In the bleak midwinter, right here and right now.Christmas 2017
+For years I dismissed the hymn “In the Bleak Midwinter.” The title itself turned me off---bleak midwinter? Forget it! But then I heard Annie Lennox’ version on her album Christmas Cornucopia. Lennox’ rendition is haunting, and the words hit me as being so honest, that I now listen to “In the Bleak Mid-Winter” year ‘round and have even used it as part of a Holy Week meditation. I am grateful to Christina Rosetti, the English poet who penned the words to the hymn in the 19th century and to Annie Lennox who got me to listen to it anew in the 21st.
My favorite line, and the one that summarizes my theology of Christmas well is this:
“Our God, Heaven cannot hold “Him” nor earth sustain.”
God is so huge, so massive, so untamed that God’s… well God’s “Godness…” God’s Divinity…cannot be held in check. The Love and Light of all that is good in heaven and on earth cannot be contained, secured or held back.
My favorite line, and the one that summarizes my theology of Christmas well is this:
“Our God, Heaven cannot hold “Him” nor earth sustain.”
God is so huge, so massive, so untamed that God’s… well God’s “Godness…” God’s Divinity…cannot be held in check. The Love and Light of all that is good in heaven and on earth cannot be contained, secured or held back.
On this most Holy of Nights, God erupts out of heaven and pours out onto the earth.
In a barn.
In Bethlehem.
To a human mother.
Born. In the regular way---with the pain and the muck and the terror and the unspeakable, incomprehensible joy.
In the bleak midwinter…right here, and right now GOD has come to dwell among us.
In the bleak midwinter, right here and right now, God has arrived as a squawking, hungry, maybe even colicky baby.
In the bleak midwinter, right here and right now, in Attica New York, [in Buffalo New York], God has, once again arrived…as a vulnerable little being, in need of nurture. In need of care. In need of Love.
In the bleak midwinter, right here and right now, on this Holy night, God has descended from the heavenly throne to meet us right where weare.
In the Bleak Midwinter.
In Western New York.
In our hearts and throughout our souls,
God has arrived.
Here and Now, JUST AS WE ARE, God has come.
You who may only be here because your grandmother, grandfather, parent, sibling, spouse expects that you will , at least once or twice a year, attend church…
In a barn.
In Bethlehem.
To a human mother.
Born. In the regular way---with the pain and the muck and the terror and the unspeakable, incomprehensible joy.
In the bleak midwinter…right here, and right now GOD has come to dwell among us.
In the bleak midwinter, right here and right now, God has arrived as a squawking, hungry, maybe even colicky baby.
In the bleak midwinter, right here and right now, in Attica New York, [in Buffalo New York], God has, once again arrived…as a vulnerable little being, in need of nurture. In need of care. In need of Love.
In the bleak midwinter, right here and right now, on this Holy night, God has descended from the heavenly throne to meet us right where weare.
In the Bleak Midwinter.
In Western New York.
In our hearts and throughout our souls,
God has arrived.
Here and Now, JUST AS WE ARE, God has come.
You who may only be here because your grandmother, grandfather, parent, sibling, spouse expects that you will , at least once or twice a year, attend church…
God has come for you and because of you.
You who may be a faithful attendee of church but who, if you’re honest, doesn’t even know what you believe anymore, God has come. For you, because of you, with you.
You who have so much fear, so much loss, so much doubt, God has come. Here and Now.
To be with you.
To be for you,
To be in you
To Be.
Here and Now
In the bleak midwinter of our lives, God, as God does again and again and again, God has come to be with us.
In the bleak midwinter our God, OUR GOD, the God for you, the God for me, the God for everyone everywhere, always and forever, has come because neither Heaven can hold this God, nor can Earth sustain. So this
God, our God bridges the here and now with the always and forever.
On this Holy Night, in this Bleak mid-winter, during our regular lives, full of hope and joy, full of doubt and despair, full of wonder and wander, God has come.
Not to judge.
Or to destroy
Or to terrorize.
No, on this Holy Night, in this mid-winter and in this place, God has broken into the world because God cannot stay away.
For God so loved the world that God came to be among us as Jesus the Christ.
God has broken free of heaven to roam this earth because God needs us.
And God knows, we need God.
Perhaps you’re shocked that God needs us.
Perhaps you’re uncomfortable with the idea that you need God.
It’s why this night is so amazing, because it’s so very real:
We’re in this together, God and us. We both have our parts in bringing the Love, Light and Peace of God to this world. Right here and right now, on this Holy Night, as we welcome the infant Jesus, we must remember that this birth, this baby, this gift is given to us and for us.
You who may be a faithful attendee of church but who, if you’re honest, doesn’t even know what you believe anymore, God has come. For you, because of you, with you.
You who have so much fear, so much loss, so much doubt, God has come. Here and Now.
To be with you.
To be for you,
To be in you
To Be.
Here and Now
In the bleak midwinter of our lives, God, as God does again and again and again, God has come to be with us.
In the bleak midwinter our God, OUR GOD, the God for you, the God for me, the God for everyone everywhere, always and forever, has come because neither Heaven can hold this God, nor can Earth sustain. So this
God, our God bridges the here and now with the always and forever.
On this Holy Night, in this Bleak mid-winter, during our regular lives, full of hope and joy, full of doubt and despair, full of wonder and wander, God has come.
Not to judge.
Or to destroy
Or to terrorize.
No, on this Holy Night, in this mid-winter and in this place, God has broken into the world because God cannot stay away.
For God so loved the world that God came to be among us as Jesus the Christ.
God has broken free of heaven to roam this earth because God needs us.
And God knows, we need God.
Perhaps you’re shocked that God needs us.
Perhaps you’re uncomfortable with the idea that you need God.
It’s why this night is so amazing, because it’s so very real:
We’re in this together, God and us. We both have our parts in bringing the Love, Light and Peace of God to this world. Right here and right now, on this Holy Night, as we welcome the infant Jesus, we must remember that this birth, this baby, this gift is given to us and for us.
As the hymn states,
“What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
if I were a wise man,
I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him-
give my heart.”
It’s so easy to dismiss the arrival of God incarnate as a gift for someone else. Someone more worthy, someone more holy, someone more devoted.
It’s so easy to dismiss the arrival of God in the person of the Baby Jesus as something much too big for us to fathom, for us to earn, for us to understand. And you know what? It is. It’s too big, we can never earn it, and we certainly can never understand it.
Perhaps if we were wiser, we would do our part, perhaps if we were shepherds we would bring a lamb but we, you and me here and now on this Holy Night, what can we possibly do with the greatest gift ever given?
“What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
if I were a wise man,
I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him-
give my heart.”
It’s so easy to dismiss the arrival of God incarnate as a gift for someone else. Someone more worthy, someone more holy, someone more devoted.
It’s so easy to dismiss the arrival of God in the person of the Baby Jesus as something much too big for us to fathom, for us to earn, for us to understand. And you know what? It is. It’s too big, we can never earn it, and we certainly can never understand it.
Perhaps if we were wiser, we would do our part, perhaps if we were shepherds we would bring a lamb but we, you and me here and now on this Holy Night, what can we possibly do with the greatest gift ever given?
We can accept it.
We can open our hearts and invite God in. My friends, here. Now, on this Holy Night I invite you to give this baby, our baby, our Lord, and our Savior, your heart.
Amen.Give
Amen.Give
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