NACR Daily Meditation for Monday, Oct 11, 2004

11 Oct 2004 07:00:01 -0000

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NACR Daily Meditation for Monday, Oct 11, 2004

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This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying
in a manger. . .and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said
to them.Luke 2:12, 18

Some people think of God as a monster. Others think of God as the bully-in-the-sky.
Others think of God as remote and abstract. These images come readily to
us. We would not find it difficult to invent these gods. We are not amazed
by them.

Like those who heard the shepherd's report, however, we stand amazed at
the Christian Image. The image of a vulnerable God, a God-in-human-flesh,
does not come readily to us. Who would have ever invented this God who comes
as an infant? Who would have ever dared to think such a thing of God? But
this is The Story, The Image. Christians have always insisted that the central
drama of the history of this planet is centered on this God-who-comes-as-an-infant.

Things have not changed since the shepherds shared the amazing news. Being
a Christian still involves staying open to the possibility that God will
surprise us today. Just as God surprised the shepherds that day, so God may
surprise us today. 

Staying open to the possibility that God will surprise us with good things is not easy for people like us who find it easier to expect bad things.
But God surprises us again and again with good things. The same God who
came as a baby, wrapped up, lying in a feeding trough continues to surprise
us.

What a surprise you are, God!
I expected monster, bully, distant abstraction.
What a surprise you are, Infant-God!
Help me this day to be open to your surprising grace.
Help me this day to be open to your surprising love.
Help me this day to hope in you.
Help me to allow my deep longings for you to awaken.
So that I will not miss your surprises.
Amen.

Copyright 1991 Dale and Juanita Ryan

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