“You see him? You see him? By Almighty God, brothers. Open your eyes. Listen.”
— What the Wise Man told the Shepherds
Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “The Birth”
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You see him?
Tag: pay attention
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What did we do?
What happened in January?
becomingflame.com went live
On January 1st, becomingflame.com went live with its first post and About page.
scripture
We focused on scriptures that talk about light (as opposed to darkness), beginning with the first ‘word’ of creation in Genesis, moving on to the Word who was with God before creation, who is the light of the world, the life of all people. We talked about the choice between light and darkness. Finally, we talked about being the light of the world ourselves.
- Let there be light
- Life and light
- Light and darkness
- Jesus, the light of the world
- Us, the light of the world
prayers
We looked at a few prayers for different situations.
other writings
We looked at writings from Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, and Frederick Buechner that emphasized how the anxiety and concerns of daily life can snuff out our flame, the flicker of our ‘real self’. We were repeatedly encouraged to pay attention in order tend to that flame.
- Thomas Merton on the ‘real self’
- Mary Oliver on ‘Attention’
- Thomas Merton – The First Responsibility
- Praying – a poem by Mary Oliver
- Frederick Buechner – A million things
comments
It’s been great to have a conversation with Robert (whose blog I follow and enjoy). Would be great to have others join in 🙂
thank you
Finally, it’s been a joy for me to do this and to know that you take the time to check in. Grace and peace to all…
dw
Photo by João Silas on Unsplash – cropped to fit theme by dw
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Frederick Buechner – A million things
…to run anything in this world…is like being lost in a forest of a million trees…and each tree is a thing to be done… A million trees. A million things. Until finally we have eyes for nothing else, and whatever we see turns into a thing.
…
So how am I to say it, gentlemen? When he came, I missed him.
— The Inkeeper
Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “The Birth”
I can’t begin to convey the magic of Frederick Buechner’s sermon “The Birth”. Sermon isn’t really the right word. It’s more like three interviews with people who witnessed the event: the Innkeeper, the Wise Men, and the Shepherds. The quote above is from the Innkeeper’s account, his witness, his confession – that’s what it is in the end – his confession. And it’s my confession, too; maybe it’s yours.
- Are we lost in the forest of our concerns, so lost we can’t see the Light of the World around and among us?
- He came to his own people and his own people…”missed” him. Do we, like the innkeeper, have no room, no mental or emotional space, for Jesus to be born? Are we missing him? Are we aware we are missing him?
- What can we do to not miss him? (Attention is the beginning of devotion.)
- List out some of the ‘million things’ in your life. Note down times in your life when those things caused you to miss something important. Write down what Jesus means to you and what you might do to give him more space in your life.
I highly recommend Buechner’s book and that you read this particular sermon. What I have shared here doesn’t begin to do it justice.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
becoming flame 