into the tides of life

photo by Yolanda Kauffman

readings

"Master, you are now dismissing

your servant in peace,

according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared

in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles

and for glory to your people Israel."

Then Simeon blessed them and said

to [Jesus'] mother Mary,

"This child is destined for the falling and the rising

of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed

so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed -

and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

LUKE 2:29-32, 34-35

God speaks to us as he makes us,

then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,

go to the limits of your longing.

Embody me.

Flare up like flame

and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.

You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

RANIER MARIA RILKE, the Book of Hours

tide in/tide out

Christmastide is the name given to this season of days which begins on December 25 (Christmas) and concludes on January 6 (Epiphany). I like the term for the way it conjures up the image of a seashore, and the tide rising and falling with the passage of each day. Ocean tides are one of those great and powerful cycles - like the phases of the moon, the cycles of the seasons, the wondrous rhythms of our bodies - reminding us that it isn't entirely accurate to say that life unfolds in a linear fashion, along a straight line of time. Life also circles-round, turns back on itself, and spirals its way around and through the Great Center that is God.

Christmastide rises and falls, year after year.

Sometimes we feel the push and pull of those swirling currents of a commercial Christmas, which now begins sometime around Halloween and abruptly ends once the wrapping is torn off the last present. The cycling of this "Christmas machine" as it has been called can leave us facing a post-Christmas dullness and depression once all of the lights are turned off and we find ourselves standing in a long customer service line of surly folks waiting to return and exchange gifts that just weeks before were purchased with relish and excitement.

This is not the cycle of Christmastide, just as red-nosed reindeer, five golden rings and partridges in pear trees are not the true heart of Christmas. Christmastide is about the ebbing and flowing of much deeper currents of life, death, and rebirth.

I am grateful that Luke includes in his gospel the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus' encounter with the two seers in the Jerusalem temple, Simeon and Anna. These two wise ones are not movers and shakers; they are sideline people, prayerful observers, contemplative listeners. They possess the gift of insight, and they are the ones who are prepared to see, receive and bless what arrives in the temple in the form of this unremarkable, poor family from the countryside.

These seers recognize the incoming tide of God's love, even when no one else does in that busy, holy place of prayer and worship.

Anna is 84 years old, and since her husband's death many years before, she has been in the temple fasting and praying. We are not told Simeon's age, but his song of praise seems to suggest that he, too, is nearing the end of life: "Master, you are now dismissing your servant in peace . . ."

They have waited for this moment. And once it comes they are able to receive it, bless it, and let it go.

Simeon and Anna, holding the Christ child with their hearts swelling in praise and wonder, stand on the threshold, and the tides of life rise and fall within them and all around them.

This is how it is with each of us.

May God help us see this,

and receive it,

and bless it,

and let it go.

for reflection and prayer

• Take some time to read the stories of Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:21-40). Reflect on the "seers" in your own life. Who are the ones who are helping you see what is really there? Who are the guides whose insight you can trust? As you enter a new year, are there ways you might draw on the clarity of their sight?
• At this moment in your life, how is "the tide of life" moving? Do you sense an inflow of energy, of inspiration, and possibility? Do you sense a slowing down, a dying away, or a receding of energy? Or, do things seem still and unmoving with the tide in or out?
• What do you see and feel in your life or in the world around you that might be described with Simeon's words to Mary: a "sword piercing your own soul"? How do you want to be able to respond to this pain? Ask for God's help in this.
• What do you see in your life at the present moment that you might offer a word of blessing and praise for? How might you release this into the world for the benefit of others? Ask for God's help in this.

God takes us by the hand,

and leads us into life.