Advent theme continued

Well, this past Sunday was a real blast! Once again, the young people’s Christmas program was very fun! The singing, the young people with their parts, the Foley artists with the sound effects (still need a sound effect for “shoppers shopping”), the reluctant Joseph and the Angel… it was all good! Many people made some very positive comments on the day. They talked about how enjoyable it was! In fact it was a joy!

People had fun, and they worshipped as well.

So, many thanks to those involved – Julia, my lovely wife Christine, Sidney and Ian at the Foley table, the “assistant” Foley artists – Abby and Elijah, my beautiful daughter Elizabeth, along with Maddy, and Zoe up front, with Elizabeth’s friend Alex, and Mike as Santa (love the hat! Has he done this before?), and Allison as the (reluctant) angel. Thanks to Jenn for helping out as well.

All in all it was a very joyous time!

And joy is the next Advent theme I’ve been thinking about. I started with patience, moved to simplicity, then looked at the idea of community and relationship, and now joy.

Joy is a choice! In practicing the others; patience, simplicity, community and relationship, then it seems joy (and its relative- gratitude) follows. Joy is more than being happy, I think. Maybe joy is about a reveling in God’s presence? Patience calms us down, so we can see differently. Maybe practicing patience helps us slow down enough to notice the small things, and remember we’re not the center of the universe? Patience may be about recognizing the humanity in others – that we’re not alone in this journey of life.

I remember when many of the famous musicians started going “unplugged”. Back in the early to mid ‘90’s the Eagles had an unplugged version of Hotel California, Eric Clapton had an unplugged song about seeing his son again in heaven – Tears in Heaven. Some of what I call the “Big Hair Monster rock groups” of the 80’s and early 90’s also had some ballads that were almost out of character for their groups. They usually highlighted the acoustic instruments in the songs they played, and seemed to down-play, if not out-right eliminate, the electronic sounds. And those songs turned out to be very popular. And other artists and groups followed suit. They simplified.

Going unplugged really does seem to have a different sound. It sounds less complicated, less full of stuff, less… well, less! Now, I’m not expressing myself well (must be the lack of sleep), but my point is the sound of the “unplugged” songs do seem to have a less cluttered sound, there seems to be more “space” in them. Granted there aren’t any of the fancy bells and whistles in the unplugged songs, but in their simplicity is a beauty all its own.

There is a beauty in space that is not filled with stuff. And in our world of things, and sound, and activity, and stuff… not just in this Christmas season we’re in… but I would argue in general, we could use a little simplicity. Simplicity seems to give us room to breathe, to see things new again. Simplicity seems to help us find our space.

And although Face Book on its face seems to be “simple” (you only have a limited amount of characters to develop a thought), and it may be a great way to get information across the ether for sure. But I often wonder how deep a relationship you can build if you only have 140 characters to plumb the depths of a shared journey, or learn of a persons dreams and hopes, anxieties and fears, in just so much space. FaceBook and texting and all the electronic gadgets (even the phone) have their place. I totally get them. But there still is something to be said for sitting with someone, beer or no beer, and having space and time to just talk… about life and all that comes with it, in an un-harried manner, taking time to wait for the pauses in the conversation, to look at someone’s face as they tell you their story. Building and maintaining relationships takes time, and presence. And we need patience and simplicity to just be there with that.

I remember there were some TV Public Service Announcements about 10 years ago suggesting that eating at the table was not a bad place to get to know your family again. Wow – we needed the “TV people” to tell us to eat at the table with our families. And yet, if you want to get to know someone, you actually have to spend time with them, and talk with them (in more than 140 characters or less), and see the expressions on their faces, and the movement of their bodies as they talk. It’s just my opinion, but I think we humans are, as a whole, wired to not only be with people (in the sense of being instinctively communal), but to be with people (in the sense of relational). It’s no coincidence that many religions, Christianity being one of them, describe a deity that wants to be in relationship with us. Christianity especially talks about God so desiring to be in community with us humans, that God comes to us “in the flesh”… literally living and experiencing as one of us… with us… not in some short abbreviated experience, not in some cosmic abridged version, but in the full, deep, human experience! And that took time to develop.

Relationship building takes time and energy and attention to do well. It’s layer built on layer, like the slow cycles of river sediment laid down year after year, until a depth of dreams and fears have been shared. Sharing and dreaming, until we don’t worry anymore how deep the well is. We just keep drinking from the waters of soul without regard for sun-ups and sunsets. This kind of deep relationship is recognizing that “breaking bread” is in fact a sacramental encounter with the divine in our midst. How can you tweet about a divine encounter with another and do the experience justice in 140 characters?

And in the midst of patience, and simplicity, and relationship… how can we not be moved to joy? And gratitude? Joy… the joy of a life lived in God, the joy of a heart disciplined with patience, through the training ground of simplicity, and fed with relationship… that kind of joy can’t help but be expressed in our words and lives! And this sense of gratitude lifts up in us like a helium filled balloon (remember the kind you liked when you were a kid?), as naturally as a child’s face lights up when they actually see a helium-filled balloon (remember those days?)

And then the Christ comes! Merry Christmas!