Epiphany Reflections

Sparkhouse Holy Moly animated videos have been a great resource in children's ministries, combining simplicity, creativity, and humor to teach elementary children Bible stories. 

The video about epiphany is no exception.  When the wise men finally reach the holy family, each of them is greeted with a honk on their nose from baby Jesus, definitely not what they were expecting from this child that was the fulfillment of centuries of prophecies and for whom they had journeyed weeks or months or years to worship and honor with gifts. Yet, with each honk on a nose and erupting bell laugh, the wise men, who had been drawn and black and white, explode into color. 

Is that not what happens when encounter the living Christ? Are our worlds of black and white not newly colored in the light of God's love and grace? Does the Christ child not exceed our limited expectations with surprises along our journey of faith that sometimes look like laughter and nose honks? 

As I prepare to leave this Christmas season (yes, it's January 3rd, and it's still Christmas...for three more days), may I leave Christmas a changed person. May I see God's color reflected in my heart, in my words, in my actions, in my life. May I not take myself so seriously and learn to love the wonder of laughter and nose honks. 

In the last moments of this first day of a new year

In the last moments of this first day of a new year, I'm feeling hopeful and happy and overwhelmed and stressed and all the mixed up emotions that go along with the dreams and fears of being human. New years offer do overs, but a year can slip by so quickly that the bright and shiny do over of January 1st this year feels like a warmed up leftover of last year.

Amid this ambivalence, a gift of grace showed up earlier this night in the most unlikely of places...Facebook.

A few friends had reposted a quote from Nadia Bolz-Weber.  She shared, "My yearly reminder: There is no resolution that, if kept, will make me more worthy to be loved." 

In the face of both the joys I hope to experience and the challenges I pray to overcome in 2016, I am reminded that I am already loved beyond my wildest imagination. And if that's not grace, I'm not sure what is. 

Still, I'm drawn to the idea of resolutions.  Of leaning into possibility.  Of working towards bettering myself and the world around, even only an inch at a time.  I think Rev. Nadia's words simply remind me to love myself throughout this process of going on to perfection, as John Wesley would call it.  Not a perfection without error, but a perfection of my love for God, for others, and for myself. 

So, to the end of this musing, I share my one formalized and public resolution.  To write something everyday. Whether a prayer, a creative story, a comment on Scripture. Writing heals my soul.  Writing opens my eyes to God's movement in my own life and the world. Writing lowers my blood pressure. Writing sharpens my creativity and productivity. Yet, even knowing all these benefits, I have not written very much creatively or freely since graduating from divinity school. So in 2016, and hopefully for years beyond, I want to spend some time every day writing. 

To help aide this goal, my lovely husband gifted me _642 Things to Write About_ from the San Francisco Writers' Grotto.  I might not use this book everyday, but it will be there when I feel stuck or when I've left the writing until the end of the day. (like today...January 1st...I didn't say that I was a Jedi master of these resolution things)

Today's prompt was "Why can happen in a second?" 

Here's my offering, unedited and raw... 

I think the decision to change your life can happen in a second. Or it can take a million seconds...that's 277 hours and 20 minutes (I did the math). The point is that it can be instantaneous and at the same time we must choose change at every instant. Every moment presents the opportunity to do a little better, to love a little deeper, to change in just a second. 

May 2016 be a year for you, my friend, where you choose change that betters your life in small ways, second by second, as you learn to accept and be changed by God's infinite love for you. And thanks for joining me along the journey.