Linger a while

I am grateful for this week between Christ the King Sunday and Advent 1 -- the end of one church year and the beginning of another. Unlike so many years when this week includes Thanksgiving Day, this year it has turned out that the in-between week is AFTER the Thanksgiving Holiday. Without the travelling, feasting and family gatherings of the holiday event, this year we have, (I hope) a greater opportunity to linger and bask in the space between two church years. Have you taken time to stay there for a while this week?

Unlike the turn of the New Year which the world acknowledges at midnight on January 31, the turn of the church year simply emerges. The church's New Year simply unfolds like a blossom - no countdown, no ball dropping, no loud shouts of HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! It is as if the page of an enormous book which tells the story of the people of God is simply and inaudibly turned. Regardless of the activities of our week...in spite of the happenings of our individual lives...the children of God stand this week (and always) on an enduring page of the ongoing story which is God's mysterious plan revealed in Christ.

The reading from Colossians reminds us what is going on beneath the surface of our ordinary life. Read it again -- s-l-o-w-l-y.... Colossians 1:15-20

He [Christ] is the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers-all things were created through him and for him. He exists before all things and in him all things hold together, and he is the Head of the Body, that is, the Church. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that he should be supreme in every way; because God wanted all fullness to be found in him and through him to reconcile all things to him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, by making peace through his death on the cross.

When I remember this week to stand still before Christ, the image of the unseen God, I see the world differently. I linger in a trust and a peaceful solidarity that transcends everything, and that holds all things together. Like almost everybody I encounter, the world tempts me to hurry, worry, or scurry busily from one concern or task to the next. Without Christ this year (like all other years), I know the world's chaos would encroach upon everything I exerience. My heart and my soul are deeply grateful for the "New Year" opening in the Church, and for its fullness and peace for all!

Blessed New Year!!!!! and thanks be to God!