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The Incarnation: Sacred and Profane
One thing that lights me on fire is reading interpretations of the Bible that bring it into the context of our current lived experience. This story of Jesus’ birth, from Sacred Belonging: A 40-Day Devotional on the Liberating Heart of Scripture, does just that. It’s beautiful, breathtaking and real. Enjoy as you ponder and reflect in this season of Advent: I’ve often said that the Bible is a book written by men, for men. Throughout the centuries most of its interpreters and preachers have been men as well. It’s no surprise then, that the story of the incarnation—and its rendering and interpretations thereafter—would glide over the messy realities of pregnancy and labor. Indeed, we’re told about the politics requiring Joseph to register in his hometown, about the shepherds keeping watch, and about heavenly hosts of angels celebrating, but we hear nothing of the blood,…
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Expectant Waiting
I have been in the season of Advent this year … Reading. Writing. Praying. Contemplating. Waiting — expectantly waiting. Yes, we wait patiently, expectantly this time of year. We know the story … The prophets of old tell it. Mary says ‘yes.’ Joseph says ‘yes.’ A child is born. A star guides the wise ones. The child grows up, performs wonders, shakes things up a lot, asks people to follow him, dies in a brutal and unjust way, rises to conquer death, and a movement is established in the years that follow. “What did we just witness?” the first Christians asked. They knew in their bodies that it was real … real-er than anything they’d ever experienced before. So during Advent, we’re taught to wait. We wait on Christ, his arrival in the form of a baby named Jesus. God and man as one.…
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The HSP Dilemma
I went to dinner last night with a group of girls, four who are close friends and three I didn’t know well. I knew before I went that it would be a challenge for me because of my HSP (highly sensitive person) tendencies, but I wanted to go. I wanted to spend time with beautiful friends celebrating the holiday season. Upon arrival, I met two of the women unknown to me and we sat at the bar waiting for the others. I engaged in casual conversation with one of the women I didn’t know; she was lovely, but … But here’s the thing … as the evening went on, I grew more and more tired and angst began to fill me. The energy of the room became palpable. My surroundings grew louder. I began to feel my uncomfortability intensely in my body. I scrutinized…
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Life’s Longing for Itself
“Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth…..” Khalil Gibran
