Mountains and Valleys

I have to admit that I am not much of a traveler. I do love a good adventure and experiencing new things, but it is the process of getting there that trips me up.

Put me in a car – particularly on the passenger side, and I am happy. It’s boarding one of those big jets and taking off into the skies that gets my pulse racing and my prayers flowing.

Despite my flight anxiety, my husband and I decided this was the year to take a big trip. There are many places on our travel bucket list that we are longing to see, so this past summer we decided to check one off of our list.

Northern California with its beautiful coastline and enchanting wineries was one of the places we wanted to experience. We made plans to travel there with some good friends and headed out on our adventure.

Even with my flight fear, I tend to enjoy looking out the window at the landscape below. This being my first flight across the country, I was excited to catch a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains and the desert all in one flight. They did not disappoint. There were snow-capped mountains out my window one hour and the next hour the flat sandy desert appeared. It was beautiful to see these formations from above.

I am reflecting on the flights we took to and from California as we arrive on this second Sunday of Advent. It was the first time that I experienced deserts, valleys, and mountains all within a period of a few short hours.

Isaiah 40:3-5 says, “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together…’”(Isaiah 40:3-5)

Advent arrives and says to us, here is your God! Wake up and see that God has come to you. God has come to make the rough places smooth, to reveal the glory of God, to feed the flocks, to carry the lambs, to lead the sheep, and to offer comfort for our weary souls.

Then the instructions come; to climb to the highest mountain and proclaim this good news - to do as the old song says, “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere.” We are to declare that despite our failures and shortcomings, God has bent down to hold us and bring us comfort.

What is your Advent proclamation? And what mountains will you climb to proclaim it?

Rocking Into Advent

My first moments of Advent were spent in our leather rocker recliner with my grandson, Ryder.

Ryder and his parents were getting ready to head back to their home after spending the Thanksgiving holidays with us. I told his mom to let me have Ryder when he woke so I could spend a couple of hours with him before they hit the road.

Snuggled up with me in his Christmas pajamas, Ryder and I began to rock, and then we began to sing. Okay, I did most of the singing, but he cooed along. As we rocked and sang, I began to think about the irony of me holding this precious baby on the same day we prepare for another baby's coming into the world.

Away in a Manger was our first carol. It really is a lullaby itself.

Be near me, Lord Jesus,

I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever,

And love me, I pray.

Bless all the dear children

In thy tender care,

And fit us for heaven

To live with Thee there.

Advent reminds us that God showed up for us in the form of a baby. God became a tiny life held by human hands – small and vulnerable.

While I held and rocked Ryder, I took in every detail of his face, hands, and toes. I soaked in his smiles and listened intently to his coos, and I wondered if the Baby Jesus looked the same – small, sweet, and cuddly when he was three months old. Did his parents and grandparents marvel at him in the same way that I marvel at Ryder?

How can a baby bring so much love and hope to the world? I believe that is the gift – that God brings hope from the simplest of life forms. That “out of a stump would grow a shoot…and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:1-2)

Christ comes to us in this small, tender way – as a baby. He comes as a shoot from Jesse’s branch ready to bear fruit in the world. Ready to bear fruit in you and me.

God begs us to pay attention to the small things – the infant, the shoot, the least, and the lost. Those are the places where God shows up. Emmanuel – God is with us.

God's Table

The days that we live in feel heavy. They are punctuated with political upheaval, divisive opinions, weariness within the family structure, and uncertainty in our houses of worship.

We pull and tug with each other over every imaginable opinion. Our hearts beat with a heaviness over war and mistreatment of those who bear the mark of being “different.” Our world is damaged by greed and misuse.

When I feel the weight of it all, I pray for a way to move forward. I want to find community, acceptance, and fairness. I remember the words of Micah 6:8 and pray that I can live into them.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

As we approach this season of Thanksgiving, we anticipate the gathering of family and friends around a common table. In our gathering, may we remember that God invites all to the table in loving hospitality. God’s table is set with peace, gratitude, humility, and acceptance of all.

In 1998, Shirley Erena Murray wrote a beautiful hymn titled, For Everyone Born. This hymn represented the Christian equivalent of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” drafted by the U.N. General Council. In the hymn, she speaks about the basic human rights of all people to have adequate shelter, to abide in safety, to have enough food, and to exercise their right to free speech and worship. Through the years this hymn has expanded to remind us that we are a diverse people, yet each of us is invited to God’s table.

If you don’t know this hymn, I invite you to listen to it and make its text a prayer of your heart.

You can find several beautiful renderings of this hymn online. Here is just one for you to enjoy.

For Everyone Born

For everyone born, a place at the table, for everyone born, clean water and bread, a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing, for everyone born, a star overhead.

Refrain: And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy,

Compassion and peace.

Yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy.

For woman and man, a place at the table, revising the roles, deciding the share, with wisdom and grace, dividing the power, for woman and man, a system that’s fair.

For young and for old, a place at the table, a voice to be heard, a part in the song, the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled, for young and for old, the right to belong.

For everyone born, a place at the table,

To live without fear, and simply to be,

To work, to speak out, to witness and worship,

For everyone born, the right to be free.

Shirley Erena Murray