"The Holy Innocents" (Matthew 2:13-18)

Why, O God,
must we remember
the words
of the slaughter
of the Holy Innocents
today?

Just days ago,
we sought the Christ-child.
The heavens exploded
with joy
and proclamation
and we raised our candles
as if they were
the soft twinkling
of stars in a
night's sky.

We heard once again
the story
of shepherds running
from their flocks,
to the very place
where Love was born
and our hearts
were filled with their
excitement.

We are now looking East,
toward the horizon
for magi
bearing gifts
and we wonder
what gifts
might we also bring.

Why, O God,
must we remember
these Holy Innocents now
when we have knelt
at a manger
to witness Love
first-hand?

It is
less painful
and sorrowful
for us
to close
our eyes
to this.

Is it because
there are still
Innocents today?
In Nigeria or Pakistan ...
or in our own streets?
Nameless and named?

Is it because
there are still
Innocents today ?
Hungry
and cold?
Nameless and named?

Is it because
there are still
Holy Innocents today?
Battered and bruised
in the very place
they call home?
Nameless and named?

Why, O God,
must we remember
the Holy Innocents?

"Because, my child,
there are Innocents
in this world today,
and 
mothers
weeping and
refusing to be
comforted.
There are still
Herods who
have both 
great power and
great fear
within them.

You must not forget
and you must not
look away."
  
c) 2014 revised   anna murdock

"What Do I Want for Christmas?"

(Please read Luke 2:8-20)

Each year, my family insists that we spend some time writing Christmas lists so that the lists might be shared with each other.  I always have a difficult time with this.  My needs are very practical and not very “Christmasy”.  What I want for Christmas is much different than what any one family member can give to me.  You see, I want to be one of the shepherds!

What do I want for Christmas?  In the midst of what is usually a very predictable Christmas for me, I want to be surprised by angelic announcements.  I want just a glimpse of the glory of the Lord on this silent, familiar-story sort of a night.  I want to be calmed by “fear not’s”.  I want to find myself holding my breath for a moment at the sounds of a heavenly-host chorus.  I want to be one of the shepherds!

What do I want for Christmas?  I want to hurry to Bethlehem, running down the hillside much like I remember doing as a child.  I want to risk running so fast that my feet might outrun my body … running, tumbling, picking myself up and running once more.  Yes, I want to hurry to Bethlehem with spontaneity and anticipation to see the One whose birth the angels sing. I want to be one of the shepherds!

What do I want for Christmas?  I want to kneel at the manger and realize that God has brought me to this place and has asked me to soak in the sights, the smells, the night air, the infant cries, the faithful parents and that first birth announcement.  I want to kneel for a moment in awe, wonder and recognition that God’s long-awaited Promise is before me.  I want to be overwhelmed by God’s love. I want to squint at the Light that has come into this dark world.  I want to be lost in the wonder of it all.  I want to whisper, “Immanuel” and hear God whisper back, “Yes, I am with you.”  I want to sigh a relieved sigh at this news.  I want to be one of the shepherds!

What do I want for Christmas?  I know that I must return to my “hillside” … to my job and my routines.  But I want to return from looking heavenward, from running to the manger, from kneeling at just the thoughts of being in the presence of the long-awaited Messiah to a different sameness.  I want to return to my world, to my hillside, glorifying and praising God for all things that I have seen and heard.  I want to be so taken aback by it all that I can’t help but share what I know with others.  I want to be one of the shepherds!

What do I want for Christmas?  I want company on the hillside on this most holy of nights.  I want other shepherds with me, privy to the angelic announcement, being offered a glimpse of the glory of the Lord and running toward the manger with me.  I want to kneel with others in prayer and praise and wonder and know that this “Promise Kept” is not just for me but for all.  I want to walk back to our hillsides together, changed forever.

What do I want for Christmas?  I want to be a shepherd.  Care to join me?

(c) 2006  anna murdock

"Ready to GLORIFY" (Thoughts on the 4th Sunday of Advent)

Last night, I drove by the church (Broad Street UMC / Statesville, NC) and glanced at the sign that shares with all passersby the worship times, our pastors' names and the sermon title. The sermon title is "GLORIFY!"

I smile as I think of that early this morning in the warm glow of the four Advent candles (and just a few days before Christmas). I wonder ... hmmmm ... just days before the birth of the Christ-child, were the angels "warming up" their proclamation and praise and glorifying ways? Were they antsy to burst through the heavens? Did God restrain them for a few more days? In this one word, GLORIFY, I sense the stage being set ... the angels giddy with joy (and ready and waiting to explode the heavens) and this babe, the Christ-child, being held in the very hands of God. On this day, the waiting of Advent for me becomes thoughts of the waiting of angels and the waiting of God and the waiting of the world. GLORIFY! It is filling our hearts and on the tips of our tongues. It is drawing ever closer!

In our Advent waiting, may we be much like the angels ... ready and waiting and maybe even a little giddy with joy as we prepare to proclaim the birth of the Holy Child.

"GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO!"  (I'm practicing!)

"An Advent Joy-Sighting!"

Last Sunday (Advent 3), many of you who are pastors pointed us to ADVENT JOY. The choirs sang of JOY.  Some of you chose scriptures that reminded us of Mary's JOY.  We left our churches and wondered if there would be a joy-sighting in these hectic days before Christmas.   We hoped for that. Yesterday, I witnessed just that ... JOY.

While I am normally not at my apartment when the school buses arrive, I was yesterday afternoon.  As I was leaving to go back to work, I saw a sight that I had never seen before.  There were mothers waiting at the top of the hill with young children who were too young to go to school. The bus was at the bottom of the hill. Of course, I waited until all the children stepped out of the bus. The first child to step down was a boy (10 years old would be my guess). His steps were faltering and painful to watch. The others piled off of the bus and ran through the trees and grass, up the hill to their mothers. The first child struggled to walk. I feared that he would fall but he kept trying to make his way through the leaves and around roots of trees and up the hill. I heard a young child scream with delight, “There he is … There he is!”  I turned to see a little boy squirming to break free from his mother's arms.   The mother released the little one and he tumbled through the leaves and down the hill, straight for his older brother. He grabbed him and held him tight. There was great joy in their smiles.

As I drove back to work, I thought that this might be a reflection of Advent JOY for me this year … an example of our own belovedness in God’s heart.  At the end of the day, when there is weariness and an accumulation of moments that has placed some faltering, stumbling and struggle into my hours, I trust that it is God who meets me where I most need to be met, with an anticipation, excitement and love beyond any word-pictures that I might paint.  Yes, my hope in this was renewed when I saw LOVE run to the young boy and JOY shine from the both of them.

Today, I joyfully give thanks that God loves us in this way.  Advent 3 opened my eyes and heart to witness this.   Now, I am looking forward to the 4th Sunday of Advent!   In that anticipation, I am praying for you all as you prepare for this Sunday.  I am truly thankful for clergy and worship teams, choirs, scriptures and liturgy that point the way for us to experience such moments as this.

"God Sings!"

"The LORD will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

Recently, our church welcomed two distinguished musicians ... an oboist and a violinist. Their first offering was called "Antiphonal Praise". The musicians stood apart from each other ... first the oboist played and then the violinist responded. Back and forth they "sang" to each other with their instruments until finally, they played the last notes together. As I heard someone later say, "It was achingly beautiful."

When I read the scriptures this morning, I thought of this. We come together on Sundays and join our voices in songs of worship and praise to God. Until this morning, I had thought of these beautiful hymns as being one-sided ... worshipers singing to God. After reading Zephaniah 3:17 this morning, I sense that we are like this offering of music by the oboist and violinist. We sing ... and of all things, God sings! Back and forth, we sing to each other until finally, like the oboist and violinist, we sing together in holy and beautiful music.

God rejoices over us with gladness ... God loves us so much as to renew us in his love ... and GOD SINGS!

"For All Who Feel Like Nose-less Camels"

I have been waiting for the first day of Advent for so long. If I could have stepped into Advent last week or the week before or even a month before, I would have done just that. Even the "waiting" DURING Advent begins with "waiting" FOR Advent, doesn't it?

Sunday morning, I awoke hoping beyond hope that I would feel like the sweet and peace-filled angel standing near the 63-year-old manger at my mother’s house... oh, not the angel hovering precariously above, proclaiming the birth of the Christ-child, but the one standing so close that she might hear an infant's cry and see both the tears of a mother and the wonder on a father's face. Instead of feeling sweet and angelic, Sunday morning I felt a bit more like the nose-less camel found in Mom’s nativity, burdened by all that was placed on the camel's back (the other camels aren't bearing any noticeable loads and are resting ... what gives with that???). Where it is placed year after year, this particular camel never has a good view of the Holy Family. For some reason, the camel with no nose is the only camel that needs a handler.  I wonder why ... I wonder if there is restlessness within that one because life has wounded him a little.

So, during this first week of Advent, I will pray for all of those who feel a bit like nose-less camels on this journey to Bethlehem ... wounded, burdened, restless and in need of coming closer to see the Christ-child in a manger.