Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Isaiah 2:3
Finding meaning in the ordinary is something my clergy colleagues are seeking every day, as they journey to Sunday. “Sundays are always coming,” said every mentor of younger clergy. Thus the road sign, indicating a merge ahead. Finding a way to take our ordinary stories and merging them with God’s extraordinary story.
Last month, during Jack Shatima’s Anxious Church workshop held at Pinehurst UMC, he concluded with this quote from Margaret Wheatley from her book, Turning To One Another:
“I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest human conversation. Not mediation, negotiation, problem solving, debate, or public meetings. Simply, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well. Human conversation is the most ancient and easiest way to cultivate the conditions for change— personal change, community and organizational change. If we can sit together and talk about what’s important to us, we begin to come alive. I also have learned that when we begin to listen to each other, and when we talk about things that matter to us, the world begins to change.”
I really like Margaret’s description of truthful conversation – to speak, to feel heard, and to listen well. Having the curiosity to lean into someone else’s story enables us to better understand what truly matters to the one we are alongside. Our efforts to employ these habits can serve us well as our lives merge into the other lives around us.
As we enter Advent, the season preceding the highly anticipated joy of Christmas, consider how your own story merges with God’s story as we journey to Bethlehem.
Place ourselves along the banks of the Jordan River, where you hear John the Baptist (December 7) and his passionate message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” Matthew 3:2.
Consider the highway we’re traveling as we read Isaiah 35:8 (December 14): A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
Pause and ponder with Joseph as Matthew 1 (December 21) describes the dream where the angel of the Lord speaks about Mary, who “will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
And then, be with the shepherds, who are keeping watch over their flock by night (December 24), and hear from the angel about a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. Go with haste and arrive at the manger, and be amazed at what awaits.
Merge into the stories of the Advent season, my friends, as you speak, hear, and listen well.
Blessings,
David