Advent - Small Signs of God "Singing"

 

Day 7 - Singing

We left feeling better than we had felt in a while - almost giddy with musical notes playing over in our minds and warming our hearts. We had been singing Christmas carols with good friends. One sang the traditional command performance solo, we challenged ourselves with a new duet, and most of us hit wrong notes as we sang and laughed and loved each other.

The next morning I still felt joyful.  I felt energized. I smiled and remembered as those songs played again in my head and my heart. What is it about singing that makes us feel so good? Victor Hugo said," Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." All the pent up things we can never say, we can belt out in a song.

There are benefits of singing. Singing releases the feel-good brain chemicals and pain-relieving endorphins; singing helps us breathe better because we improve our posture and our lung capacity increases; singing improves our mental alertness and tones our muscles; singing increases our confidence.

As my Advent journey continues, I imagine when Mary first heard from the angel she needed  a very large dose of confidence. Her visit to her cousin Elizabeth encourages her. Mary is strengthened in her faith, recognizing that she will play a part in the change of human history. Overwhelmed, what does she do? She breaks out in song:

"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has

regarded the low estate of his handmaiden

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;

for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.

And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud in the

imagination of their hearts,

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree.

He has filled the empty with good things, and the rich He has sent empty away.

He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke

to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever." (Luke 1)

 

How does your soul magnify God?

No one can hear our soul sing- only God. But if our soul is busting with joy at the news of Jesus this Christmas, it will be impossible, like Hugo says, to be silent about it.

Tonight, in the solitude of your garden, break out in song. The stars will thank you.

Creator of my soul, fill me with such wonder of you that I cannot keep silent.

Advent - Small Signs of God "Personal Touch"

 

Advent Day 6 -  The Personal Touch

Several years ago, I set aside my morning Advent readings to help a young friend pack her car with suitcases and preschoolers for the long drive home to Texas. I took the two-year old to the piano and we sat and played and sang songs together. At one point, the curly-headed toddler placed both of her tiny, pink hands on my hands and for a few moments, we were one - playing music together.

I looked down at those little hands resting on mine, felt the warmth of young tender flesh depending on me to play the notes, and I experienced Advent worship.

How could it be? She was speeding west in her car seat, but those baby hands lingered, resting on mine, comforting my soul this Christmas.  Like the baby's hands in the manger that rest on a world of  hurting experiences, that soft touch of God presented itself  through my tiny houseguest for my own personal worship.  

Warren Wiersbe in his book Real Worship says:

"There is today such an emphasis on Bible knowledge that we are in danger of ignoring, or even opposing, personal spiritual experience. While we must not base our theology on experience, neither must we debase our theology by divorcing it from experience. If true worship is the response of the whole person to God, then we dare not neglect the emotions."

Today, I challenge you to allow yourself a personal touch from God. Might they be the tender hands of a toddler? Might they be the aging hands of a parent? Might they be the hands of a friend, spouse, or a teenager or sales clerk?  

Who will depend on you to play the Christmas song for them?

"The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

Holy One,

Guide me to those who need a personal touch from you. Let me be their hands.

Advent - Small Signs of God "On The Bridge between Sacred and Secular"

 

Day 5 - On the Bridge between the Sacred and the Secular 

Millions of people celebrate  the Holiday season, but not all of them are Christians. They shop and decorate. They attend the parties and participate in the music of the season. Some will say they are Christian, but just have trouble with a virgin birth and a resurrection - the two, really big mysteries. They say they believe in God and sometimes they go to church. They think there might be something after death - possibly a Heaven, but surely not a place called Hell. How could a loving God send someone to Hell?

That's not very Christmas-y.

And then Advent comes and asks us to look again at the message proclaimed. The time is here when prophets warn, stars move in the sky and angels proclaim. Those who are unsure in their faith find themselves in another Christmas quandary. They find themselves on the bridge between the sacred and the secular and the choice becomes one of confusion and distraction. Back and forth they go - we go. The immediate often reigns over the important. 

Sometimes it is the good over the best.

I heard a speaker who made a strong point about this division. She said there are two voices inside of us. Deep inside there is God's Spirit calling. Outside, there is the world calling - usually in the opposite direction. Somehow those voices escalate and vie for our attention during Advent. The world pulls us to material pleasures and God's Spirit pulls to one, holy silent night.

It becomes a battle and Advent can leave us feeling sad and depressed.

The conversation between Charlie and Lucy in the movie A Charlie Brown Christmas explains our frustrations:

Charlie Brown: I just don't understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating threes and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed."

Lucy: "Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem."

Christmas is not the problem.

 Christmas is the solution. 

Christmas is the voice that calls to us throughout the year. Maybe it's because during this beautiful season for celebrating, we find ourselves still on that bridge of indecisiveness, still wondering, still watching for some small sign of God.

God whose infant cries call me to your holy night,

                                Guide my steps to your sacred manger,

                                                                     For You are the solution.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16  

Advent - Small Signs of God "The Part I Play"

 

Small Signs of God -Day 4                           The Part I Play

When I was in 2nd grade, I was chosen to play the part of Mary in the Nativity. It was not because I was a budding actress, but because I was tall like David Herrington who was Joseph and the audience could see us better from a distance. I remember being excited  I got to bring my favorite doll to wrap and hold while the story unfolded on stage. I also liked the pale blue gown and the way it draped over my head and fell in folds to the floor. I had to hold my head very still  for fear of it falling off. 

Most of us have acted out the scene at some point in our lives. My youngest daughter was a sheep one year and the way her ears flopped when she baaed made my sides burst. Oh, and one year six children in our home donned bathrobes and acted out the scene to four proud parents. That one got a little out of hand when the two shepherds got in a fight with their broom/staffs.

Today I am asking myself: what part will I play in this year's Nativity? If I am an angel, well, then, I am already in Heaven and have the privilege of telling others not to worry. I can fly around and sing joyfully. If I am Joseph, I am dazed and confused, thinking about the newly defined family I have been asked to support and must find a hotel quickly because a baby is about to be born that is not even mine. If I am Mary, I am tired and weary, bearing the weight of the world, facing an uncertain future. If I am the innkeeper, I am busy making money and knowing these people from Nazareth can't pay, should send them on their way - or on second thought, offer them the shed. If I am the shepherds, I am looking for a little action - something in the sky is different and tending sheep can be such a drag. If I am the Wise Men, well, I will come later, but I do see something happening different in the stars and I start shopping for a gift. If I am the animals, I can sense that something is different and I simply stand very still.

All of creation plays a part in this mystery and wonder of the birth of Jesus. No one is exempt from the reality of the divine child in the stable. All Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of that night - when God became flesh. It is how we "play our part" in the story.  And in the end, scripture plainly tells us that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. (Romans 14:11)

 God who becomes flesh among us,

              I want to be the angel, glorifying you or the lowly donkey, simply standing very still,

                   but you have made me the human with a choice for the part I will play in your story.

                                       Will I choose you?

Advent - Small Signs of God "Alertness"

 

Day 3 Alertness

If Advent is a season of waiting, then shouldn't we always be alert to that for which we wait? 

The silly song  on the radio reminds me that I, too, need to focus on the one right thing. Alvin, the chipmunk, has the same trouble that so many of us have each Advent. The director is preparing his group to sing their Christmas song. Simon is ready. Theodore is ready. But then we hear, "Alvin....Alvin.....ALVIN!"  Alvin is looking off, busy with other things, maybe good things, maybe not. Time is spent getting him back on track to sing his Christmas song. (The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late;1958)

How much time do you spend getting yourself "back on track" ?

Today I read:

"Be Alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily papers. The Lord is coming, always coming. Be alert to his coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent: life is recognizing the coming of the Lord."(Henri J.M. Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal)

We hear ourselves respond, "But I don't see the Lord in that person and I look and look, but can never find the Lord in the news." 

We keep looking for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And guess what? We find the Lord either in rejoicing because of the presence of those things or the lamenting the great need of them. We rejoice with finding the Lord or we search and wait for Him to be found. Either way, we recognize him and our great need for him.

Even the Chipmunks in Christmas Don't Be Late recognize their need for Christmas when they sing:

"We've been good, but we can't last.

Hurry Christmas, hurry fast!"

Try as we might, we just can't be good in our own might. We can't last. We need the coming of Christmas to bring us the perfect Christmas gift - grace, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Pay attention! We have a song to sing!

"Keep awake - for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at down, or else me may find you asleep when he comes suddenly."(Mark 13:35-36)

Baby of Grace who comes to us,

 give me ears to hear and eyes to see without distraction.

 I want to be alert in order to recognize you every moment.

Advent - Small Signs of God "Morning Stillness"

 

Small Signs  #2 - Morning Stillness

 Why are the moments between darkness and dawn so very still? 

The night voices quiet themselves and the morning birds wait for the first rays of light. 

Stillness. 

I open my eyes and I, too, wait. As the first rays of light peek through the trees, the morning noises, one by one, increase their volume. Another day. Another new morning reminds me of the words from Isaiah, "Morning by morning He wakens - wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught."(Isaiah 50:4)

I am discovering the quiet before dawn is what rescues me from the perils of the day. Stillness and quiet waiting help me to hear the voice of God, assuring me that the One who brings His first rays of light to creation is also bringing me a ray of light, a ray of hope, a ray of guidance. 

Do not miss the quiet before dawn. Admittedly, sometimes I do, but choosing to miss the lonely, quiet place of silence is dangerous. Henri Nouwen, in his book Out of Solitude says: "Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our lives are in danger. Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, without distance closeness cannot cure. Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our actions quickly become empty gestures."

Where is that place of "somewhere?

The answer lies in the words of the Advent reading:

"God wants to open the heart before it opens itself to the world; before the ear hears the innumerable voices of the day, the early hours are the time to hear the voice of the Creator and Redeemer. God made the stillness of the early morning for himself." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is In the Manger)

Open my heart, God, to your day and let me always show up as you wait for me in the stillness of the early morning.

Outrageous Love

Outrageous Love

And here we are again, starting the Advent season in 2025. I ask myself every year what is it about this season I love.  I love Advent because it is a faithful reminder in our Christian year that a perfect world is coming. We can look to our faith to find the certainty and hope that Advent offers.

And so I begin my own Advent by turning to Isaiah 65:17-25.

"See here, I am creating new heavens and a new earth - so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones any more. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation. Look! I will recreate Jerusalem as a place of happiness, and her people shall be a joy! And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and in my people; and the voice of weeping and crying shall not be heard there any more."

It goes on to say a baby will never die, people will live out their years, every person will dwell in a home, and there will be no hunger, disease, famine or strife. 

Heaven and earth will rejoice!

You will rejoice.

 I will rejoice. 

Walter Brueggeman in his Advent book, Celebrating Abundance, says the poem in Isaiah is outrageous. Outrageous in a good way.  He says "This new world of God is beyond our capacity and even beyond our imagination.  It just does not seem possible. In our fatigue, our self-sufficiency, and our cynicism, we deeply believe that such promises could not happen here...merely poetic fantasy."

But Advent begins and we discover the hope as we read again the passages from Isaiah. Hope for a perfect future. We won't even remember the pandemic or a frustrating election year - I know, that really is outrageous.

 We will never cry again.

 Outrageous.  

No more sorrow. 

Outrageous. 

I can hardly take it in.

 O Wondrous and Outrageous Love,

You came as a small child, helpless, defenseless, homeless... and yet your small hands flung the stars into space and cast planets into their orbits. You are outrageously wonderful.  You are making all things new and one day we will see you face to face. You whisper my name and invite me into your presence so that I might live forever with you. 

Thank you does not seem quite adequate. Amen

(Walter Brueggeman, Celebrating Abundance, Devotions for Advent; 2017. Westminster John Knox Press)