No wind at the window, no knock on the door;
no light from the lampstand, no foot on the floor;
no dream born of tiredness, no ghost raised by fear:
just an angel and a woman and a voice in her ear.
---John L. Bell, 1992
You just had to be there. Sometimes experience is gold. That instant when Mary understood...something...happened because she was present, in that moment, open to that experience. She heard...something...because she was listening, ready for the whisper of the messenger-voice.
The world...changed...because Mary was really there.
What voice might we catch, what message might we intuit, were we to be fully present to life, in all its messy moments?
How might the world change if we were to really listen?
Showing posts with label John Bell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Bell. Show all posts
Monday, December 21, 2015
Thursday, December 10, 2015
...you say yes
No payment was promised, no promises made;
no wedding was dated, no blueprint displayed.
Yet Mary, consenting to what none could guess,
replied with conviction, "Tell God I say, Yes."
---John L. Bell, 1992
Let's make a deal! Well...not a deal, really. I need this, well, this favor. It's pretty huge. And there is no way I can put into human terms what the costs and rewards might end up being for you. I can tell you, though...amazing...and heartbreaking...and world-changing...and earthshaking.
No person could be faulted for pushing away from the table with a deal like that on it. Too vague, too open-ended, too many possible downsides. Besides, your life is falling into place, your ducks are all in a row, you may not be Junior League just yet but it could happen.
But you say yes. Yes to...what, exactly? To uncertainty (that starts the moment you show up at your engagement party pregnant)...to heartache (there is Simeon in the temple, whispering something to you about a sword piercing your heart, too?)...to fear (now you flee under cover of night into Egypt, a bounty on the life of your baby boy).
But you also say yes...to joy...and to hope. And because you say "Yes," the rest of us get the chance to say yes.
We say yes to love.
no wedding was dated, no blueprint displayed.
Yet Mary, consenting to what none could guess,
replied with conviction, "Tell God I say, Yes."
---John L. Bell, 1992
Let's make a deal! Well...not a deal, really. I need this, well, this favor. It's pretty huge. And there is no way I can put into human terms what the costs and rewards might end up being for you. I can tell you, though...amazing...and heartbreaking...and world-changing...and earthshaking.
No person could be faulted for pushing away from the table with a deal like that on it. Too vague, too open-ended, too many possible downsides. Besides, your life is falling into place, your ducks are all in a row, you may not be Junior League just yet but it could happen.
But you say yes. Yes to...what, exactly? To uncertainty (that starts the moment you show up at your engagement party pregnant)...to heartache (there is Simeon in the temple, whispering something to you about a sword piercing your heart, too?)...to fear (now you flee under cover of night into Egypt, a bounty on the life of your baby boy).
But you also say yes...to joy...and to hope. And because you say "Yes," the rest of us get the chance to say yes.
We say yes to love.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
...doesn't love a wall
Nothing in height or in depth
which befriends or befalls us,
nothing in life or death
which forbids or forestalls us,
nothing can limit the love of our saviour, Jesus.
---John L. Bell, 1998
"You must be this tall to ride this ride." "You must be born after this date to _______ (play in this league, enter kindergarten, see this movie, buy beer)." "Sale price: $2.99. Limit 4." "Whites only."
Oh, we humans love our limits. We love to put them on others --- what are rules, really, but limits imposed on society? Sometimes with good reason, sometimes for no discernible reason at all, we hem others in with lists of rules --- the 'thou shalts' and 'thou shalt nots' (we especially love the 'thou shalt nots'!) --- like bright strings of barbed wire keeping cattle contained in a field.
The funny thing is, we also seem to like to set limits on ourselves, or to let someone else set them for us. If there are no rules, we would have to invent some. Something about staring out across that open prairie scares the daylights out of us. Like the neighbor in Robert Frost's Mending Wall, we murmur under our breath, "Good fences make good neighbors," and keep on stacking stones to divide us from limitlessness.
Because it is our way, then, to set limits, we fail at comprehending a limitless God. Because it is our way, we spend our energy stacking stones at what we perceive to be the limits of God's powerful love. "Good fences make good neighbors. Good fences make good neighbors. Good fences make good neighbors." We spend our waking hours stringing glinting, razor-sharp barbed-wire at the edge of our conception of the limits of God's mercy.
And all the while, God stands, smiling, one step over the fence. One step beyond our limits. Because nothing can separate us.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall...
which befriends or befalls us,
nothing in life or death
which forbids or forestalls us,
nothing can limit the love of our saviour, Jesus.
---John L. Bell, 1998
"You must be this tall to ride this ride." "You must be born after this date to _______ (play in this league, enter kindergarten, see this movie, buy beer)." "Sale price: $2.99. Limit 4." "Whites only."
Oh, we humans love our limits. We love to put them on others --- what are rules, really, but limits imposed on society? Sometimes with good reason, sometimes for no discernible reason at all, we hem others in with lists of rules --- the 'thou shalts' and 'thou shalt nots' (we especially love the 'thou shalt nots'!) --- like bright strings of barbed wire keeping cattle contained in a field.
The funny thing is, we also seem to like to set limits on ourselves, or to let someone else set them for us. If there are no rules, we would have to invent some. Something about staring out across that open prairie scares the daylights out of us. Like the neighbor in Robert Frost's Mending Wall, we murmur under our breath, "Good fences make good neighbors," and keep on stacking stones to divide us from limitlessness.
Because it is our way, then, to set limits, we fail at comprehending a limitless God. Because it is our way, we spend our energy stacking stones at what we perceive to be the limits of God's powerful love. "Good fences make good neighbors. Good fences make good neighbors. Good fences make good neighbors." We spend our waking hours stringing glinting, razor-sharp barbed-wire at the edge of our conception of the limits of God's mercy.
And all the while, God stands, smiling, one step over the fence. One step beyond our limits. Because nothing can separate us.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall...
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
A child should lead the way
Who would think that what was needed to transform and save the earth
might not be a plan or army, proud in purpose, proved in worth?
Who would think, despite derision, that a child should lead the way?
God surprises earth with heaven, coming here on Christmas Day.
---John Bell and Graham Maule
Surprise! It's a baby, and it's just the thing for what ails us!
Merry merry Christmas!
...so here we stand, whoever we are,
bathed in the light of a star...
might not be a plan or army, proud in purpose, proved in worth?
Who would think, despite derision, that a child should lead the way?
God surprises earth with heaven, coming here on Christmas Day.
---John Bell and Graham Maule
Surprise! It's a baby, and it's just the thing for what ails us!
Merry merry Christmas!
...so here we stand, whoever we are,
bathed in the light of a star...
Monday, December 23, 2013
Salvation/destruction
This child must be born that the kingdom might come:
salvation for many, destruction for some;
both end and beginning, both message and sign;
both victor and victim, both yours and divine.
---John Bell
One of the easiest things to forget about Jesus' birth and early years is that he was already a 'marked man'. He came to lift up the littlest, the least, and the losers --- great news if you were little, least, or lost. If you were a one-percenter in the Bible-times world, however, this 'good news' was more than a little threatening. Herod was no idiot; he could read the writing on the wall --- or at least in the stars. When the astronomers from the East stopped to inquire about the new 'King of the Jews', the current King of the Jews was more than a little alarmed. You see, good news for the powerless is often anything but for the powerful. In life, there are winners and losers, and a savior who turns the tables is going to upset the table-toppers.
So it shouldn't surprise us when the powerful begin early making mighty efforts at keeping their power. Even when the opponent they battle is a baby. It is never too early to snuff out table-turning...
...so here we stand, whoever we are,
bathed in the light of a star...
salvation for many, destruction for some;
both end and beginning, both message and sign;
both victor and victim, both yours and divine.
---John Bell
One of the easiest things to forget about Jesus' birth and early years is that he was already a 'marked man'. He came to lift up the littlest, the least, and the losers --- great news if you were little, least, or lost. If you were a one-percenter in the Bible-times world, however, this 'good news' was more than a little threatening. Herod was no idiot; he could read the writing on the wall --- or at least in the stars. When the astronomers from the East stopped to inquire about the new 'King of the Jews', the current King of the Jews was more than a little alarmed. You see, good news for the powerless is often anything but for the powerful. In life, there are winners and losers, and a savior who turns the tables is going to upset the table-toppers.
So it shouldn't surprise us when the powerful begin early making mighty efforts at keeping their power. Even when the opponent they battle is a baby. It is never too early to snuff out table-turning...
...so here we stand, whoever we are,
bathed in the light of a star...
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