If anyone's still reading...

You may want to know, if you didn't see it, that I wore ripped jeans and fuzzy red slippers with snowmen on them to host our "Annual Parsonage Christmas Drop-In" this past Thursday. I didn't do it to make a fashion statement; I did it because I ran out of time to get properly dressed. But the food was out, the fruit was sliced, and the cake was cut. And everyone had a good time (I think--we did), with one notable exception I'll talk about in a minute. THANK YOU if you were one of the ones that made my frantic run worth it by (1) coming and (2) enjoying watching my child (who by the way had on no shoes or socks but was still adorable--again, no time for shoes) and (3) eating the food and telling me it was good (even if it wasn't) and (4) telling me the house looked good (because it was indeed a miracle that you could even walk around in the living room--less than 1 1/2 hours before people arrived my son thought that a whole big box of packing peanuts needed to be dumped on the floor).

Anyway, two things I want to share about this drop-in.

One: The fact that I didn't have on proper clothes and my son had no shoes is symbolic of my life each Advent. Though my husband and I work "our fannies off" to get the necessities accomplished, there is never enough time to get to other important things (like blogs :-) or nice slacks or shoes). But if we're lucky, and if we're open to God's Spirit that always flows around us, we'll be able to simply enjoy the blessings of Christ's coming in the midst of fellowship with friends and family anyway. We'll also be able to stop and simply worship, and just enjoy the fact that our Lord is present among us because of the Incarnation that we celebrate in this season. So forget about the shoes and the ripped jeans--just enjoy Jesus and come as you are to the party of the kingdom of God, whether you're frantic or bored or whatever!

Two: God showed us yet again at our drop-in that the divine has a way of re-directing our attention to what's truly important in the midst of our frenzy to do what we think is essential. Don't get me wrong: God did not cause one of my elderly members to become ill enough for us to call 911 that evening, but when it happened, God certainly intruded and focused us on being there for him and his wife in their need. The Holy Spirit was there as I silently prayed with my hand on his knee. The Holy Spirit led several people to get wet cloths for him, to put their hand on his wife's back, to hold them up, to drive his wife to the hospital and stay with her until their daughter and granddaughter arrived. Don't worry, he is much better now, home from the hospital and re-hydrated and his old self. He told me in the hospital Friday that they had all decided I had put something in the cider...

Anyway, my prayer for all of us is that, in the midst of the Advent frenzy and the Christmas clean-up, we will let God stop us and focus us on what's most important: Christ our Lord and the salvation-gifts--of healing, hope, family, abundant & eternal life, and friendship & reconciliation with God and other humans--that he was born to offer us. And as we do so, I pray that we'll forget about the things that don't really matter in the kingdom of God (like what you wear or whether all the food is presented right...)

Merry Christmas!