Is This How You Come To Us, Jesus?

A few years ago, lying in bed, sleep subsiding and yet not quite awake, a simple tune began burrowing into my consciousness. It played.... and it played again. And again. 

Next day and the next, same thing. Strange! And it persisted. 

After a time, I could hum the tune when I woke up. I decided to see if I could hum it and add some guitar chords. The chords presented themselves in a matter of minutes. 

Eventually, in my waking slumber, I began putting words to the tune. They rolled out quickly as well. 

Christmas was coming. An invitation was extended for Christmas Eve special music numbers at St John/St Paul Church. Christmas words were beginning to align themselves with my slumber tune.

So the song emerged. I sang it that Christmas Eve.

I've decided to post a recording of it I made with my daughter Amanda. A little scary to post a home made song when you're not a song writer, and it's not hard to see where the presentation could improve, but I must say, I do like the message. The words connect what happened in Bethlehem with what happens with us. It talks about Jesus intertwining his life with ours. It testifies that we often see Jesus most clearly in the dark moments and in the humble moments in our lives. And it affirms that Christmas is all about God's love for us!

We have been through some very dark and humbling moments this year, just the kinds of times when we can expect to see Jesus and his surprising love for us. 

https://youtu.be/jNSNSATv6-0

"Is This How You Come To Us, Jesus?"

Words and music by Pastor Tim Keeler

Stable light,

Glowing light,

Darkest night

Angel flight

Manger bed,

Cows were fed,

Cradled head,

Love was said.

In a stable musty

A child, a shepherd must see,

Joseph came, he did not flee,

Mary answered, "Let it be."

Is this how you come to us, Jesus?

Is this how our lives intertwine?

In dark and humble moments

Your love begins to shine.

Shepherds doing what they do,

Passing time without a clue,

Soon to learn that all is new,

Angels grace the scruffy few.

Now we sense this gleaning:

Our God, who gives all meaning,

From heav'n to earth is leaning,

In flesh, intervening.

Is this how you come to us, Jesus?

Is this how our lives intertwine?

In dark and humble moments

Your love begins to shine.

We welcome you here blessed Jesus.

We welcome you into our lives.

Like shepherds and Joseph and Mary,

We welcome your surprise.

Gloria in excelsis!

Make A Leaf?

Could you make a leaf for me?

One leaf.  That’s all I ask.

Just one green or yellow or red leaf.  Let’s say...a maple leaf.

I don’t mean that I want you to draw a leaf for me.  I don’t want you to make one out of clay or fabric or wood.  Don’t bother tracing one on construction paper.

I wonder if you could make just one of those feathery, manufacturing dynamos that are falling in the billions around us right now.  It shouldn’t be hard.  There are bushels full of them just outside your door for you to study.

If you feel up to it, try making one that: 

-has a giant sun collector panel on it, one that can automatically turn itself towards the sun,

-has a big bunch of little tubes --microscopic tubes-- running through it in an intricate branching system

-can appear all by itself at just the right time in spring,

-can attach itself to a limb on a tree,

-is strong enough to withstand pelting rain, windstorms and droughts,

-can spend 6 or 7 months cooking up good food to send to the tree,

-is equipped with little breather holes to take bad things out of the air and replace those bad things with purified, oxygen laden air.

And if you don’t mind,  when this single leaf has weathered wind, hail, rain and scorching sun through spring and summer and has come to the end of its life, could you make it have one last hurrah?  Could you send it off in a blaze of colorful glory intense enough and beautiful enough to inspire poets and photographers and even little children?

God must have a hearty laugh every fall when the leaves let loose and take flight. We can’t make even 1 leaf.  One single leaf outstrips all of our technology. But God makes zillions of them every year----and then lets the work of his hands rain down upon  us in a blizzard of color.  These intricate machines --- manufacturing plants that give the tree what it needs to soar scores of feet into the air, and to build trunks and branches that can live hundreds of years --- are tossed to the ground to give all their intricacies back to the earth.

The creator jettisons every last one of these miracles of his hand,  tossing them to the wind,  knowing that he can do it all over again come spring.

Yes, there are terrorists, snipers, disease, hurricanes and war around these days..

They seem very powerful, but if you’ll pick up a leaf, you’ll know who is really in control and that, in the end, all will be well.