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Daily Scripture

+ Ascension Thursday

There is no proof; there are only witnesses.

Readings: Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:14-23 Luke 24:46-53

You are witnesses of all these things. And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high. [Luke 24:50-51]

In an age of technology and scientific progress, we have an explanation for everything or at least the promise of the same. Yet, there are still truly human experiences – both positive and negative—that defy human explanation. Death is one such experience. Doctors know the medical reasons for death but an autopsy doesn’t tell the whole story. Conversely, who can explain the field of energy that binds lovers for life?

During his life on earth Jesus created a field of energy that changed the course of history and it did not cease at his death or even at his resurrection. It continues to this day – locally and globally. Or else how explain the heroism of the saints of yesterday and the saints of today? Women and men, energetic witnesses who have said ‘yes’ to unconditional love under any and all circumstances continue to change the course of history in the face of those who attempt to chain the Word of God. No, most of them are not formal preachers or even religious teachers per se, but people who live the message of the Gospel of Jesus day in and day out.

The gospel today is typical of the departure of a hero. We might even consider it the conclusion of a hero story. Jesus assures his disciples that he is not abandoning them. Not only that but he will send an advocate who will empower them to continue his mission. “You will be clothed with power from on high.” They will be clothed with the mantle of Christ just as the ancient Elijah was clothed in the mantle of Elias before Elias departed in his chariot to the heavens. It’s metaphor and allegory, of course but the underlying truth of Jesus mission will continue to be proclaimed as Good News for all.

But hang in there until Pentecost when the gifts of the Spirit will be renewed and we will be empowered once more to preach the Good News—using words only when necessary.

Christmas Day

Saturday December 25, 2004

Close to the Moment

Many years ago as a young student, I had an opportunity to be in the Holy Land just prior to Christmas. It was a memorable trip not because it fulfilled my expectations of what I had hoped to find but because of what I didn’t find. One of the shrines I had most looked forward to visiting was the place of the birth of Jesus. The road to Bethlehem hasn’t changed much through the centuries. It winds through barren hills accented with olive trees and small clay houses. Our first visit to the town of Bethlehem was early in the morning just after dawn. We tried to remember what it might have been like 2000 years ago when shepherds “watched their flocks”.

I knew, of course, that the place of Jesus birth could not be documented with scientific certitude and surely didn’t expect to find a stable or a manger. I’m not sure I had a clear idea or even a vague image of anything other than a simple icon or creche much like we display in our churches at Christmas time.

We arrived at the Church of the Nativity. It looked more like two churches constructed over the remnant of a third. We entered through a small door and made our way through a circuitous route down a narrow stairway into a small crowded basement. The odor of burning oil from the lamps and the scent of eastern spices was very different from the smell of sheep, goats and hay and most certainly unlike the fragrance of a Douglas Fur. The room was filled with altars of varying sizes and degrees of ornateness, each belonging to a church, which claims Jesus as its founder.

The sound of people praying in divergent languages was strange to my ears and resembled the basement of a department store in lower Manhatten. His birthplace was marked by a small circular hole surrounded by a silver star.

People had gathered from all parts of the world not so much to find the spot where Jesus was born or to see a replica of a manger but to get as close as possible in mind, heart and soul to the moment in which God joined humanity in this great act of divine generosity beyond imagining.

The experience changed my perspective and affected my understanding of the feast. It caused me to think about all those people, young and old, crowded into that small basement cave-all sharing the same world but each one holding a unique and special world within; each with a different history and a personal story to tell about life and its strange mix of dreams created and dreams broken.

In a unique moment, in the silence of the night, through an event now called Christmas, God entered human history and this event continues to influence in a profound way, all who call themselves Christian and those too, for whom Christian is only a name. The exchange of gifts, the celebrations with family and friends, the brief moment of worship and prayer and even the anguished hope of those still held captive by poverty, prejudice or personal anxiety, all signify that there is within the human heart and family, the potential for greater understanding and a more intense sharing of love.

But we celebrate this feast not so much a moment of past history but an ongoing event: God taking on a human form over and over again in the hearts of all who believe in the impossible-in the mystery of God incarnate who came to us once in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who comes to us today, tomorrow and every time we pray or speak or act in his name.

We celebrate this feast not just the birth of “Baby Jesus,” but the entrance of God into human history and into our personal history. Christmas comes but once a year but Christ comes every day and his coming is every bit as simple as the first coming. He comes in the excitement of human love, in the birth of a child, in the creativity of the artist, the inspiration of the poet and the genius of the composer; he comes in the skill of the surgeon, and in the sensitivity of the counselor; he comes in the patience of the peace-maker and in the challenge of the poor and the homeless. He comes whenever and wherever people care for one another. Our God is always coming and still enables the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame to walk. He dines with sinners. He lifts up the lowly and puts down the mighty from their thrones.

Welcome him whenever and wherever he comes. May his peace abide with you today and always.