A child is born

A child is born

Born into a weary world

A world longing for change

A world longing for justice

A world longing for peace

A child is born

Born among people living in poverty

Existing at the whim of oppressors

Caught up in political unrest

with the rich so far removed

from those forced to queue at food banks

And decision makers out of touch with the realities

of those who have to choose between warmth in their homes

or food for their children

A child is born

Born into an economy

in which life is cheap

And revenue from the arms trade 

is valued more highly than life itself

While nations that prosper from the machinations of war

turn away the refugees who find a way out 

of the carnage they cannot survive

A child is born

and in that vulnerable flesh

lies hope for all the children of the world

2000 years ago - and today

A child is born

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

(Liz Crumlish)

Anticipation

 Luke 1:57-58

The Birth of John the Baptist

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

The birth of John -

the eagerly anticipated forerunner of Jesus

Anticipation

May be accompanied

with joy or with dread

Longed-for events carry

more than a whiff of unpredictability

The birth of a baby

confounds expectations

and wreaks havoc that lasts a lifetime

As we anticipate birth in this season

may our careful preparations be disrupted

by all that refuses to fit our narrow vision

And may our hearts be expanded

to encompass the chaos into which we are invited

And may both joy and dread accompany our anticipation

of God being born into a world such as this.

(Liz Crumlish)

Allowing mystery

 

Job 42:1-3

Then Job answered the LORD:

“I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

Embracing all we do not know

allows mystery simply to be

the filling that inhabits the spaces in our knowledge

enhancing life with potential that is not limited

by understanding.

Filling in the gaps narrows the magnitude of the world

closing down possibilities 

while mystery wraps around us creating space

in which it is possible for faith to flourish

and for wonder to take hold

and for miracles to be imagined

in all their awesome wonder.

When we expand our vision

God appears and love is born.

(Liz Crumlish)

This God…

 1 Samuel 2:7-8

The LORD makes poor and makes rich;

he brings low, he also exalts.

He raises up the poor from the dust;

he lifts the needy from the ash heap,

to make them sit with princes

and inherit a seat of honour.

For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,

and on them he has set the world.

This God, 

the one who created the universe

chooses to dwell in humanity

Chooses to endure the messiness of birth

The risk

The vulnerability

Chooses to identify with

the poor

the oppressed

the displaced

the refugee

the despised

the feared

the unwanted

the rejected

Chooses impotence over power 

Chooses forgiveness over revenge

Chooses love over hate

This God

Chooses us

to do the same.

(Liz Crumlish)

Making real

 

Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD, your God, is in your midst,

a warrior who gives victory;

he will rejoice over you with gladness,

he will renew you in his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing

Jesus is born

not just in one place and time

but in every place and in every age

The star moves to shine over every town and village

Over every stately home and hovel

And stops…

To declare

Christ is born

In you

And in you

And in you

The question is not - where will we see him?

The question is - how will we know him?

And how will we make him visible

wherever we are today?

(Liz Crumlish)

Harbingers of light

 

John 3:19

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

Light is vulnerable and fragile

Yet persistent and tenacious

Even the faintest, flickering glimmer of light

overcomes the darkness

uncovering what is hidden

bringing transformation and hope

Light is gentle

Yet possesses a strength that presses on

until the darkness is driven out

not all at once but bit by bit

defeated by light’s refusal to give up

Light is resilient

Just at the moment

when it seems it will be snuffed out

light recovers and grows stronger

creating shadows and patterns that signal its triumph 

over all that threatens its existence 

May we be harbingers of light

protecting every gentle flicker

and fanning into flame every tentative glimmer

Suffusing the darkness of the world

with the joyous light of Christ

that cannot be extinguished

(Liz Crumlish)

No place for a baby

 Matthew 23:27-28

Matthew 23: 27-28

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

It is so easy to cover up the evil

to hide away the wickedness 

We focus on one story fleetingly before moving on to the next

News becomes old so quickly

and the shock of terror and violence settles

and becomes a grief that we are impotent to assuage

Conflict in the land that we call holy draws our attention

from all the other places reduced to rubble

and we are urged to take sides 

and condemn wars that have been years in the making.

Meanwhile refugees search for shelter, for clean water, for food,

for a way out 

This Advent, we long, not for a baby

but for the Prince of Peace to be born

As we watch and we wait, may we begin to see

how we might make room in our lives

to welcome all those who flee 

and how to make peace in our communities

and throughout the world 

Practising what we preach today and every day.

(Liz Crumlish)