MUSING AT YEAR'S END

Bethlehem census takers,
doing the work of Caesar Augustus—
checking the roads
and taxes owed,
and counting all the noses—
may well have missed one peasant birth in a stable
behind the inn.

Easy still
to be distracted
by discordant noise of nations
and the busy hum of tending
our own empires.

Happy Christmas and Blessed New Year
[12-24-05]


From Where We Stand

Bobbie G. McGarey

From where we stand on prairie wide
We wait for Christmas coming
We pray that Jesus’ heart be ours
We pray that we’ll be loving.

From where we stand inside this church
Warm from the winter’s wind
Remember those who shiver cold
no place to call their inn.
We call to Jesus “Come again
Our blessed Savior Friend.”

From where we stand
We lift our prayer
We hold hands and sing of peace
We pray that we will be
A welcome place an open heart
a generous home
For Jesus to come again


The Peace of God be with you!
 

Incarnation ... then and now

from Michael Adee, National Organizer of More Light Presbyterians   [12-24-05]

During the time Kathleen Norris describes in her book Amazing Grace as the decision to "go back to church, or not" as an adult upon her return to South Dakota, a Benedictine monk offered that "the church is a sinful institution, how could it be otherwise? The Church is like the Incarnation, a shaky proposition."

And so it was, the first Incarnation, of Jesus as described and retold during this time of Advent and Christmas in homes and churches across our land and world from the Gospel of Luke 1: 26 - 2:20. If we do indeed believe that human beings are born with a spirit or soul that accompanies our bodies ... then like Jesus, we are of the human and the divine, the flesh and the spirit. So then, each birth is an incarnation as well. Moreover, if we are indeed called into being the church, the body of Christ, that Benedictine monk was correct in reminding Kathleen Norris of the incarnational nature of the church, it is of both human and divine stuff.

Norris offers: "For me, the Incarnation is the place, if you will, where hope contends with fear. Not an antique doctrine at all, but reality -- as ordinary as my everyday struggles with fears great and small, as exalted as the hope that allows me some measure of peace when I soldier on in the daily round."

The Incarnation is the touch of God, it is being touched by God. Norris recounts the exchange between the Angel Gabriel and Mary, the Mother of Jesus and she goes on to say: "When a place or time seems touched by God, it is an overshadowing, a sudden eclipsing of my priorities and plans. But even in terrible circumstances and calamities, in matters of life and death, if I sense that I am in the shadow of God, I find light, so much light that my vision improves dramatically. I know that holiness is near."

I am part of those persons of faith who believe in "original blessing" and that all of us are created good in the image of God and unconditionally loved by the God who is always creating. And I am speaking of persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities and any other human difference. I believe that holiness is near. I believe that the Gospel is good news for all persons period, no exceptions.

I am certainly aware however, of those who define themselves and others by the state of "original curse," and it would seem for them that the incarnation was a historical, singular event. It seems to follow from these original curse believers the Gospel is to be proscribed, narrow and only "good news" for certain kinds of persons, not for all of God's creation. Earlier, that proscription was for white and male persons only, and now the limitation is to heterosexuals or heterosexually-married persons only.

My hope and prayer for this Advent and Christmas Season is that all of us, all of our beliefs and convictions, our hopes and fears, will be overshadowed by the Spirit of God as expressed in the Gospels that tell us of the first Christmas story.

And, as Kathleen Norris says of her own faith journey, "if I sense that I am in the shadow of God, I find light, so much light that my vision improves dramatically. I know that holiness is near."

Holiness is near. Holiness is near to you, inside of you, because you and I, and all persons are created in the image of God, by God. During these last days of Advent and the Christmas season in the midst of hopes and dreams, challenges and needs within your family and family of choice, and our Church and world, please know that you and those you love are in my heart, thoughts and prayers.

This Advent and Christmas Season know that the National Board of Directors of More Light Presbyterians and I send holiday greetings your way. We are so grateful for your partnership and support. Together we are building a Church for all God's people. It is our prayer that joy be part of your holidays and that peace may prevail in our world.

with hope and grace,

Michael J. Adee, National Field Organizer,

Santa Fe, NM

Bear Ride and Erin Swenson, Co-Moderators and the National More Light Presbyterians Board of Directors

Perhaps you have friends who don't really know much about Chanukah and think of it merely as "the Jewish Christmas." They are not entirely wrong, because both Christmas and Chanukah have a message of hope for the moments of darkness and both are focused on lighting lights as signs of hope. Still, Chanukah has its own specific and quite deep meaning, and deserves to be celebrated in its own meanings, and not just as an adjunct to the dominant culture and its celebrations. Perhaps you've heard the fairy-tale version about oil sufficient for one day that burned for eight nights, but the actual miracle is at once much deeper and much more connected to reality--so I want to tell you the real history and the adult version of the story, in the hopes that you might share it with others. And then, I'll tell you how it can be celebrated in a way that accentuates its spiritual depth.   Read the full essay >>

Buy Union for the Holidays

When you go to your next holiday gathering, why not put a smile on the hosts’ faces with a thoughtful gift of union wine?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Heaven and Nature Sing!

[12-21-05]

The season of Advent is a time to prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas and the coming of Jesus. This often includes decorating our homes with the trappings of celebration: lights, ornaments, garlands, and a Christmas tree. The tree often serves as a centerpiece during this season, drawing around it a circle of family and friends.

Throughout the Bible, trees also play important roles: the troublesome tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:17), the parable of the mustard seed growing into a great tree (Matthew 13:32), and the leaves of the tree that are "for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2).

With the scent of pine all around, let us remember that trees are more than festive decorations or symbols of a season of celebration. They (along with the original Christmas gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh) are tangible blessings that flow from the lands God has entrusted to our care.

Amid the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program invites you to pause and reflect on the blessings of the God's whole creation – which, along with us, has been redeemed through Christ. Download a free copy of our new study resource, Rooted in God's Word and Lands, from the NCC Eco-Justice website, http://www.nccecojustice.org/landstewardguide.htm

Have a blessed and joyous holiday season!

Please share this email with your friends, family, and colleagues!

Interested in keeping up to date on issues related to caring for God's lands? Sign up to receive The Tenants' Journal, NCC's e-newsletter devoted to land stewardship by emailing Christine Hoekenga at choekenga@ncccusa.org.

So who’s the real prophet?
[12-12-05]

In this season of Advent we spend a lot of time hearing from the Hebrew prophets – usually a few well-chosen lines about a coming Messiah, a virgin, hopes for a better time. Peter Sawtell, of Eco-Justice Ministries, offers some helpful thoughts on "dueling prophets," and the difficult challenge to discern which are the authentic prophets, and which are just trying to proclaim "good cheer."

He concludes:

Jesus, Jeremiah and others have let us know that there are standards and guidelines to use in sifting out the genuine word of God from the false prophecy. In making the choice between competing voices today -- about war and peace, taxes and government services, ecological responsibility, personal morality, and more -- here are some of the clues that I look for:

The prophetic word is always challenging, and always calls us to look beyond ourselves. It makes us look for the well-being of the whole community, the whole Earth.

The prophetic word lifts up a vision of hope and promise. It imagines a different way of living in peace and community. It is always a proclamation of God's shalom.

The prophetic word never affirms the status quo. It always brings judgement -- sometimes on us, and sometimes on others -- and it always demands justice. It is especially likely to challenge excessive power, violence, and poverty.

The prophetic word will never say that the ends justify the means. The way we get there must be congruent with where we're trying to go.

by Duane Shank    [12-2-05]

Keep awake - for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake. - Mark 13:35-37

On March 31, 1968, at the Washington National Cathedral, Martin Luther King Jr. preached his final Sunday sermon. Four days later he was dead. The title of that sermon was "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution," and it is a good reminder as we reflect on Jesus' instruction to "Keep awake."

King began by telling the story of Rip Van Winkle, who went to sleep seeing a sign of King George and awoke to a sign of George Washington. He had slept through a revolution. The story, said King, tells us that "one of the great liabilities of life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands. They end up sleeping through a revolution."

He pointed out that there were three great revolutions taking place in the world - a technological revolution, a revolution in weaponry, and a human rights revolution. And, he said, "whenever anything new comes into history it brings with it new challenges and new opportunities." Then he spoke of several challenges. We are challenged to develop a world perspective; we are challenged to eradicate the last vestiges of racial injustice from our nation; we are challenged to rid our nation and the world of poverty; and we are challenged to find an alternative to war and bloodshed. These challenges are as urgent for us in 2005 as they were in 1968.

During Advent, we remember Jesus coming as an infant in a manger and we anticipate his coming as the culmination of the kingdom of God. We reflect on God's past, present, and future redemptive acts in history. We celebrate the coming of Jesus the Christ - whose life, ministry, death, and resurrection inaugurated the reign of God - and we await its fulfillment. That is what sustains us in a world that makes no sense. We know that Jesus has come as the fulfillment of God's promise, and we know that his ultimate reign will surely come.

As we await that ultimate reign, we are called to live as if it were already here. We are called, as Walter Brueggeman said, to be "a community rooted in energizing memories and summoned by radical hopes." We have the memories of the child born in the stable, and the hope of a new earth. We believe that in this in-between time, we are to live like Jesus, work for justice, work for peace, and create a new community that lives in the kingdom. And that by living in the kingdom, fulfilling its promise in our lives, we help hasten its culmination. Preparing for the coming kingdom of God means beginning to live and work as if it were already here.

God will fulfill the promise. The kingdom is near. Justice and right will be in the land. Keep awake.

For this first week of Advent, I urge you to read and reflect on Dr. King's testimony. He remained awake, and he challenges us to do the same.

Duane Shank is policy adviser at Sojourners.

Ethical Consumption for the Holidays--

You don't have to buy stuff to be loved.
It's better for the environment if you don't.

From the Network of Spiritual Progressives

[11-25-05]

We in Western countries are 20% of the world’s population, but we are consuming over 80% of the earth’s natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage and unfair distribution of wealth.

The average North American consumes five times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than a Chinese person, and 30 times more than a person from India.

Advertisers make us feel that we are worthless if we don’t spend a lot of money on holiday gifts and give us this false image that we will achieve family bliss, sexual success, and love if only we spend enough money on extravagant gifts. But love cannot be bought, and many people find themselves depressed at the holidays, either because they’ve increased their debts or because they find themselves lonely or disappointed with family interactions in which gifts are substituted for real loving encounter. And the spiritual meaning of the holidays is lost in a frenzy of spending.

We at the Network of Spiritual Progressives— an interfaith organization of people committed to peace, social justice, and providing an alternative spiritual voice to that of the Religious Right, are seeking to build a New Bottom Line in which materialism and selfishness is replaced with love, caring, generosity, kindness, ecological sensitivity and awe and wonder at the grandeur of creation. To build such a world, we need to start living in accordance with our own highest ideals. We suggest the following:

TAKE A HOLIDAY FROM SHOPPING:
On Buy Nothing Day, Nov. 25, 2005.

[OK, we're a little late with this suggestion.  Sorry!  But you can always Not Shop on another day!]

Ways to celebrate this spiritual exercise range from street theater to quiet contemplation. check it out: http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/

GIVE A GIFT OF YOUR TIME:
Rather than buying a gift for someone you love, make a beautiful coupon and give them a gift of your time ... either in the form of babysitting, helping to paint a room at their house or shoveling snow or garden work in the Spring, making them dinner, food shopping, teaching them some skill, or something else that they could really use help with! Your time with the gift recipient shows real caring, deepens your involvement with the recipient, and does not reward some manufacturer for making things that no one really needs (their tenth sweater or pocketbook or their newest hand-held electronic device).

GIVE AN INTANGIBLE GIFT:
Your gift doesn’t have to end up in a landfill. Be creative: give dancing lessons, give tickets to the theater, invite friends to a movie or play that you all go together, or give a certificate for a massage!

MAKE SOMETHING:
Have you ever wished you had more time to... draw, sew, paint, knit? If you can take some time, treat yourself to a local crafts course to learn to throw pots, knit scarves or make other personal items that you can give to people you love!

BUY ETHICALLY:
Globalize fair trade. If you don’t live in a hotbed of local merchants who give back to the community, you can still gift consciously. Here are some resources to help you find places where you can get fair trade gifts: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/

Our favorite coffee here at Tikkun is fair trade and made in Uganda by a cooperative of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian farmers. For more information go to www.thanksgivingcoffee.com.

Ideas brought to you by The Network of Spiritual Progressives, a project of The Tikkun Community. Join the Network, subscribe to Tikkun, and
more info: www.Tikkun.org or write Community@tikkun.org.

Tikkun’s National chairs:

*Princeton University Professor Cornel West (author, Race Matters),
*Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister (author, Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir),
* Tikkun editor Rabbi Michael Lerner (author of The Left Hand of God: Taking Our Country Back from the Religious Right, published by HarperSanFrancisco in Feb, 2006).

Come to the national conference of The Network of Spiritual Progressives, May 17-20, Washington, D.C. Info: www.tikkun.org. And form your own local chapter: more info, NSP@tikkun.org