The match strikes. You hold your breath. A child is lighting the Advent candle, and the wick is stubborn. Flicker, flicker. Will it go out? You wait, heart beating.
At last it sets flame.
The bending, tentative light seems so small. Still, you begin to breathe again. It’s truly beautiful, a curve of expectancy.
This Christmas, I’ve been thinking about bringing gifts of light to a particular kind of darkness, though I feel as inadequate as a little child, sputtering match in hand.
Sixty to one hundred million women are “missing” from the world’s population; among the living many are oppressed. I will never forget a picture I once saw in the New York Times magazine, of girls in a window display. Each girl had a number pinned to her clothing.
They were so young, and despite that they would be “otherwise engaged” throughout the day and night, they were sitting simply. One was combing the long black hair of another, like any young girl playing with friends.
Reading Forgotten Girls I was taken by the invitation to write a poem from an oppressed girl’s point of view. As I began to write, I remembered the girls in the window…
“Number 100 Million and One”
I am the girl in the window
combing her hair twined and black
smiling so no one will know
there’s a scar on my heart that grows
in the night, when I lie on my back
I am the girl in the window
crimsoned with memories of low
men and high, bright keepers who track,
smiling so no one will know
even the wind, when it whispers and blows
disperses my secrets beyond the black
I am the girl in the window
beseeching the stars to silently show
a hidden path past wall’s slim crack
smiling so no one will know
the shush of my soul as it ebbs and it flows
searches for red silken ribbon gone slack
I am the girl in the window,
smiling so no one will know.
The world is a pretty big place, needs all ’round. Maybe the need of our enslaved sisters speaks to your heart. If so, strike a match. We are holding our breath with you, waiting.
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“Resist the Darkness” in soft pastel, by L.L. Barkat. First published with the poem “Number 100 Million and One” at Love Notes to Yahweh. To learn more about our forgotten sisters, go to Stitchable Sisters, where you can listen in on a Conversation with Michele Rickett of Sisters in Service, which encourages us to Resist the Darkness.
]]>Settle in, remove the distractions, pause, just breathe and read this slowly…
…it’s almost here. The day that literally reset the course of human history is now quickly upon us. The moment when “Emmanuel” became more than prophecy and “God with Us” came into a small corner of the world in the presence of shepherds to breathe for the very first time.
I’m curious. At that moment, what was the world really expecting?
Today, in this moment, what is the world really expecting? Something that looks like this?
Obviously not…
I believe that so often we have this picture in our minds of a manger scene that was full of peace and silence where all the animal looked in (and didn’t smell), and for our convenience the manger had a couple of little side rooms for reflection and prayer.
Just for a moment consider what the world outside of this Norman Rockwellesque scene may have been like.
The streets must have been full (there was no room at the inn). Certainly people were preparing meals, transactions were being made, to-do lists needed to be checked off & people had places to be. Did anyone in that little town really even know or care about what was happening among them? I very much doubt that all was quiet and peaceful both within or just beyond the paneled walls of that barn.
However, for some reason, on that day and at that time God spoke softly in the fields during the still moments to those that were listening to the promise that He was coming.
…because, this is a God who speaks softly to all who listen to His promise of “God with Us.
The reward of “God with us” was given to those who were listening. It was given to those that could pause long enough to lift their eyes to the sky and search for the star pointing to a King. God was with them; this Messiah became present with them. He brought no armies, sat on no throne and didn’t use facebook to announce that He had arrived. He was present with us, and we only know this because of a small gathering of people who were listening.
…they were present, and this God brought His presence to give to them.
Time and time again, as this story of rescue and redemption unfolds, we find Jesus and his disciples reenacting this scene of being present & giving presence.
But, do we even know what it looks like in our world today?
…to be present.
…to be the “with Us” part of Emmanuel?
Our world places little value in being presence because we do not understand it. We must trick ourselves into thinking we are present by thinking it’s a stare, a momentary pause to pay attention or not checking my phone for five minutes. Certainly this Messiah King did not come so that I could learn how to put my phone down for a day.
…His presence and my presence must certainly be about something greater.
We have just a few days remaining in this season of waiting, preparation and arrival, so what will we do with these next few moments before they are gone forever? What will we give that moth and rust will not destroy? What will we give that will not be forgotten?
…the gifts and measures of this world that mark our days and years are simply insufficient.
In one short story found in the third chapter of the book of Acts, Peter & John encounter a man begging for money. Peter says to the beggar “silver & gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you freely.”
In that moment, at the temple gate called Beautiful, they gave him Christ, and Christ, by His very name, is presence.
…Peter & John gave him everything.
Once I heard Rick McKinley ask this question…“What would our family, church and community look like if we said ’silver & gold I do not have?’
As we celebrate Advent, I can chose to follow this story and give the greatest possession that I have ever been entrusted with to those that I love the most. It is really the only thing that I came into this world with, and it is the only thing that once lost can never be regained.
…Presence is something that God gave to me, and He entrusted that I would give it away to others.
In our crazy, busy, excessively connected & to-do list filled world, may we be a people that seek out a place to lift our eyes and search for a God who is speaking softly that He is coming. And, like the Magi, once we find that star, may we travel over the difficult & treacherous roads that allow us to be fully present.
Today, there is still so much to learn from these shepherds…
…they were present and waiting for their King.
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Pre-post Update: The family curriculum is up here.
When Jesus turned the water to wine at His mother’s request, when He took the vessels meant for cleansing and filled them with precious wine, the good wine, the drinkers gulped it down, a wedding feast at its end. They noted the fragrance, the fruit on the pallet, and they went for more, and the entire time, the metaphor was lost. They drank a symbol of Redemption, Christ’s cleansing blood, and it never crossed their minds what they were seeing – until later.
Only later, as the Spirit fell, did they look back and see how it all pointed to Him – all of it: the garden, the flood, the dessert, the lamb, the fish, the wine. “O!” they must have said, “how He fills. How He fulfills!”
So when we extend the hand to Him, by extending it to the least of these, let it be that we trust Him with the metaphors. When we give away even an undeserved smile, let it be that we say in our hearts, “Emmanuel, God is with us.”
And when the Spirit falls, they will know Him more fully because it was Him that fed them when they ate. It was Messiah that quenched that thirsty soul.
]]>I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
If I imagine Christmas before television commercials and junk mail, I imagine one that gathers and sings, the truer gospel message of incarnational living closer to the heart.
So many lately have been shocked with an urgency to make Christmas change. We believe we’ve been blessed so we can be a blessing. We believe that Christ lives within and that we have some good, good news to share with the poor.
Long ago, the words repeated about the gospel, the good news, were these: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor,” (Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18 NIV).
Long ago, when John the Baptist heard about Jesus and wanted to know if He was really the One, Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”
While we here at Christmas Change continue to spruce things up at ChristmasChange.com, please begin to consider your Christmas budget for the year and also consider what it means for you to live out the Gospel, especially in regard to this season.
What does a life of return even mean? That’s what we want to explore here. Why is it so hard to make Christmas about Jesus, about giving? How can we give more? What traditions can we initiate within our family and church cultures to instill the truth (the wonder) of Christ’s coming to actually bring peace on earth, good-will to men?
We’re honored to be joined by an amazing group of bloggers, listed in the blog roll in the sidebar. Check them out. Please continue to pray for us as we compile a family curriculum to celebrate and live out the Gospel for the month of December. Please pray that this movement becomes one that encourages a Life of Return to the heart of God.
We would also love for you to keep up with this conversation by becoming a fan of Christmas Change on facebook, following us on twitter, and by subscribing to the Christmas Change Blog. You can also help spread the word by tweeting #ChristmasChange and by adding the button from the sidebar.
Thank you. Please jump on into conversation in the comments, and always feel free to email us at christmaschangeblog@gmail.com
written by Amber Haines from theRunaMuck
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