Divine Above and Below Meet

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” – Norman Vincent

“One way of viewing the rest of that lit baby’s life is to note how he used the light in him to spot the light in everything else: not just birds of the air and lilies of the field but also shushed children, disabled beggars, foreign soldiers, and defiant women, among many others. He made the ordinary luminous by noticing what was happening right where he was and calling others to notice it too. When time ran out, he sealed his teaching by shining light on the simple acts of washing feet and sharing supper with his friends.

Whatever more his birth story means, it means an end to any estrangement between the Divine Above and the Divine Below. The light goes both ways. Heaven and nature sing.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

May this Christmas Day be the one that you say Yes!
Like Mary did.
Like children do everyday.
Without delay or pause.
Yes to joy, hope, peace, grace, awe, wonder, beauty, love.
The gift and the giver.
Merry Christmas.

A BLESSING FOR CHRISTMAS DAY by Kate Bowler

“God, this is a kind of magic
the way this day shines so strangely,
how it sparkles beyond our understanding.

But, somehow, this day
never fails to awaken a longing
to love well—or at least better—
all those here with us, and those far away,
and to remember with gratitude
those now gone, gone, gone and missed.

What is this mystery?

Our God who set the world spinning
should come down for this one reason:
to love us into a newness.
Not for gain, nor our capitalist fantasies,
but the hope that freely, lavishly,
that we might learn to see, feel, and live Christ’s love.
Thank you.
Christ the Giver and the Gift.”