Return, O
LORD; how long will you tarry? be gracious to your servants. Satisfy us by your
loving-kindness in the morning; so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of
our life. Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us and the
years in which we suffered adversity. Show your servants your works and your
splendor to their children. Psalm 90:13-16
A Reading: On December
28, the Church remembers with sorrow the slaughter of the male infants of
Bethlehem. They were indeed the first victims of the persecution of Christians.
Herod was
furious on realizing that he had been fooled by the wise men, and in Bethlehem
and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two
years old or less, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise
men. Then were fulfilled the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: A voice
is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly: it is Rachel weeping for her
children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more. Matthew 2:16–18
So yesterday was full
of disparate readings such as Ann Voskamp’s Christmas
greeting and Christians, Muslims and Jesus and Jesus through
Middle Eastern Eyes. And it was full of walking with Everette to the
downtown library and pretty much engaging at some level with every single
person along our path and also having quite a few of those hedged conversations
one step past the “Oh, I am doing great and Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year” sorts into the fears and struggles and questions that the New Year is
ringing in.
And this particular
Christmas season was particularly marked by meditations on the slaughter of the
male infants. Rachel weeping bitterly for her children and refusing to be
comforted. Or maybe my tender heart just heard them this year. But I think that
actually that we as a Church are grieving through the pain of the other this
year with more sensitivity. May it be so. But also each one of us might echo in
the quiet of our heart the lament of the Psalmist that rather than being a
joyous delight, our years sometimes feel like an affliction from the hand of
the Most High.
Last night I walked
over to Falora and met some of the Monday night ladies for pizza and salad. And
it has not been an easy year for any of us, and we walked through it together
in prayer and expectancy. But in each story we can see the work of His hands
and His splendor to our children. And we are His servants, part of His
household, joined in both the sufferings and the triumphs.
And I am grateful for
their steadfast presence. That is one more thing that Nicole and I sort of
started yesterday. Writing thank you notes. And while neither of us exactly
wrote that many, although Nicole did produce a stack of beautiful cards, the
point is that both of us are so very grateful for and to the myriad people who
have been present, intentional and full of kindness in their walking alongside.
And that word “tarry.”
How long? Somehow this psalmist is asking God to make us glad in the affliction
and adversity. And while we await the grand rolling up of the mountains and the
sky and the arrival of the new heaven and the new earth, He has gifted us with
His presence in so many ways: In His glorious creation that gives me glimpses
of His majesty, His entrance into the open door of my heart, and yes, His
presence in His each image bearer and even more so in that of fellow Jesus
followers.
And Miss Everette is
glad in affliction and adversity. There are very few things she likes better
than climbing up stairs. The more the better, the steeper the better. Up and up
and up she marched to all the library levels yesterday. Stomp, stomp. With a
big smile on her face although each step was just a little too high and she had
to give a little tug on the handrail. Glad.
Make me glad as well
dear Lord.
Advent
means “expectation” and hope is our expectation, peace is
our anticipation, and
He is our
transformation, and everywhere right now, even amongst us:
In the
midst of our lament & our suffering we will be the humble and the brave who
“prepare
the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. And every
valley shall be exalted & every mountain & hill shall be made low &
the crooked shall be made straight & the rough places plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”-Ann
Voskamp
Thus once again, I
meet you in the morning and ask you once again to satisfy me by your loving-kindness; so shall I rejoice and be
glad all the days of my life.
Selah
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