Christmas: Resting With the Christ Child

One of my most favorite things to do over the Christmas Season is to sit in front of the Christmas Tree and Crèche. I keep the lights low and I simply gaze, reflect and ponder. I let my imagination sometimes transport me to a different time and place and at other times I simply write and say prayers.

Below is a reflection I wrote several years ago. I came across it just a few days ago and offer it as my Christmas reflection.

This Holy Season of Christmas is always so amazing. It can consume us, challenge us, engage us, enrage us, fill us with hope and joy, fill us with awe and leaving us wanting more. Over the past few days as I have sat in front of our Christmas Tree and Crèche plenty has crossed my mind. The days seem to slip away so quickly and I am left again to consider what was and what will be. How have I celebrated and how do I hold on to these precious moments of the past year?

The gift of the Christ Child is the answer to all our worries and wonderings. The Christ Child is what fills this season and all the days of the year and calls us to ponder and seek. The Christ Child will forever hold
memories, desires, worries, hurts and treasured moments that are recalled each year. The Christ Child calls to us and we can choose to be transformed into a place where his love and joy is born deep within. We in turn are called to share this goodness in a hope-filled way in our time and place.

The Christ Child calls to us saying “Trust.” He calls to us saying “Hope.” He calls to us saying “Give.” He calls to us saying “Joyfully.” The Christ Child calls to us saying “remember... God is with you. I am here... now.” He calls to us saying “I love you.” The Christ Child, the Babe in the Manger calls to us. We are truly blessed. We must draw near.



The message of this Holy Child will fill us each day of the year ahead. May we be open to his gifts pouring into our lives so we may radiate him through the gifts of who we are and our lives.

Have we spent any time resting with the Christ Child?

What precious moments of 2018 take hold of our hearts?

What are our ponderings and dreams for 2019? 
Is the Christ Child there with us?

In closing off for this year I share with you a brief moment from my day.
This morning (Christmas Eve) I received a note in the mail from a six year old friend of mine... and as I opened it I smiled... his one word statement made me say...“Yes, Amen!” This one word prayer simply stirred in me and I think serves as a reminder for all of us as to why we celebrate at Christmas, God’s gift to us and the promise we are given each day to live. May we never forget this promise, this prayer and the gift of love planted in each of our hearts. 

May your Season be blessed with the riches of the true love given to us; the Child in a manger. 

Christmas Blessings

Advent 4: Promises & Hope

“the child in my womb leaped for joy.”

- Luke 1:39-45

Two moms-to-be

embrace full of hope and promise

life itself stirs within them

their hearts are lifted in praise.

Great joy in their meeting

great joy surrounds the child of the wombs

great joy floods their souls

great joy overflows in their hearts.

We too are bearers of light and joy

called ‘beloved, redeemed and precious’

hope stirs within each of us

for we have been restored and saved.

Openness and trust led to their ‘yes’

openness and trust beckons our response

openness and trust to do God’s will

openness and trust to carry Christ.

We ask, “What is our part? Where is our heart at?

Can praise fill us even in the struggles?

Can we lift our hearts in hope and joy?”

The answer is in the encounters of promise and hope.

Two moms-to-be meet and rejoice

two friends meet and celebrate

two strangers meet and break new ground

two adversaries meet and the desire for peace blossoms.

The days grow short

the time draws near

we who are little have a role too

to do God’s will for it calls us to life.

Blessed are we because of hope.

Blessed are we because of the promise.

Blessed are we because God is our peace.

Blessed are we because God leaps for joy over us.

Advent days have slipped away. As we look back over the Advent  journey let us consider how light has penetrated our darkness, how the seed has broken open and has begun to grow, how we have carried Christ to this moment of birthing.

May peace – who is Christ - fill us as we magnify the Lord who has done great things for us, for indeed our God is with us – always.

Week 4 Advent Goals:

Listen to songs that cause your heart to rejoice and give praise God. Sing!

Greet those you will meet over the next holy days with the “joy-leaping’ presence of Christ that each person holds.

Advent Blessings!

Advent 3: Rejoice in Lord Always

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. 

– Philippians 4.4

That line has echoed through my mind today several times. Maybe because it is the Third Week of Advent and the sense of rejoicing for the coming Christmas season is growing. Maybe it is the fact that the “to do” list is becoming less. Maybe it is because over this past week I have been able to truly see, as the prophet Zephaniah says, “the Lord, your God, is in your midst, he will renew you in his love” (Zephaniah 3.14-18a). 

It is not because God has come to me in some splendor moment of annunciation or revelation; it is because God has drawn near in my every day in the simplest of things. It is here that my heart rejoices, my soul is gladdened, my spirit is lifted and I have been reminded that the gift of Advent is the constant reminder that “in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 12). In the midst of my life, my very simple and ordinary life the God of All: who is hope, who is peace, who is joy has filled and guarded my heart in Christ Jesus (cf. Philippians 4.7). Today when I pondered this I was filled with great joy, maybe truly for the first time I have understood the beauty of this third week of Advent as “Gaudete” or “Rejoicing Sunday.” It was how God was present in my life this past week that made me think, yes indeed there is cause for rejoicing and truly our God is present and real and active.

This week my life was full just like everyone else’s life, however it is in this fullness that the reality of God with us was made evident for me. It was connecting with someone who has become a dear friend and discussing the realities of life and how we are seeing God at work in so many moments of our days. It was having an honest conversation with another friend that lifted a burden for both of us. It was in taking the time to be present to creating a piece of art. It was the words of songs touching my soul. It was in stopping to appreciate the beauty of an amazing winter sunrise. It was in listening to a brother. It was in gathering around tabling and breaking bread with my community. It was in the gift of the Eucharist – something so simple yet so very powerful. It was recognizing the dignity and hurting of the poor who came to our door. It was taking the time to speak with a child, to read with a child, to remind a child they are loved. It was taking time to pray. It was in being present for family and friends so they have a place to share their story. It was in pondering the journey and realizing the discoveries that spell out and spill out God’s generosity, love and goodness. So when I stop and consider all of this, it is not extraordinary – it is every day – but it is God at work showing me that the good news is continually being birthed in each week of the year, not just in the preparations for Christmas. It was God saying “here I am, each day I come to you, continue to prepare me a room this week and in the year to come.” (This is the true challenge.)

It truly has been an ordinary week that makes my heart rejoice and it has nothing to do with fame or fortune. It is simply about good news penetrating my life and my heart being renewed because God continually is fulfilling the promise made in Jesus, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28.20). The beautiful challenge that is before me is to continue to make God’s love known and real (as noted above), to be able to give witness to God, like Mary and say, “here I am.”





How about you? 
What is the cause of your rejoicing this week? 
What brings you joy and reminds you of God in our midst?

As this Third Week of Advent will fill and always seems to disappear very quickly may we be more aware of the journey of those around us and offer our hands as the hands of God saying “here I am.”


Week 3 Advent Goals:
Find one way this week to bring joy to someone’s life – think outside the box. Think of those providing services so we can celebrate with our families and friends. Think of the outcasts, the lonely, the hurting children, the poor. Once you find a way to bring joy do it!

Create a litany of your joys and post it on your fridge or your bathroom mirror.

Advent Blessings!

Advent 2: The Good Works of Hope

For at least the past 5 years as I have brushed my teeth in the morning I have prayed a prayer attributed to Mother Teresa and have ended with this line from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1.3). This line from scripture appears in the readings for this Second Sunday of Advent and I was pleasantly surprised to read it and see where it falls into the cycle of liturgical readings. It is a perfect line for Advent as is the whole reading (Philippians 1.3-6, 8-11). Why? It gives us a moment to consider the people in our lives that have encouraged us and supported us. It gives us a moment to reflect on the works we are doing – are they good and life-giving or empty and life-draining? It gives us a moment to consider Emmanuel – God with us – at work in us today, tomorrow and until forever.

I pray it each day before I step into the world to remind myself that God is at work in me, and that I do have good things to build the kingdom and that God’s goodness is a part of my days even when the days seem long or heavy or dark. I pray it each day to remind myself that I don’t walk this journey alone that indeed God is present and drawing me deeper into the great love of God and that God places good people in my path to journey alongside. In these Advent days it challenges me to be more aware of my actions and words. In these Advent days it echoes the challenge of John the Baptist to “prepare the way of the Lord” so all may see God’s love. The God of love who comes to us on the journey, through people, in scripture, in words of others, in the actions we do and the actions of others and our own actions and words. 

The chaos around us may try and steal from us Advent hope and Advent joy. The world around us as in the days of old may try and make us believe, we are not worthy, we have not done good, and there is nothing  great at work but all we need to do is look to Psalm 126 and be reminded that “the Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”  The birth of God’s Son is indeed a launching point for discovering the great things God has done for us and fills us with a joy even in our struggles and hurts. It is the ultimate reminder of true hope. 

Hope calls each of us beyond the instant and to rise up with confidence that good work is happening within us and through us and leading us closer to the crib and cross and empty tomb of Christ. Hope calls to us this Advent to seek truth, to be open to new-life, to change, to growth and to the unexpected. In this season hope underlines the journey that with each step we too become bearers of Christ and birth God’s love into the world. Advent is a gift to us to remind us of the great things that God is doing in our lives each day and that we too can say “I have this hope, in the depth of my soul, in the flood or the fire, You're with me and You won't let go”  (lyrics from Tenth Avenue North) (so grateful this song was shared with me this week).



As we continue deeper into our Advent journey may we remember that a good work has already begun within us, that we too are preparing the way of the Lord, that God continues to do great things and fill us with a joy that is deeper than any smile we meet and that hope is deep within us for our God – Emmanuel – is with us and is not letting us go.


Week 2 Advent Goals:
Identify the people in your life who are encouraging and supporting you and your goodness. Send them a Christmas card.

Make a list of the good things in your life (even a list of the last week) and write a prayer of thanks.

 Advent Blessings 

Advent: Stand in the Light

Advent: this season is before all else about hope, before waiting or joy or preparing this season is about hope. Hope because we walk in the light that broke the darkness at that first Christmas. Hope because that light has continued to shine no matter what. Hope because it leads us to a future where hope will completely embrace us with faith and love forever.

In an Advent reflection Mary Marrocco (Canadian Theologian) says: “Advent asks us to look forward (to the end of time), back (to the Bethlehem journey) and within (to our hearts) and discover in all three one thing: God is with us. Emmanuel.”

This is our hope in this season of Advent that we journey with God with us. We journey forward rooted in the concrete hope that we will be embraced with God when we breathe our final breath because God is love.  We journey with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and the hope that carried them forward in their ‘yes’. We journey to our core to discover our truth, the flame that is never extinguished, and the hope that lives within us. All three of these journeys (realistically this one journey) are because of hope. In times of darkness, in times of distress, in times of uncertainty, in times of suffering, in times of unparalleled greed and destruction we journey in hope. Why? Because Advent hope is centered in love, a love so great yet made known to us and offered to us, a love that encourages us when we doubt, a love that encircles us with lasting hope and says, “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21.28). Stand up and raise your heads because we are loved, we are valued, we are bearers of Christ, we are created good, we are people of hope.

A few years ago The Voice winner Jordan Smith released a song called 

“Stand in the Light.” 

The refrain states:

This is who I am inside

This is who I am, I'm not going to hide

'Cause the greatest risk we'll ever take is by far

To stand in the light and be seen as we are

To stand in the light and be seen as we are.

Advent is a season of hope that calls us to be honest with who we are and to “stand in the light and be seen as we are.” In and among the agendas, programs, demands, expectations, false dreams, pressures, loneliness, hurts, shopping lists and cookies there is a constant and consistent anchor that declares: “Hope” and to be aware that who we are is precious and good and holy. To continually strive to be authentic and real and who we truly are as the Light breaks forth on us.

As this season unfolds and very quickly seems to be consumed by everything else besides hope – let us continually come back to the light of hope and be seen by God for who we are and who we are created to be – Beloved Children of God on a journey aware that God is with us this Advent and always. Let us stand in the light this season, in fact let us bask in the light of this season as we draw closer to the light of the stable. Let us stand in the light as we are (broken, redeemed and blessed) and be bearers of this light which is hope as we “increase and abound in love for one another and for all” (1 Thessalonians 3.12) (Now that is a true Advent challenge as we wait in lines, decorate homes and attend parties). Let us take the risk this Advent to walk more honestly and more openly into the Light who calls to us and says “I will fulfill the promises I made” (Jeremiah 33.14) for I am with you always – no matter what. For our God risked all to walk with us and did not and or has ever hid love from us.  This Advent let us look forward, back and within because we are people of hope and Children of the Light.

Week 1 Advent Goals:

Be aware of and enjoy and appreciate the stars and Christmas lights this week.

Identify three qualities about yourself/areas of your life which challenge you to risk standing in the light.

Advent Blessings!