Welcome the Light! (Feist and Little Wings)

I like words. I like poetry and song lyrics and having good conversations. But I've also learned that some things - the very deeply difficult or profoundly joyful things - are beyond words.

In the best moments, before we simply fall silent in wonder, all we can manage is to exclaim. To shout for joy. To murmur in disbelief. To babble in delight.

Look!, we say. O, what a wonder...

Look at What the Light Did Now is a song I like without quite knowing why. It's nonsensical lyrics have no real thread of meaning, but play with words in a way that reminds me of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem:

Look at what the light did now
Taste the taste I taste 'til it's tasted
                                                  Look at what the light did now

                                                                            Bought it like a boast that burly beaming
                                                                            Look at what the light did now

There's no direct meaning in this song, except for the repeated refrain: "Look at what the light did now!"

This is our week to look. Our week to fill our eyes with the wonder that happened so long ago in the Incarnation, in the God-With-Us still manifesting in our world today. We Welcome the Light this week, first of all, by exclaiming, "Look, look what The Light did now!" 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things came into being through him; and without him not once thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.  - John 1: 1-4, 14

And we have seen his glory. Sometimes in a glimpse, as from the corner of our eye, and sometimes straight on, as on a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day when we are lost in wonder, love and praise, speaking nonsense words of joy, or cooing like a mother, a father, bending over their miracle of a newborn. A strange song of hope rises anew in us as we recognize again that the power of God lies in vulnerability, the triumph of God lies in profound peace, and the reign of God lies in the absurdity of a newborn baby sleeping on straw with sheep.

Look at what The Light did now!

Look at What the Light Did Now by Little Wings feat. Feist. Lyrics HERE.

May The Light born at Christmas continue to dawn in you today, inspiring glorious nonsense, joyful noise, and songs of renewed hope.

Wed Dec. 22 Celebration (Stevie Wonder)

"I feel like running wild,

as anxious as a little child....

I wish you a Merry Christmas, baby

and such happiness in the coming year."  -What Christmas Means to Me

          Let's not forget the joy. During Advent there is a lot of ambiguity, a lot of facing of brokenness, hoping for the future, all of which AMP has pressed into for almost four weeks now. But lest we get stuck in that loop and forget, today let's give ourselves a little permission to live into the celebration.  There is much to celebrate in this season. Now to be clear, I am not referring to the happiness of receiving that gift you really wanted, or the temporary truce, glad-to-be-good-right-now moments at some of our family gatherings, or even the warmth we extend to guests at the soup kitchen; these are wonderful moments but they can easily turn, becoming moments of disappointment, toppling into patterns of brokenness or passing into cold inconstancy. We observe moments as a doorway into a deeper and more abiding celebration.

     
           In Advent and at Christmas, we REJOICE in the message of the babygod, whose birth was joyfully announced to the shepherds so long ago; the message of hope that the world will be redeemed, the message of grace that we are beloved by our creator.  This is the ABIDING JOY to which we return each year, that it might be born in us anew as we peer into the manger. 

       
            This joy undergirds our season, runs through the hustle and bustle of our days and waits quietly in our moments of pain and longing. This joy peeks out at us from the usual places: candles burning low and singing sweet Silent Night as well as unexpected places like an impromptu conversation or a moment of stillness late at night. For me, rocking a sweet baby girl, sharing a meal cooked with love, laughing at my coworker's truly hilarious joke, all these things and more, are reminders to rejoice this season. These mostly small moments, and few big ones, point to the Love that holds the world in it's grasp, the peace that grow as Love connects us, and the hope of the promise that Love transforms us all. That's what Christmas means to me and that is worth celebrating. 

       
             As we draw close to Christmas, let us savor the moments of joy, big and small. Listen to Stevie, smile, dance a little, if you feel it. This is a season of joy, what does that mean to you?

"Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that shall be for all the people"  
              -Luke 2:10

                                       -Lindsey