Go gently

 Go gently

Let us enter the new year with curiosity

Curiosity that insists that we listen attentively

to hear another’s story

for each story matters

and uniquely contributes to the whole

Let us enter the new year with compassion

Compassion that enables us to care for self and others

embracing our shared humanity with compassion

that brings insight and affords space to care

Let us enter the new year with courage

Courage that enables us to be honest in our vulnerability

acknowledging the weariness and fear that often lurks

beneath our facade of strength

Curiousity, Compassion, Courage

Companions that will accompany us gently

into a new year

(Liz Crumlish December 2022)

Into the darkness

 

Isaiah 9:2

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

on them light has shined.

The Christ child comes to us

in the dark

For God is no stranger to darkness

And the light that shines

is the light of knowing

that there is one

who knows that darkness

from the inside out

One who does not fear the darkness

or leave us to it

but who comes to us

and stays with us

Stays with us in our loss and grieving

Stays with us in our fear and anger

Stays with us in our impotence and confusion

Stays with us whether our darkness is visible

or carefully masked from others

The Christ child comes to us

and stays with us 

in the dark

Advent happens

 

When our usual preparations for Christmas

fail to lighten our spirits

God is still with us

When we find ourselves going through the motions

hiding well the hollowness within

God is still with us

Should the tree remain in storage

and the crib scene languish in its bubble wrap packing

God is still with us

The advent of God

does not rest on our preparedness

but on God’s gift of love and grace 

So - for those who are exhausted faking it

God is born for you.

For those who continue to put on a brave face

God is born for you.

God is born into the reality

of loss and grief

of anxiety and despair

God’s tears join ours in our yearning for those we love

And when we find ourselves on our knees

God squats down beside us

acknowledging our pain, 

embracing our weariness

enfolding us in love.

This Christmas, as every Christmas

We are invited to approach the manger as we are

in our frailty

and disappointment

in our questioning

and disillusionment

in our tiredness

and disorientation

We are invited to sit with the baby God

who inhabits vulnerability 

as a way of being

as a way of being real

as a way of being cradled in the love of God

as a way of knowing

God is born for you.

(Liz Crumlish December 2022)

Lessons from leaves

 

Remember November

The leaves are still changing

Still letting go

And the ground is carpeted

with a riotous palette of colour

The leaves that contribute

to the colourful canopy above

cast no blame or shame

on those that have fallen

And the leaves that litter walkways

and swirl across paths

congregating in corners

do not look back

or regret their letting go.

Their work continues

in nourishing seeds that lie hidden

in ground that slumbers

Their work continues

in bringing joy to toddlers 

who delight in the crunchiness

they create underfoot

Their work continues

in the vast store of sustenance

that the squirrels heap up

to see them through the winter.

And we are invited to inhabit

awe and wonder

in this tangible evidence

of the rhythm of creation

in which all matter

and everything counts

and nothing is wasted

And we could do worse

than embody

the practices of the earth

as she shows us

carefully and colourfully

with extravagance and exuberance

how to embrace life

in every season.

(Liz Crumlish November 2022)

Angels and dragons

 

Revelation 12:7-9; 13-17

And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

The Dragon Fights Again on Earth

So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.

It does not surprise 

me that the dragon, when thwarted, 

goes after a woman and her children

Nor is it surprising 

that the woman garners her resources

to fight off the evil

that threatens all that she loves

Call it mystical

Call it magical

Still it is a story as old as time

and as fresh as the new day

that women become collateral

and that they are often underestimated

for their strength and resourcefulness

for their powers of subversion 

in the face of evil

Fierce women are born out of adversity

Fierce and fabulous for Jesus

Fair warning

 

Matthew 10:16

“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

You did not lure us in Jesus

with eloquent words

and empty promises

You warned us

Time and again - This won’t be easy

You told us how many times - and more

that we’d need to dredge the depths of forgiveness

for ourselves and others

You called us

To be wise as serpents

and gentle as doves

That wisdom has been hard won

For so often it is interpreted as submission

As turning the other cheek

and giving our fleece as well as our hoodie

There comes a time

when wisdom involves

calling a spade a shovel

and saying Enough. No more.

And that gentle as doves?

Means being gentle with ourselves

when the cost of resistance grinds us down yet again

as we speak truth to power

refusing to have our hurt explained away

and our resilience questioned

Or our narrative dismissed as idle tales

Wisdom and gentleness do go together

Just not always as imagined.

Fresh wounds

 

Luke 23:34

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

Lord, if only we didn’t know what we are doing today.

Acting out of ignorance would be bad enough…

But acting in full knowledge of the grace we withhold 

and the hurt we inflict

is surely unforgivable

You who invited all

welcomed all

embraced all

You who shared bread and wine

with one who would betray you

with one who would deny you

with folk who simply “didn’t get you”

Sharing with all

Withholding from none

Offering your body

your blood

your all

Who are we to make distinction?

On days like this

Do your feet hurt

and your palms throb

and does the wound in your side

make itself known in protest

that your suffering was in vain.

Just like those today

who have borne the wounds

of their fight for inclusion

whose scars are ripped open

time and again 

as we find more ways to wound

For still we haven’t grasped

that love is love is love

And that all means all.

Still we imagine that we are in control

of a love and grace beyond our understanding

and of a sacrament offered freely to all

Father forgive.