Month: December 2021

While visiting with friends the day after Christmas, one of them asked, “What is your word for 2022?”

The question was timely since I had journaled about this very thing the previous day.

During my quiet time on Christmas day, I glanced at the relatively new tattoo on my right arm. This tattoo, my first, is simply the Hebrew word חֶסֶד (chesed). This word does not have an exact English equivalent, but in the Hebrew Bible – where it appears over 200 times – it is often translated loving-kindness, steadfast love, or great mercy.

After reflecting on the words of Psalm 34:8 (“taste and see that the Lord is good”) and my tattoo, I wrote the following in my journal…

Tasting and seeing the Lord is good is about looking both deep inside myself and all around me for goodness…I cannot ignore real pain, hurt, and anger, but I must assume a posture of love. This love must first be directed at myself and then the other. I must seek to be an ambassador and embassy of chesed. I must allow God’s steadfast love to dwell in me and also emanate from me. As I near a new year, this must be my aim. So 2022 is the year of chesed for me.

Chesed is the word which frames my work and focus for the coming year.

What is yours?

I don’t need to hear your answer to this question, but maybe you do.

Honestly, maybe you haven’t even thought about it.

What is your word (or phrase) for 2022? I invite you to pause and ask yourself this question.

You may not have an immediate answer. That’s okay. The question is worthy of reflection and contemplation.

Maybe you already have your word. If so, may it guide you in your journey.

I know mine, and the journey before me invites me to lean into חֶסֶד, to receive the divine’s חֶסֶד and to extend that same חֶסֶד to myself and those around me.

May your word, whatever it is, serve as a challenge, a guide, and a blessing in the year ahead.

I hear about the “War on Christmas” and the outrage over “Happy Holidays.” I’ve been pondering all that.

First of all, Christmas is not the only holiday this time of year. In addition to Hanukkah and Kwanzaa there are several other less well-known holidays. The last time I checked, our nation was built on religious liberty; it’s not a theocracy. (There’s a whole rabbit trail on that statement I won’t follow.)

Second of all, Jesus came into the world for all people. He welcomed, helped, and healed the people of his day who would have said “Happy Holidays.” One of the biggest barriers to his message and ministry were the ones who would have declared there was a “war on Judaism.”

I’m all about Jesus, the Kingdom, and the Gospel, but when we turn following Jesus into a tool for political purposes, we bastardize much of the message of what Jesus stood for…and against.

So to my fellow Christ followers, Merry Christmas! To those who might practice different spiritual practices or ascribe to different religions (or none), Happy Holidays!

May we all learn to live in peace while seeking a better world for all creation.

Christ entered a messy world in a messy space, coming from a messy lineage. That is how the divine chose to become flesh and dwell along us. There is a message in that method. I hope we can capture just a little of that humility in our interactions with our neighbors of all cultures, religions, and heritages.

We are but a few days from Christmas. For many, it will be a morning filled with family and laughter, presents and food. Songs will be sung or at least heard, including various versions of the classic, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

But is it for everyone, wonderful that is?

This season invites a spectrum of emotions for me. Today, December 22, would have been my mother’s 81^st birthday. In a little over a week, my father would have celebrated his 85^th New Year’s Day birthday. A few weeks ago marked the seventh anniversary of my father’s death.

As an only child with no remaining parents or grandparents and only a few aunts and uncles, I can relate to the pain some feel during this time of the year.

I do not share my personal situation to engender pity or sympathy, but to offer my acute awareness this may not always be the most wonderful time of the year.

This time of the year can be many things to many people. It can be the most…

Wonderful

Awful

Joyful

Painful

Exciting

Depressing

Friend-filled

Lonely

Time of the year.

I invite you to think about this reality as you encounter people along the way during the holiday season. In a time filled with hustle and bustle and the rush to get to that party, obtain that gift, or attend that event, we might miss the pain in our presence or unload our own anxiety and stress on unsuspecting recipients.

We all experience opportunities to offer peace or comfort to those facing what might be a not so wonderful time of the year.

Slow down and look around you. Be mindful of those who might seem grumpy, irritated, or even angry. Maybe, just maybe, this time of year isn’t so wonderful for them, and those emotions are the only language they have to express their pain.Extend hospitality in your encounters with both friends and strangers in your midst and like a homeowner two thousand years ago, you might just have a divine encounter. While your guest won’t be Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus, you will be welcoming one who has been created in the image of God; that in itself is a wonderful thing.

I was honored to be invited to submit a reflection for our church’s Advent Devotional. Below is my contribution, which was written for today, December 21:

O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth.
And voices raise to God in praise and peace to all on earth.
-from O Little Town of Bethlehem

And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace. -Micah 5:4-5

If the sky is clear, go outside and spend a moment looking into the sky; see how many stars you can count. If the weather does not permit this, think about a time you have looked up into the sky at the numerous stars.

I am fortunate to live in the country; there are many nights throughout the year when I will stare up into the evening sky, especially in the summer. In those moments I often feel both insignificant and valuable. The insignificance results from my considering how vast the universe is; I am but a speck. The value comes out of knowing the Creator who made all those stars knows me.

We need a healthy measure of both humility and worth. This is precisely what Jesus embodied and it contributes to his being the one of peace Micah talks about. He has the humility of a shepherd and the glory of a king.

We live in a world where peace, true peace, is a rare commodity. Rather than humility and worth, many people are drowning in self-hatred and arrogance, two seemingly opposite attributes which often serve as partners secretly working together undermining individual and societal peace.

God invites us to join the symphony of peace resonating through Christ and creation. As we near the evening when a star led both shepherds and kings to Jesus, may we look to the stars as a reminder of both of our smallness and great worth within the reign of God.

Prayer: God of all creation, give us eyes to see and ears to hear your voice speaking to us through creation. On this Winter Solstice, this longest night of the year, may we be reminded by the stars shining in the darkness that even in the darkest moments, your peace seeks to break into the night. I am both as small as the tiniest points of the light in the night sky and intimately known and loved by the One who is greater than all the stars in the universe. May I be an instrument of peace as I follow the example of the crucified and risen Christ, who is great not in spite of his humility but precisely because of it.