing...

Yes - maybe that woman-child. The one who lives her life in circles, discovering entering into, forgetting and losing, findin her way round again, living her life in layers - deeper, round further in. I know eucharisteo and the miracle. But I am not a woman who ever lives the full knowing. I am a wondering Israelite who sees the flame in the sky above, the pillar, the smoke from the mountain, the earth open up and give way, and still I forget. (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts, p 106)

Oh, does this confession easy my own seeking/forgetting heart! For I too know, and yet still I forget!!!

Once again a reminder that I can discover myself within the ancient stories of these living scriptures.

I empty of truth and need the refilling. I need come again every day - bend, clutch, and remember - for who can gather the manna but once, hoarding, and store away sustenance in the mind for all the living?(Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts, p 106)

If I am like the ancient Israelites wandering.

If I depend upon others to help me to discover and feast upon the manna given.

Who do I walk beside?

How do I help them to discover and to feast?

For I am not called to journal my gifts and hoard them, I am called to celebrate my discoveries with others so that together we might feast.  That is why God came to live among us - Emmanuel.

Jesus came for me.

Still, he is not my gift to hoard.  I am called to announce his coming....the gift of his presence.

Lord, help me to discover those unexpected gifts, those gifts that have not made my list, those gifts that are like manna, gifts that are "you" within my day and then help me to share the gift of your presence among, within, and between all that is within this life. By your Spirit, help me to grow back to being like a child.  AMEN.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Day 2 - A Container of God's Presence.

Breath prayer:
"Breathing in: Faithful Love...
Breathing out:...dwelling in me.


Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16)

I thought of one of my favorite songs/prayers as I read the thoughts of Day 2.  Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you. Amen. If you would like to spend a few moments thinking about what this means for you, I invite you to right click on the song title and follow the link.  Lord, Prepare Me To Be A Sanctuary.

Joyce shares that she thinks of herself as a "mini Ark of the Covenant." Now, there is a new thought for me to hold! The Hebrew scriptures tell us about how ornate, beautiful, powerful, and sacred was this Ark.  What if I began to see myself as a "mini Ark"? What if I cared for myself as much as the ancient Hebrews cared for the Ark?

When I know company is coming, I get busy cleaning. I want the clutter cleaned up, furniture dusted, the floors swept and mopped.  If I do that for company, why am I so lax in caring for the Lord! Oh, there is so much preparation needed in order for me to be a living sanctuary!

Joyce admits how easy it is for her to lose her reverence and awareness of all the beauty around her when she races through a day's "to do list." That hits me between the eyes.

Last night, before turning my mask in to be burned, I wrote on the back that one thing I want to fast from is judgement and impatience.  I wrote that I wanted to feast on recognizing Christ in others. Joyce writes,

"...when I remember that God has made a home in my heart and in the heart of each one I meet, I look at people and life quite differently. I am more patient, kind, and much less judgmental."

In your journal, Joyce invites us to consider one or more thoughts:
I am most aware of God's dwelling within me when... 
As I reflect on the Divine Presence dwelling within myself and others, I hope that... 
Dear God...

Divine Presence, Joyce gives me the image of you dancing your way into my innermost being. Father and Creator, your Word tells how you want to nurture and to tend my soul. You are always with me, walking beside me, before me, behind me, above me, and within me.  I am surrounded by your love! God...I do bow before your sacredness. Amen.

During this day, Joyce asks us to place our hand over our heart today and to remember with gratitude that God dwells within you.

May your love song rise above the noise of the world today! May you pause to remember that the Living Lord does indeed reside in your heart and within those you meet.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi