...diamonds from ashes

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

---John Rippon, 1787

There are lots of ways to look at the rough patches and tragedies in our lives. Some folk choose to look at everything that happens as God’s distinct will, some look at bad stuff as karma or payback. I see the bad things that happen as part of the price of being truly human in this world. For me, this resonates with my observations, with history, with my own life experience, and with my belief in a loving God.

In today’s hymn, with its text from the 18^th century, the hymnist speaks from the viewpoint of a strong, caring God to a searching believer. We will be called, no choice about it, through our life experiences, to journey through deep waters; but we will not go alone. God goes with us through our troubles and distress, to bless and even to make holy those experiences that try us the most. To me this says that God can bring some worth out of even the most tragic, worthless, hurtful situation, diamonds from ashes.

What a hopeful thought from a loving God!

...this side of heaven

For the joy of human love,

brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth and friends above,

for all gentle thoughts and mild,

Lord of all, to Thee we raise this

our hymn of grateful praise.

---Folliott S Pierpoint, 1864

The joy of human love. Flawed, fragile, erring love, conditional and weak, sometimes selfish and self-serving. Love has come through and come around. Love has rescued and resisted. Love has let me down, and ground me down. Love has promised and lied. But love, nonetheless, sometimes wounded or wounding, the best we have to give and receive this side of heaven.

It’s an easy thing to be thankful for God’s love for us ---the perfect, endless, complete love of our boundless God, shown us in Jesus. This verse reminds us that there is joy in the human love we share with those close to us, imperfect thought it may be. And the more we practice this human love, the better reflection of God’s love we are able to mirror in our own relationships. The love of those around us strengthens and encourages.

Let’s raise our hymn to God for the joy of human love. Praise and gratitude, Lord of all.

...walking out of heaven

For He is our childhood’s pattern;

Day by day on earth He grew;

He was tempted, scorned, rejected,

Tears and smiles like us He knew.

Thus He feels for all our sadness,

And He shares in all our gladness.

---Cecil F. Alexander, 1848

“You don’t know how I feel!” “Nobody remembers what it feels like to be my age!” “You have no idea what I’m going through!” Now, whether you are a child or a teen, a young adult just starting out on your own or an elder dealing with the autumn of life, chances are you have felt (if not voiced) these very sentiments. I know I have. There is no emotion so isolating as what this hymn refers to as ‘sadness’; the feeling that others don’t know what you are experiencing is one that builds walls between people, making it even more unlikely that anyone will connect with you. Here’s the thing, though. God knows. Jesus has been there.

The miracle of the incarnation, ‘becoming flesh’, is that part of becoming flesh means being human --- with the aches and pains, the tears and fears, the insecurities and lonelinesses. To shrug off God-ness for a time, Jesus took on skin, and everything that fit inside it --- the jumbled mass of feelings and aspirations that make us real. For this, Jesus walked out of heaven and into Bethlehem.

Our pattern, our goal, in humanity, incarnate. The Christ Child.

...and not look away

Star-Child, earth-Child, go-between of God,
love Child, Christ Child, heaven's lightning rod,
this year, this year, let the day arrive
when Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive!

Street child, beat child, no place left to go,
hurt child, used child, no one wants to know,
this year, this year, let the day arrive
when Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive!
---Shirley Erena Murray, 1994

The images are arresting, wrenching. They take my breath away. Stories of kids, babies really, who never had a chance. Their families failed them, the schools failed them, our society failed them. They are hungry, aimless, abused, bitter, out of hope.  We let them down, then we shake our collective heads at what they become. I look away, because I read in their eyes the reflection of the guilt I bear for my part in the way I live my life alongside the least of these. And then I thank God for 31 Days of ABC Family Christmas movies, and click the remote control. Because really, who can handle the news?

But no remote  can control the message of love and justice ushered in with the birth of another Child, ages ago and for all time. The God of the universe set aside power and might, and entered time and culture powerless and voiceless. Great God became small human, dignifying the human struggle and sanctifying the lowliest life.

I cannot celebrate Christ's birth and look away from the suffering of God's children. I will not.

When It Hurts to Be Human

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

---Rippon's Selection of Hymns, 1787

There are lots of ways to look at the rough patches and tragedies in our lives. Some folk choose to look at everything that happens as God’s distinct will, some look at bad stuff as karma or payback. I see the bad things that happen as part of the price of being truly human in this world. For me, this resonates with my observations, with history, with my own life experience, and with my belief in a loving God.

In today’s hymn, with its text from the 18^th century, the hymnist speaks from the viewpoint of a strong, caring God to a searching believer. We will be called, no choice about it, through our life experiences, to journey through deep waters; but we will not go alone. God goes with us through our troubles and distress, to bless and even to make holy those experiences that try us the most. To me this says that God can bring some worth out of even the most tragic, worthless, hurtful situation.

What a hopeful thought from a loving God!