What are you looking for?” These are the very first words Jesus speaks to his first disciples in the Gospel of John.
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You are a beloved child of God. That is who you are. That is whose you are. This is a message we hear a lot in church. But have you really heard it — and embraced its truth for your life?
So, it’s a New Year. 2020! The Internet is filled with New Year’s resolutions on how to get there – Ten Steps to a Better, Happier You, Five Way to Lose 5 lbs!, 100 Ways to Be More Creative. We love it when we can map it out – The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, The Eightfold Path, The Ten Commandments, the Four Spiritual Laws. Life is full of maps, guide books, steps, and techniques for living it better, for getting us where we want to go (or at least where we think we ought to be).
When was Christmas season? What was Epiphany? What did The Twelve Days of Christmas (Ladies dancing, Lords a leaping) have to do with the church calendar? And what was that word you just said – Epiphany?
Do you remember a moment, event, or revelation that changed your life, your outlook, and your trajectory forever? How did you feel in that moment? Were you aware in that moment that you were encountering what “deep joy” is all about?
As I write, we have approximately 168 hours left, give or take a few minutes, to get Christmas right this year. Really right — you know, the Christmas cards mailed. The tree and lights and all the right ornaments up, the Dickens Villages and the family holiday heirlooms all in their places.
Do you know how to pray? Do you know how to speak to God in prayer, how to express yourself and verbalize the condition of your soul? Do you know how to listen to God, to open your heart to be in communion with your creator? Do you know why you’re praying, understanding it’s purpose and intent?
Have you ever felt out of sorts? Off-balance? Maybe not in a big way, but just that your whole life seems to be just a little bit off-kilter?
Christmas at the McDermott’s was at my mother’s house every year I can remember as a teenager and later as an adult. Grandmother’s lipstick kisses on the cheeks when I was younger, and uncles with vice grip handshakes.
So many people carry around an image of God that weighs them down with a heavy spiritual burden. They might imagine God as distant or disinterested, as angry or judgemental, as simple or placating