Dear Faith Family,
Have you ever noticed how even the most profound proclamations lose their edge with familiarity? Hear something enough times, and it is likely to resonate as a benign cliche rather than a reverberating crescendo. While this tendency is true for many statements in our faith, I think it rings loudest for the angel's proclamation that first noel.
Imagine a cold clear night, stars filling the expanse, the galaxy's milky glow declaring how spacious our inhabitance truly is, no matter how small we feel. Suddenly, the heavenly bodies that a moment before were specks of sparkling sand on a distant shore are now pulsating lights close enough to feel their brilliance across your face. The universe and all its limitless possibilities collapsed into a chorus declaring,
"Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth, peace
among humanity
with whom He is pleased!"
Of all the many words that could describe the revelatory transformation of God with us, heaven and earth reunited, it is the word peace that filled the skies our first Christmas night. Peace, a word that not only describes the absence or end of conflict between parties, but even more so, depicts wholeness and harmony of relation. A proclamation that friction and dissent are revolutionized into flourishing.
What the angelic choir declares is this. At the birth of Jesus, we can no longer say with a sliver of accuracy that God is against us. All that is true, really true, is that God is for us, that peace has come. Now that is a profound proclamation!
This week, as we continue in Advent together, let the words of the angelic choir resound like the cymbal crash for which they are meant to forever be. Set aside some time to ponder the proclamation and respond.
Maybe like Mary, you'll respond with the humility, gratitude, and courage needed to let peace be birthed through your life. Maybe you'll respond like Zechariah and find that you need some extended time of quiet to allow the doubt to sink into belief. Or perhaps you will respond like the shepherds whose universe was expanded and made concrete at the angel's song, and go, seek, and find the proclamation's truth, that God is for you, truly and wholly in Jesus.
Love you, faith family! God bless.