"ANOTHER CHANCE ALLOWED"

 “ANOTHER CHANCE ALLOWED”

As 2023 ends, I am giving thanks for making it through another year. I am, however,  anticipating with dread the new year of 2024.  I’ll address that more next week, but for now I want to stick with the celebration of Christmastide and the gratitude that goes with it.  We are blessed to have our family here for a long visit, and it is especially fun to watch our granddaughters grow up and turn into young women.  We also enjoyed participating in David’s and Susan’s going through their old elementary and middle school boxes that we had saved over the years – much laughter and gratitude, and some poignancy as we noted the passing of time.

I also listened to Christmas music, which I love to do – there are many old favorites, and I especially like newer ones like “Rebel Jesus” by Jackson Browne and “Nothing But a Child” by Steve Earle.  Earle’s song especially reminds us of the fragility of the story of the birth of Jesus – born to a woman who got pregnant before marriage, born on the streets, hunted by the government soldiers, a Palestinian refugee crossing borders in order to escape execution.  The glory of a King born to rule the earth is stunningly absent from the details of the birth story of Jesus.  

“Nothing But a Child” puts it this way:

“Once upon a time

In a far off land

Wise {men} saw a sign

And set out cross the sand

Songs of praise to sing

They travelled day and night

Precious gifts to bring

They were guided by the light

They chased a brand new star

Ever towards the West

Across the mountains far

But when it came to rest

They scarce believed their eyes

They’d come so many miles

The miracle they prized

Was nothing but a child

Nothing but a child

Could wash those tears away

Or guide a weary world

Into the light of day

Nothing but a child

Could help erase those miles

So once again we all can be children 

     For a while

So, as we approach the new year with trembling, let us remember the fragility of this story and how radical it is.  It challenges our point of view of ourselves and the world itself.  And it asks us to remember how fragile life is, how precious life is, and how, like Mary and Joseph, we are asked to be bold and courageous and visionary in a time that looks dark and dreary.  And, indeed that’s why the church chose the holiday of the Sun to attach this Christmas story.  We are asked to be like those magi who set off on a journey, looking for a vision that will fill us and sustain us, and which will make a stunning claim about the power and force at the center of the universe.  It is powered by visionaries high on love.  And, most of all, we will find that vision in very surprising places.