The following excerpts from Barbara Brown Taylor’s Bread of Angels *(pp. 31, 33-35) eloquently state everything in my heart this Advent Season. May her words speak to your heart as well.
“... but somewhere in the middle of that time before time, God decided to make a world...Whatever the reason, God made a world - this world - and filled it with the most astonishing things: with humpback whales that sing and white-striped skunks that stink and birds with more colors on them than a box of Crayola crayons.
______________________________
He had one single thing in mind at first, but as he worked, God realized that one thing all by itself was not the kind of statement he wanted to make. He knew what it was like to be alone, and now that he had made a world, he knew what it was like to have company; and company was definitely better. So God decided to make two things instead of one, which were alike but different, and both would be reflections of him - a man and a woman who could keep him and each other company.
_______________________________
It was not long before most human beings forgot all about him. They called themeselves ‘self-made’ men and women, as if that were a plus and not a minus. They honestly believed they had created themselves, and they liked the result so much they divided themselves into groups of people who looked, thought, and talked alike. Those who still believed in God drew pictures of him that looked just like them, and that made it easier for them to turn away from the people who were different. You would not believe the trouble this got them into: everything from armed warfare to cities split right down the middle, with one kind of people living on that side of the line and another kind on the other.
God would have put a stop to it all right there, except for one thing. When he had made human beings, he had made them free. That was built into them just like their hearts and brains were, and even God could not take it back without killing them. So God left them free, and it almost killed him to see what they were doing to each other.
God shouted to them from the sidelines, using every means he could think of, including floods, famines, messengers, and manna. He got inside people’s dreams, and if that did not work he woke them up in the middle of the night with his whispering. No matter what he tried, however, he came up against the barriers of flesh and blood. They were made of it and he was not, which made translation difficult. God would say, ‘Please stop before you destroy yourselves!’ but all they could hear was thunder. God would say,
‘I love you as much now as I did the day I made you,’ but all they could hear was a loon calling across the water.
Babies were the exception to this sad state of affairs. While their parents were all but deaf to God’s messages, babies did not have any trouble hearing him at all. They were all the time laughing at God’s jokes or crying with him when he cried, which went right over their parents’ heads. ‘Colic,’ the grownups would say, or ‘Isn’t she cute? She’s laughing at the dust mites in the sunlight.’ Only she wasn’t, of course. She waslaughing because God had just told her it was cleaning day in heaven, and that what she saw were fallen stars the angels were shaking from their feather dusters.
Babies did not go to war. They never made hate speeches or littered or refused to play with each other because they belonged to different political parties. They depended on other people for everything necessary to their lives and a phrase like ‘self-made-babies’ would have made them laugh until their bellies hurt. While no one asked their opinions about anything that mattered (which would have been a smart thing to do), almost everyone seemed to love them, and that gave God an idea.
Why not create himself as one of these delightful creatures?
___________________________________
... he thought he would just be a regular baby. How else could he gain the trust of his creatures? How else could he persuade them that he knew their lives inside out, unless he lived one like theirs? There was a risk. He knew that. Okay, there was a high risk, but that was part of what he wanted his creatures to know: that he was willing to risk everything to get close to them, in hopes that they might love him again.
It was a daring plan, but once the angels saw that God was dead set on it, they broke into applause - not the uproarious kind but the steady kind that goes on and on when you have witnessed something you know you will never see again.
While they were still clapping, God turned around and left the cabinet chamber, shedding his robes as he went. The angels watched as his midnight blue mantle fell to the floor, so that all the stars on it collapsed in a heap. Then a strange thing happened. Where the robes had fallen, the floor melted and opened up to reveal a scrubby brown pasture speckled with sheep and - right in the middle of them - a bunch of shepherds sitting around a camp-fire drinking wine out of a skin. It was hard to say who was more startled, the shepherds or the angels, but as the shepherds looked up at them, the angels pushed their senior member to the edge of the hole. Looking down at the human beings who were all trying to hide behind each other (poor things, no wings), the angel said in as gentle a voice as he could muster, ‘Do not be afraid, for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.’
And away up the hill, from the directions of town, came the sound of a newborn baby’s cry.’’
Loving God, as we journey to the manger this Advent Season, make us mindful of the many ways in which you reach out to connect with us. Help us to recognize your face in the faces of all we meet. Help us to recognize your love for the hearts of all we encounter. Help us to reach out in the hope, healing, and love you have so generously given each of us through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
*(I quoted much of this chapter several years ago in an Advent Devotion. These words still ring true.)
Linda Summers
“... but somewhere in the middle of that time before time, God decided to make a world...Whatever the reason, God made a world - this world - and filled it with the most astonishing things: with humpback whales that sing and white-striped skunks that stink and birds with more colors on them than a box of Crayola crayons.
______________________________
He had one single thing in mind at first, but as he worked, God realized that one thing all by itself was not the kind of statement he wanted to make. He knew what it was like to be alone, and now that he had made a world, he knew what it was like to have company; and company was definitely better. So God decided to make two things instead of one, which were alike but different, and both would be reflections of him - a man and a woman who could keep him and each other company.
_______________________________
It was not long before most human beings forgot all about him. They called themeselves ‘self-made’ men and women, as if that were a plus and not a minus. They honestly believed they had created themselves, and they liked the result so much they divided themselves into groups of people who looked, thought, and talked alike. Those who still believed in God drew pictures of him that looked just like them, and that made it easier for them to turn away from the people who were different. You would not believe the trouble this got them into: everything from armed warfare to cities split right down the middle, with one kind of people living on that side of the line and another kind on the other.
God would have put a stop to it all right there, except for one thing. When he had made human beings, he had made them free. That was built into them just like their hearts and brains were, and even God could not take it back without killing them. So God left them free, and it almost killed him to see what they were doing to each other.
God shouted to them from the sidelines, using every means he could think of, including floods, famines, messengers, and manna. He got inside people’s dreams, and if that did not work he woke them up in the middle of the night with his whispering. No matter what he tried, however, he came up against the barriers of flesh and blood. They were made of it and he was not, which made translation difficult. God would say, ‘Please stop before you destroy yourselves!’ but all they could hear was thunder. God would say,
‘I love you as much now as I did the day I made you,’ but all they could hear was a loon calling across the water.
Babies were the exception to this sad state of affairs. While their parents were all but deaf to God’s messages, babies did not have any trouble hearing him at all. They were all the time laughing at God’s jokes or crying with him when he cried, which went right over their parents’ heads. ‘Colic,’ the grownups would say, or ‘Isn’t she cute? She’s laughing at the dust mites in the sunlight.’ Only she wasn’t, of course. She waslaughing because God had just told her it was cleaning day in heaven, and that what she saw were fallen stars the angels were shaking from their feather dusters.
Babies did not go to war. They never made hate speeches or littered or refused to play with each other because they belonged to different political parties. They depended on other people for everything necessary to their lives and a phrase like ‘self-made-babies’ would have made them laugh until their bellies hurt. While no one asked their opinions about anything that mattered (which would have been a smart thing to do), almost everyone seemed to love them, and that gave God an idea.
Why not create himself as one of these delightful creatures?
___________________________________
... he thought he would just be a regular baby. How else could he gain the trust of his creatures? How else could he persuade them that he knew their lives inside out, unless he lived one like theirs? There was a risk. He knew that. Okay, there was a high risk, but that was part of what he wanted his creatures to know: that he was willing to risk everything to get close to them, in hopes that they might love him again.
It was a daring plan, but once the angels saw that God was dead set on it, they broke into applause - not the uproarious kind but the steady kind that goes on and on when you have witnessed something you know you will never see again.
While they were still clapping, God turned around and left the cabinet chamber, shedding his robes as he went. The angels watched as his midnight blue mantle fell to the floor, so that all the stars on it collapsed in a heap. Then a strange thing happened. Where the robes had fallen, the floor melted and opened up to reveal a scrubby brown pasture speckled with sheep and - right in the middle of them - a bunch of shepherds sitting around a camp-fire drinking wine out of a skin. It was hard to say who was more startled, the shepherds or the angels, but as the shepherds looked up at them, the angels pushed their senior member to the edge of the hole. Looking down at the human beings who were all trying to hide behind each other (poor things, no wings), the angel said in as gentle a voice as he could muster, ‘Do not be afraid, for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.’
And away up the hill, from the directions of town, came the sound of a newborn baby’s cry.’’
Loving God, as we journey to the manger this Advent Season, make us mindful of the many ways in which you reach out to connect with us. Help us to recognize your face in the faces of all we meet. Help us to recognize your love for the hearts of all we encounter. Help us to reach out in the hope, healing, and love you have so generously given each of us through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
*(I quoted much of this chapter several years ago in an Advent Devotion. These words still ring true.)
Linda Summers
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