Christmas Revelation

It was my 45th Christmas before I finally figured out the one essential moment when my soul tells me it’s Christmas. It is the moment when in my heart, I visit the manger. All else is preparation, periphery. The defining moment for me personally, comes in the stable, by the manger.

For my family, Christmas is when we gather around and open our presents. It is a rare and special thing for our family to spend any time together not being entertained. So we gather, we give, we receive, we thank, we enjoy.

For my heart to know Christmas, it is the journey to the manger, and it is very personal. Usually that comes in the normal course of our Christmas events, a church play, a drama or musical performance. Maybe even a sermon. I suppose that is why any Christmas drama I was involved with at church was incomplete without a manger scene. You could take a thousand different paths to get there, but a Christmas drama of any sort always had to end at the manger.

When an ice storm cancelled our Christmas Eve service several years ago, we attended a wonderful service elsewhere, but it didn’t take me to the manger. And we didn’t go to a Christmas play at the regional theater, we went to a Holiday Show. It felt empty. It had no soul.

And then I read the B.C. Christmas Day comic strip. I read the message in the stars, and I joined the characters at the entrance to the stable. And in that moment I understood: This is the heart of Christmas to me. I enter the stable, and stand with the shepherds and the wise men in adoration of Mary, Joseph, and the new-born King, Emmanuel, the baby Jesus.

God rest ye merry, gentle folk. Oh come, let us adore Him.

Ho, Ho, Haiku

Ho ho haiku! I’m a finalist in the 17 syllable contest I mentioned last week. I entered the one that got a comment, (thank you Jason,) and made the top five out of a hundred or so.

Finalists and funky category winners are here. It’s a fun read, here are a few of my favorites:

The winner:
(anlyledo)
Winter morning yawns
A downy peace covers all
I burrow deeper

One of the finalists:
(Me)
Pent up words rusting
In my soul where I can't reach
With my fountain pen.

And a few category winners:

(Richard Mabry)
"Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh.
O'er the fields we go...."

(Cosimod)
Of cookies and milk
Santa dines night and day. He
can't fit in his sleigh.

(Me)
Santa said if I
Was good, he’d give back Christmas
To that Jesus guy.

WE

"…back before WE learned WE had cancer."

So says my friend Jason in this post. We have cancer. Not my son, but we. How powerful is that?

This is not just an individual battle, this is a family fighting together. And from what I can see, it’s not just the immediate family of Mom, Dad and three sisters. It’s extended family too, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, all involved in bringing this brave soldier back to health.

Granted, this is not entirely a matter of choice for immediate family. I can only imagine how this turned family life upside down in so many ways. There must be times for the girls when it seems everything revolves around little brother. But if you’re in it as a family, if you really look at it as something we face, then you do everything you can for the family member who needs it.

We could use a lot more of that attitude. In our families. In our neighborhoods and our churches. In our nation and in our world. And I’m guessing it starts with me, getting my eyes off me, and onto we.

WE might just be the most powerful word on the planet.

17 Syllable Japanese Sneeze

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/
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Haiku contest there
One entry per person please
Here's what else I wrote.

On Christmas:

Found the perfect gift
When the babe in the manger
Found room in my heart.

Christmas lights and trees
Gifts and carols and candy
Point the way to - peace?

Silent, holy night
Is what I got for Christmas
At the manger bed.

On writing:

Talent trapped inside
Rusts the soul, so why can't I
Open up the tap?

Pent up words rusting
In my soul where I can't reach
With my fountain pen.

Go check it out, add your own. Yes, you.

A Christmas Tale in Four Acts

A fictional conversation with John Bunn, based on his recent postulation that not just the Christmas story, but the story arc of Scripture, can be captured in four words.

sez Mark: So John, what’s Act I of your play?

John Bunn: OF.

sM: Of what?

JB: OF. Adam and Eve were created in the image OF God.

sM: Beats the proverbial silver spoon, doesn’t it? And what is Act II?

JB: That’s right, how did you guess?

SM: Huh?

JB: Act II is AND. Adam and Eve went down their own path. So now there’s separation, Man AND God.

sM: So what do you start Act III with?

JB: WITH.

sM: Yes, with?

JB: Yes, WITH. Act III is WITH. That’s the Christmas part. His name is Emmanuel, God WITH us.

sM: Then it ends in Act IV?

JB: You’re right, IN.

sM: I am?

JB: Act IV is IN. If you ask, the Spirit will live IN you.

sM: Is that like the ghost of Christmas past? Or like the Force?

JB: Were you listening on Sunday?

sM: It was early service, give me a break.

Of, and, with, in. I love a short story. Especially with a good ending.

Suede Booties

"The world is a strange place right now. It's off its axis," a salesman from a Fifth Avenue retailer is quoted in the New York Times. Why? Travesties such as: Barney's of New York has suede booties marked down from $1195 to $720.

Suede booties for only $720? This is the stuff of economic crisis? Well.

I will confess to being a frugal shopper. I'm less interested in "Can I afford it?" and more interested in "Can I live without it?" So how would I spend $720 on clothes? Heh.

Let's see, my tailor is the Harvest Thrift store, my couturier Steve & Barry's, my haberdasher is WalMart, Gabes is my cobbler, and my hatter is the lost and found box at Java Jo's. Yes, $720 will last awhile. How long?

A brief survey of my closets told me thus: The "world off its axis" price of those suede booties will keep me in dress shirts and pants, T-shirts and jeans, sweaters and hoodies, jackets and coats, hats and scarves, shoes and boots for a year. Twice. At least.

Can you wisely spend more money on better quality? Of course. My job doesn't require a pricey wardrobe, and our social life is casual. I dress better for a job interview than I do for church. But I'm not a slob. My favorite fashionista told me I look like a "city sleeker." I think it was a compliment.

So is the world off its axis? Maybe the one that's spinning on a fragile, mortgaged spire atop a house of (credit) cards. The real world, where you earn money, then spend it on things you really need, or dearly love, that world may just be regaining its balance.

Oh, and Naomi, you can stop drooling now :-)

Who's on Bass?

(A mostly true story)


The scene is a coffee shop throbbing with music. Two brothers and two friends jamming for two hours. It's standing room only at Java Jo, one of those rare performances you wish could last forever. But who are the players?

"So which ones are the two brothers?" Ed leans close to be heard over the music.

"Joas and Joel," I nod toward the band in the corner.

"Joel is the drummer?"

"No the other Joel. Yes, the drummer’s name is Joel, but the other Joel is the brother. He’s the one with the hat."

"Oh the one on the harmonica?"

"No, the other one with a hat. The one playing guitar."

"But not the one sitting down?"

"No, the one sitting down with the guitar is Joas. Oh wait, now Joel is sitting down, too."

"So Joas is the one wearing a vest?"

"Yes, no, the guy on the harmonica’s wearing a vest."

"What’s his name?"

"I don’t know. Just some guy that came with Joas. But Joas is wearing a vest too."

"So the brothers are the two guys with vests?"

"No the brothers are Joas and Joel. Joas is the one with a vest playing guitar."

"The vest plays guitar?"

"No, Joas plays guitar, wearing a vest."

"The guitar wears a vest?"

"See the guy sitting in a chair, playing a guitar?"

"The one with a vest?"

"The guy with a vest. That guy is playing a guitar. His name is Joas."

"The guy, or the guitar, or the vest?"

"The guy’s name is Joas."

"And his brother’s name is Joel?"

"His brother is the one wearing a hat and playing guitar."

"But not sitting down."

"Not right now."

"And the other Joel is the one with a beard?"

"The Joel with a beard is the guy on the drums. The other guy with a beard is Joas"

"The guy with a vest sitting and playing guitar?"

"Yes. The other guy with a vest is a friend."

"The one on harmonica?" The guy with a hat?"

"The other guy with a hat. Not Joel on the guitar, but the one with a hat playing harmonica. He’s the friend."

"And it’s not the hat playing the harmonica?"

"Might be."


The Cast:

Joas has a beard, wears a vest, sits and plays guitar amazingly. And sings. His brother…

...Joel has only stubble, wears a hat, stands (sometimes) and plays guitar similarly. And sings, maybe better.

Joel the drummer (actually the entire rhythm section since there's no bass), has a beard. No vest, no hat.

Friend (Chris?) wears a hat, and a vest, and plays harmonica marvelously.