By The Rev. Heather Wright
Ears to hear and eyes to see— both are gifts from the LORD (Proverbs 20:12).
Have you seen glimpses of the Holy this season? Are there places God’s Spirit is whispering to you and inviting you on a deeper walk of faith? The challenge is having enough bandwidth to be curious, to pause, reflect, breathe and notice. My favorite theologian, Simone Weil, once said, “prayer is paying attention.” With the hustle and bustle of this time of year, most of us have added a whole series of expectations on top of our normal schedule and we feel behind before we even get out of bed in the morning. But Holy encounters require us to move slower, and not have our agenda dictate the day but to receive from God.
There were two for me this past week that may seem simple and mundane but felt like taps on the shoulder by God. True wonder is the surprise of finding the holy in the ordinary. The first came while doing something I don’t do nearly enough, exercising with weights. My online instructor said to hold them out with our arms straight. After only a few seconds, these weights that had felt very manageable became extremely heavy and my arms began to tremble. Her words were, “sometimes doing nothing is everything.” The workout that came in my not rushing, pushing, pulling or lifting surprised me. It seemed a perfect parallel to the balance I am trying to find in my faith life. Faith in God, which is also described as drawing near, surrendering to, and trusting God all require me to do nothing but be in his presence. It is not doing, striving, being good enough, smart enough, or productive enough. Actions follow in faith from a place of receiving God’s grace anew. God has done the work. This week Christians celebrate Jesus coming to earth to dwell among us so we can abide in him. He made a way for us back to God through his death on a cross and resurrection. He did all the work, to make things right. My openness to receive that gift is everything and there is nothing I can do to earn it.
My second insight came from one of the many Christmas movies that streaming networks put out at this time of year. My husband and I have seen a few of them. One of the last lines of the film was “we should never doubt the power of taking our little leaps of faith. Faith may be the last great universal concept holding the whole world together.” Hearing this spoken was another tap on my shoulder. In a time of factions and divisions, it reminded me the importance of faith as an antidote. Not only is faith personal, us with God, but it is communal, for us with others we know and those we don’t. Why might faith be the last great universal concept holding the world together?
Faith invites us to see our work in the world as repairing, stewarding and loving our neighbors and even our enemies. It calls to us to something more. At this time of year, we are reminded of the Holy interrupting the ordinary with the celebration of light overcoming the darkness. In Advent, we light four candles for hope, faith, joy and peace. Some might argue that today those four spiritual gifts are in short supply. It is easy to imagine that the world would be a better place with more of all four in it.
In Hebrews 1:3, we find God sustains all things, and by his Word, Jesus his son, he upholds the universe by the word of his power. In Jesus all things exist and are held together. If we are people of faith, that is good news for us but it was destined to be good news for all people. We get to be a part of those who “go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.”
Jesus often told confusing stories when teaching about his kingdom and what it looks like and means to be a part of it. When asked about this, he encouraged his disciples saying, “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (Matt. 13:16). I will keep praying for “eyes to see and ears to hear” the movement of God in everyday moments. I hope for many God-sightings for you this season too.
The Rev. Dr. Heather Wright is Pastor of Care and Connection at Stanwich Church. She is also a licensed therapist and author of four books. More on her can be found at heatherpwright.com.
