Right at home

Wouldn't Jesus feel right at home
in our world today?
Being born into a world of darkness
Where people are made homeless
because of war
and oppression
unemployment
and benefits cuts
Where people are hungry
and Food Banks multiply
Where soldiers roam city streets
Where families become refugees
fleeing violence
and corruption
and injustice
Where people long
for something different
for a miracle
that will bring light
into all the darkness
and hope
into despair
and peace
where there is none
and love
that will overcome.
Come, Lord Jesus, Come.


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Along the way...

Half way through Advent,
how much more prepared are we
to welcome the Christ child?
Is there any room
for love to be born?
Can God take on flesh
in our lives?
Or is it better to remain
a theory
kept at a safe distance
for fear of
disrupting our ordered lives?
To be sure
there is danger in the manger
best kept there
out of harms way.
It takes more than a season
to prepare
for such upheaval.
If Gods people were not ready
after centuries of prophets
what makes us think
that we can possibly
be prepared?

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Contrasts

Hotfooting it from a hospital bedside
to a coach load of excited school children
on their way to the pantomime
(Oh no I wasn't - Oh yes I was!)
Singing carols sedately with seniors
then ramping up the tempo
for a Christmas jingle rock
Writing funeral services
and Nativity plays
Reflecting on the donkey and the angel
Being caught up in the mystery
and the romance
the sanitised version of the Incarnation
and the darker reality that needs a PG certification
Planning menus
and food bank donations
Bearing the grief
and spreading the joy
All in a days work
The work of Advent



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Growing pains

For all the distress and upheaval
For all the shunning
and disgrace she incurred
When Mary pushed her son
from her womb
into the waiting arms of the world
in all its darkness
and neediness
was her heart heavy
and her throat tight
and her eyes full of unshed tears?
Especially with her sense of premonition
confirmed by wise men and women
that this boy child
was destined
for a traumatic life?
Did she smile sweetly
and let others share her joy at his birth
while her heart was breaking into pieces?
Did she know that she would travel
from the pain of stigma
through the agony of labour-
(make no mistake
God did not have that covered!)
Did she endure those pains
only to be confronted
with the trauma of a son
who left home early
to be about the business of God,
a son who did not return weekly
with his laundry
or looking for a good feed
but who took to the road
and kept on going,
because Gods business was
a business that involved
itinerant living
hanging out with those labelled losers
and upsetting the institutions of the day
and, ultimately,
involved dying on a cross.
So much more than the normal pain
that assails those who mother a son.
Would she have changed a single thing?
Or is pain and loss simply a part of mothering?


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Fit for a king?

God if you chose today to send your son
where would he be born?
Would it be in the splendour of the city chambers?
The sanitised crèche set up in the square?
The boutique hotel on the corner?
Or the board room in the penthouse suite?
Where would he be born?
Would it be round the back of Gregg's the bakers
just by the refuse containers?
Or on the steps of the railway station
next to the free newspaper stand?
Where would he be born?
And who would see him first?
To whom would you proclaim the good news?
And by what means?
Would the Big Issue sellers
announce it to weary commuters?
Or would the news peal out across the city
from steeple to steeple?
Perhaps the night time revellers in the city
would hear the news whispered
as they wind their way home
and make the detour to worship?
But more than likely, today your people
would be too harassed
and insufficiently interested
to register your birth
and would simply
carry on regardless.


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A time for loss...

"Loss seems so much worse at this time of year.."
Folk often comment in that vein
But I wonder...?
In this advent season
when we long for the light
that comes gently into the world
the light that has never been put out
Isn't this a time when loss
can be accompanied
by hope and peace
and yes - even joy?
The quiet way God
entered the world in love
breathes a warmth
that wraps its way around
our hurts and longings
and reminds us
that still we can know
God with us
in all the darkness
of our world today.



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The peaceable kingdom

Isaiah 11:6,9
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them...
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

This kind of kingdom just seems like an impossible dream in today's world. But this is the season of miracles. Of believing in the impossible.
If we can promote the notion of Santa Claus, why can't we believe in the notion of God's peacable kingdom?
Many have found their own way to make Advent hope and dreams come to fruition - there are encouraging stories of folk using the season to perform miracles of love for one another, to make dreams come true. Peace will come in the same way, when we all bring moments of peace into homes, neighbourhoods and communities.
One of my favourite seasonal films is Polar Express - and these lyrics from its soundtrack:

Children, sleeping.
Snow is softly falling.
Dreams are calling,
Like bells in the distance.
We were dreamers,
Not so long ago.
But one by one, we
All had to grow up.

When it seems the magic slipped away...
We find it all again on Christmas Day.

Believe in what your heart is saying,
Hear the melody that's playing.
There's no time to waste,
There so much to celebrate.
Believe in what you feel inside,
Give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need, if you just believe.

Trains move quickly
To their journey's end.
Destinations...
Are where we begin again.
Ships go sailing,
Far across the sea.
Trusting starlight,
To get where they need to be.

When it seems that we have lost our way...
We find ourselves again on Christmas Day.

Believe in what your heart is saying,
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste,
There so much to celebrate.
Believe in what you feel inside,
And give your dreams the wings to fly.
You have everything you need, if you just Believe.

If you just believe.
If you just believe.
If you just believe...just believe...just believe.


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