Star Gazing

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to serve for two weeks as the priest at St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church on the island of St. Barts in the Windward Islands of the Caribbean.  In so many ways, I felt unplugged from the world.  I also felt connected to the natural order in ways never before nor since.

At night, the island was gently lit by street lamps and headlights.  I walked with great care to a beach just down the street from the church and rectory so that I could take in the clear night sky.  In the midst of a new moon, I saw the symphony of stars in the inky-black night sky.  I beheld the universe before me, and my face was fixed towards heaven as my heart sang praise to God.  Scanning the heavens, I saw the various constellations spoken of by those of ancient times.

At that moment, I had some idea of what the Magi experienced as they studied the stars in the heavens and saw one that stood out, one with a message from heaven saying, “Come and see.”  And so they made the arduous journey from what today is Iran to what today is Palestine.

It can be said that the Magi followed the true “north star.”

That is what I saw for the first time on the beach that night—the North Star, the fixed point in the heavens by which all seafarers navigate safely through the journey.  That is the star that always is to be followed.  Did the Magi see brilliance in the heavens as then never seen?  Was it the North Star lit amazingly well?  We will never know.  What we do know is that they followed that star to the place where Jesus lay.  And they worshiped him.  

The Magi were able to see the North Star in part because there was no distracting light in the nighttime darkness they knew.  Practically speaking, we can’t be star-gazers because there is so much ambient light surrounding us.  Human light makes stars invisible to the human eye.

That’s true spiritually as well.  God provides the North Star in every life.  His name is Jesus the Christ.  He is the one who guides us and gives us direction for our lives.  In order to receive him, we need to shut out all the ambient light and human stars that distract us from that focus and clarity.

Just as the Magi followed the star, trusting in its Good News, let’s pray that the North Star will become clear in every life as well, and to follow that star in every part of the journey of this life.

Out With the Old

Happy New Year!  It’s a day of new beginnings.  And, as a newscaster no doubt has observed, this day is an annual event.  Um, like yeah….

As the same newscaster will tell you, this day also is about new beginnings,  There are firm  resolutions about getting in better physical shape, losing weight, saving more money, and getting more sleep.  Those resolutions all take, well, resolve.  There are goals to meet, attitudes to adjust, behaviors to change, and support systems to build or to find.

These resolutions deal with changes in the outer person.  There are inner, spiritual matters to handle, too.   Behaviors and attitudes reveal a lot about the inner person.  We have experiences, self-image, a set of personal values and mental models of family patterns that can help or hinder us.  Over the years, people have told me about their history of behavior change or value shift.  There always have been struggles to be the new person that a resolution may demand.  I ask people, “Did you pray about these resolutions?  Did you pray through the changes?”  Often, people don’t have answers to these kinds of questions.  After all, these are perceived as personal battles, not spiritual battles—which they indeed are.

Along those lines, over the years I have known very few people who made spiritual resolutions to keep in the new year.  Few have said, “I am resolving to pray more often, and more intently.”  Very few have promised to read the Bible more regularly, asking for recommendations about study aids.  No one has ever said to me, “I resolve to attend church more regularly” (which probably was good not to promise to the priest).

Yet the resolutions to strengthen spiritual life actually can help a person to deal then with practical issues day to day.  Spiritual strength can give us the ability to say “yes” to the good patterns and choices, and “no” to the choices that will set us back.  More than that, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to draw us closer to Christ and to the strength that comes only from God.

As we all turn the page into a new year, may God help us to move to a new stage in our walk in these divine paths.  May all of us resolve to pray more, work more, and give more to spread the dominion of God.

My Solemn Vow

Today is a special day.  No, it’s not only New Year’s Eve.  It’s also my wedding anniversary.

After these may years, my wife and I agree that, on hindsight, New Year’s Eve was not the best day on which to be married.  After all of these years in the ordained ministry, however, I am not sure that there is any particularly good day on which to have a wedding.  New Year’s Eve, though, is a night when many people have other plans and are distracted by many things.  We never can have a special anniversary dinner that night.  It’s tough to get a reservation and dinner often is so expensive.  People can be noisy, boisterous and, in some cases, overly friendly.  I’d love to think that they all are celebrating with us, but we’re not as important as the crystal ball on Times Square.  Wait—there’s another way to think about it—it’s very important to God.

After all, God has blessed my wife and me as we made our solemn vows.  We are not the only married people to have lived out these vows—to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer.  Truly, every married couple does live out these vows in married life.  Maybe after the words, “This is my solemn vow” we need to add some words from the presidential inauguration:  “So help me God.”

Today, on this anniversary, I reflect on all that God has done with these solemn vows to make my wife and me stronger for the journey.  Like any couple, if this marriage were up to us alone, without God’s grace and strength, marriage could not work.  It’s a major battle for me and for any married person to live out the promise of marriage:  and the two shall become one.   But it’s hard for me as a human being to also become one with Christ.  Every day, every step is a surrender of self and an embrace of Chris.  Marriage is the best practice for that spiritual discipline.

On this anniversary, and at the end of this year, I am so ready to enter another year of promise.  And I am so glad that I can share that journey with the one whom I love with all that I am and all that I have.

By My Baby Tonight

On this eve of Christ’s birth, I am singing carols that are a little odd.

I am taking some of the words to my favorite soul music and imagining the angels singing backup.  So many of those songs use the word “baby.”  The singer or the songwriter sings to the love of their life, “my baby.”  A lot of Christmas hymns and carols came from popular music sung in taverns or by traveling minstrels.  So I’m thinking about a new carol like
“Be My Baby Tonight.”  The cradle really would be rocking with that rhythm, and the cave would be a popular club—perhaps The Manger Inn or The Cave.  There’s a lot of talk about a silent night.  When you read the Christmas story, however, it’s rocking with rejoicing.

How about the carol, “Love to Love You, Baby”?  Yeah, that would need a lot of rewriting, but, hey, it’s a song about deep, physical love—which is what the birth of Jesus is all about—God Incarnate       .

Here’s another song just aching to become a Christmas hymn:  “Baby, I Need Your Lovin.’” That’s what the shepherds might sing.  After all, they are the kinds of people who most of us never want to meet.  They’re the rough and tough types.  When it comes right down to it, though, each of us needs God’s lovin’—and we have it at all times and in all ways in our lives, if we want to accept what God offers us in Christ.  Even the next verse, “Got to have all your lovin’” –and the Good News, we have all God’s lovin’, in Christ.

These revised songs are like adult versions of children’s nursery songs that became carols—“Away in a Manger” for instance.

Christmas is all about the mystery of God’s love in the newborn Christ.  He shows us what “Baby Love” is all about.

Hey, baby—what hit songs are you singing in a new way tonight?

Doubting Thomas/Shouting Thomas

If you or I express concern or reservation about a decision or action, someone might tag us with a critical nickname.  They’ll say, “Oh, come on—don’t be a doubting Thomas!”

That phrase is just half the story of the great event in the life of the apostle Thomas.  Today is his day on the calendar of saints.  Interestingly, this day also is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of a cold and dark period on the calendar.  A coincidence?

Doubting Thomas is the first half of the event in John’s gospel (20:26-29).  The Risen Christ appears to the disciples on the day of the resurrection.  Thomas was not there.  Like any of us, he was running errands and dealing with the business of life.  The Risen Christ is not present when Thomas returns.  The disciples are overwhelmed with excitement.  Jesus is alive!  Thomas, a true left-brained man, said, “Show me!”  The disciples can’t do that, but try even harder to convince him to take them at their word.  Thomas wants proof.

There is the Doubting Thomas.  But the story does not end there.

A week passes, and the Risen Christ appears again.  He invites Thomas to test the truth of the resurrection on tangible terms.  At that moment, Thomas does not do the testing.  He does not demand other evidence.  He does not require other witnesses.  He simply cries out in wonder, “My Lord and my God!”

At that moment, he is changed forever.  No longer is he the Doubting Thomas.  He now is the Shouting Thomas.  He’s that kind of person because he has faced his doubt—and the encounter with Christ has erased all doubt.

Only God in Christ can cause that to happen, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.  For my legacy, I’d rather be known as a Shouting Thomas.

How about you?

Where’s Emmanuel?

This season of Advent brings anticipation with it.  For kids, however, there’s a lot of impatience.  It’s one thing to wait for Santa (and to be good for so long).  One year, when the organist began the hymn, “O come, o come, Emmanuel,” after the third verse, one little one cried out, “When is Emmanuel coming?! This hymn is sooooooo long!”

That question is profound, actually.  We still ask in our hearts and minds when God will be with us when nights get long and times get hard.  We have the answer, of course, but that answer must not only be a statement of faith.  It must be a statement of our faith.

The hymn can be found in the Episcopal Church’s Hymnal 1982 as #56.  Indeed, it is long—eight verses.  Since the first and last verses repeat, however, there actually are seven.

The hymn began as a plainsong chant in monastic communities in the Middle Ages.  All hymns are, in one form or another, a prayer.  That is especially true of hymns like this one.  As marked in the hymnal, there is a verse for each day from December 17^th through December 23^rd.  In some chapels, one verse was sung for each of those days.  In others, a verse was added each day, and the hymn became longer.  Each verse focuses on a different aspect of this Promised One of God:  Dayspring from on high, Desire of nations, key of David, to cite three of them.

Each verse on each day is a wonderful focus for prayer.  As I seek the presence of God in Christ in so many diverse forms, I can look for the presence of Christ in ways that I might not expect.  I also can look at the ways in which I might recognize God in my midst and confess my limited understanding.

In this season, children can teach me new ways to expect Emmanuel.  Another child put a new verse into the hymn.  He wrote, “O come, o come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel; as Santa Claus is checking his list, I really hope I will not be missed.”

Hmmm.  Now there’s an interesting mix.  And in some ways, I still believe in Santa, too.  And I still am waiting for him, too.

Spiritual Horsepower

Today, the third Sunday of Advent, is known to the super-duper Episcopalian as “Stirrup Sunday.”  Today’s prayer begins, “Stir up your strength, O Lord, and come to help us.”

            Many years ago, as a college student, I remember when to churchophiles were in coffee hour and making much mirth as they talked about the liturgical humor of Stirrup Sunday.  “And that means that we all are cowboys!” one said to the other in a flurry of giggles.  “Or cowgirls!” exclaimed the other in howls of laughter.

            Being rather left-brained, I didn’t join in that merriment.  Instead, my mind went to the stables where I had been as a boy, learning about and loving horses.  In my mind I climbed once again into the stirrups of a Mr. Ed sort of horse.  I imagined what it would be like to ride like the wind, as so many men did in those great Westerns of film and television.  I learned something about horsepower in nature before I felt it in the gas pedal.

            Later, I learned about “spiritual horsepower.”  Listen to the remainder of the prayer:  “And because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us.”  Horses have a wonderful sense of how to use their power.  The rider may urge on the horse, but when she senses danger, or sees the trail ahead to be dangerous, she will stop.  I mean, she will stop and go no further, no matter what the prodding or the stirring in the stirrups.  For then the stirrups are human force and will.

            When we are in divine stirrups—when God is stirring up grace and mercy—then spiritual horsepower comes into a life. Human shortfalls and shortcomings hinder us from completing our ride, our journey.  The word “sorely” is a magnificent Old English term that, in our time, means “stubbornly.”  And those shortcomings and shortfalls can be very stubborn indeed.

            One must ride through gentle terrain and hard paths to learn about spiritual horsepower, and to be able to use godly stirrups to keep balance and focus for whatever is ahead.

            Stirrup Sunday is all about spiritual horsepower.  And that just makes horse sense to me.