Amid the bustle, may peace guide you.
Despite the noise, may silence speak to you.
Under the lights, may the darkness beckon.
When demands are made of you,
may you be sustained by the gift you are given.
When jolly words frame hidden loneliness,
may you know unshakable love.
When you are surrounded by what is trite and cheesy
and hounded by what is expected and irrelevant,
may you be arrested by wonder,
led by delight, and held with tender love.
When you wait for the surprise that never comes,
may the grace that has always been happening
catch up with you.
Not with earthquake or armies,
but tiny and fragile, quiet and easy to miss,
may the Child come to you.
Christmastide musings
A collection of all that is good for Christmas from my email resources
The Rev'd Jamee Callard
December 24, 2023
Like most folk who inhabit the online space at HHO I get a lot of content sent to my inbox. At times I get more opportunity to sit with it than others, and some of the offerings can be real gems.
I just loved this piece from the Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org) as intentional breathing is such a valuable practice in my prayer life as well as what helps to keep me well.
I share it here in the hopes that others might spend a moment with intentional breath over the Christmastide season.
The Breath of Incarnation
Every time you take in a breath, you are repeating the pattern of taking spirit into matter, and thus repeating God’s creation of humankind (in Hebrew, ‘adam).
And every time you breathe out, you are repeating the pattern of returning spirit to the material universe. In a way, every exhalation is a “little dying” as we pay the price of inspiriting the world.Your very breathing models your entire vocation as a human being. You are an incarnation, like Christ, of matter and spirit operating as one. This, more than anything we believe or accomplish, is how all of us—either knowingly and joyfully, or not—continue the mystery of incarnation in space and time.