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Embracing Vulnerability at Christmas
Vulnerability, emptiness, and weakness are not usually words that come to mind at Christmas. We are more drawn to those Advent words of hope, peace, joy, and love. And for good reason! They are the promise of the Messiah who was born.
However, in our rush, we pass right over what makes hope, peace, joy, and love possible. First, it is the vulnerability of Christ coming as a helpless baby as well as Jesus emptying Himself (Philippians 2) that creates the room for the promises of the Advent season. Second, it is our own emptiness that creates the space for our personal and even communal reception of Christ.
“There was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7) Iconic lines from the Christmas account told by Luke and lines which also express a dynamic in our modern world.
Life is just so noisy that we are left without room to notice Christ’s presence. Whether physical noise, relational noise of hurt and betrayal, or digital noise from having the internet at our fingertips, quiet spaces for reflection and wonder are few and far between. As much as we might desire it, there just does not seem to be any room, but it is in those quiet spaces where we find the room to see and respond to the presence of Jesus in our world.
When a pastor comes to tears sharing about a personal loss and the congregation hushes to an external and internal quiet, space is opened to encounter and notice one’s own experience of loss. When a friend shares about their loneliness after offering a biting remark that seemed out of character, space for forgiveness is opened. When we confess that we feel overwhelmed at this or any other time of the year, space is opened in our hearts as we admit that we do not and cannot control things.
Space for contemplative reflection (noticing and welcoming Christ) is opened by vulnerability.
Vulnerability, itself, is a space, an emptiness. Rather than seeking control, comfort, and certainty, vulnerability is choosing to remain empty so that Christ can fill. The Christian mystic Simone Weil wrote: “Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void.”
This reflects the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
The challenge we frequently face is that while there is a desire for this kind of vulnerability, there is also a desire to distance ourselves from it. We most often run from vulnerability. We try to create a life where we either have a perception of not being vulnerable or we let all the noise serve as distractions from the truth that are vulnerable.
Like the Apostle Paul, we pray that God would take our vulnerability away only to discover that He doesn’t and that our vulnerability is where we experience His presence most profoundly.
Vulnerability is the open hands which refuse to hold on to anything, but stay open, ready to receive what is needed. Without vulnerability, love and joy have a difficult time finding a space to land.
This Christmas, are you hungering and longing for joy … for love? Embrace your vulnerability. Let go of what you think will keep you safe and open yourself to the vulnerability of needing God to fill your hands.
Prayer Practice:
As you experience vulnerability or emptiness in the coming days, simply notice it and turn your heart to God. Rather than feeling any particular way about the emptiness or deciding to do something about it, offer yourself to God with the following prayer:
Lord, You hold my life. My life with You is good and I have all I need to be who You’ve made me to be. I need You and I rest in Your love and provision. Give me eyes to see You in all things today. Amen.
The Greatest Gift: a reflection on the meaning of Pentecost
Every year, followers of Jesus celebrate Pentecost. Pentecost was the day described in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit descended on the first followers of Jesus 50 days after the resurrection. The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word, pentekoste, which means “fiftieth.”
Ten days before this event, Jesus ascended to heaven after spending 40 “post-resurrection” days with His disciples. (Acts 1:1-3) As His bodily presence on earth came to an end, Pentecost is fulfillment of the words of Jesus when He promised: “these things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:25-26) This also connects with the discussion of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:33-34:
“’For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord; ‘I will put my law within them, and I write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord, ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’”
This is an incredible reality, that through the New Covenant (the shedding of Jesus’ blood) we will no longer need to teach each other. Why? Because each person has access to the Spirit of God who leads, guides, and shapes. Of course, the question arises: then why do we have teachers? Primarily, it is for discernment: discerning the Spirit’s voice and leading as well as the discernment provided in the Scriptures.
When it comes to our daily lives and living in the presence and love of God, there is nothing more important than Pentecost. Of course, it could be argued that the cross and resurrection are more important. However, our ability and capacity to live out and embody the cross and resurrection is empowered and shaped by the Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus says: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
What does this have to do with Pentecost? First, what are the “good things” that God gives. In one sense, it is an invitation to trust God’s provision in any situation to give us what is needed. Second, in Luke’s description of the same sermon, the good things are defined as the “Holy Spirit”: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)
What is good? What is the best provision in any situation? What is the truest, deepest desire of our heart? The presence and love of God experienced through the Holy Spirit. In Romans 5:5, we read: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is not something we have to earn or maintain. Romans 8:9 simply states that “the Spirit of God dwells in you.” The New Testament writings are filled with reference after reference to being in the Spirit, having the Spirit, etc. In attachment to Christ, we experience the presence of the God the Spirit. There is also encouragement to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) and to “be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) These encouragements describe our need to pay attention to the shaping and leading of the Spirit in our lives … to cooperate and participate in the life of God through the Spirit. To “walk” is to live our lives according to the Spirit’s leading. To “be filled” is to be controlled by Spirit. And of course, this is not something demanded by God the Father but His provision of what could be called the greatest gift (God with us) … which is the deepest, truest desire of our hearts.
Reflection: how are you living with the Holy Spirit? How are you paying attention to the love, leading, and guidance of God through the Spirit? Stop for a few moments of prayerful reflection and become present to what the Spirit is inviting.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, thank you for your constant, gracious presence within me. Help me to pay attention to how you are speaking to me and providing for me moment to moment. Amen.
Practice: simply set aside 5-20 minutes to be quiet (quiet in body, mind, and soul); as you practice quietness/stillness, you will know (experience) God’s presence with you through the Holy Spirit (cf., Psalm 46:10)
desert direction 