Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and
trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded, for with blessing in His
hand
Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to
demand.
---Liturgy of St. James, 5th cent.
Friends, we step this day onto holy ground; crossing what is
sometimes called in Celtic spirituality a ‘thin place’ between one world and
another. For this day we begin to mark the Coming, the welcoming not only of
the Babe to the manger but of the reign of God in our hearts and in the world.
And where we welcome God’s reign, not one thing can remain the same --- not one
social construct, not one ‘good old day’, not one stone left on stone. This
Advent, this coming, is no journey for the faint-hearted.
So, on the cusp of this new year --- between the
brokenheartedness of our shortcomings, our failures, our disappointments, and
the possibility, the chance, the prayer that all things will be made new ---
let us stand still, silent, awed by the holiness of God come to us as ‘us’.
From our eyes, from our hands, from our minds fall any considerations aside
from this holiness.
And we worship.
