The real work of Christmas

The Real Work of Christmas

When the last present has been opened

and the last mouth fed.

When weariness lays like a blanket over all mankind - 

The real work of Christmas begins:

To seek the lost

To support the lonely

To feed the starving

To shelter the homeless

To console the broken

To love the unlovely

To pray for peace 

To...

LOVE.


(c) Liz Babbs

He is Risen!

I’ve been reflecting on the resurrection and thinking that whatever difficulty we experience in our lives - God can move the stone!

Also, as I prepare to lead sessions on the Bible and Poetry, I’ve been reflecting on the character of God through Song of Songs - God’s poetic love letter to us:

Listen! My beloved!
   Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
   bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
   Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
   peering through the lattice.
My beloved spoke and said to me,
   “Arise, my darling,
   my beautiful one, come with me.
See! The winter is past;
   the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
   the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
   is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
   the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
   my beautiful one, come with me.”

(Song of Songs 2:8-13)

Some years ago, I wrote this poem as a response to the resurrection, inspired by the Song of Songs:

Stone upon stone

upon river 

upon stream

my Lover is calling

He is beckoning to me

A love consummated on a cross

and sealed in a tomb

We rise to new life

Bride and bridegroom.

And I just love the explosion of joy expressed in this worship dance video by First Baptist Church, Houston - Dance Your Shoes Off!

During the Olympics next year, we will be taking to the streets of London to do the same thing. We’ll be allowing our joy in God to explode into dance!

Happy Easter!

Putting your hand into the hand of God

'So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.' (Isaiah 41:10 NIV)


Many folk by now will have broken their New Year resolutions. But does it really matter? The Bible doesn’t tell us to put our trust in man-made resolutions, but in God. During these uncertain and troubling times, we especially need to put our hand into his, and trust him to guide, strengthen and support us.  


'Stop stressing. I'm here for you. Hold on to me and let me sort things out.' (Isaiah 41:10) My translation!


To put your hand into God’s requires surrender - a letting go into God. I sometimes visualize this as falling back into his arms. 


* So let's imagine putting our hand into the hand of God now. Can you visualize this? 


I love this famous poem sometimes referred to as 'The Gate of the Year'. It was this poem that the Queen Mother, a devout Christian, asked to be read at her funeral. This poem was a source of comfort throughout her life and she had  it engraved on the gates of the Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, where her husband, King George VI, was interred. King George VI (you may have seen Colin Firth as the King in the 'The King's Speech'), quoted it in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire. 

I said to the man

who stood at the gate of the year

“Give me a light that I may tread safely

into the unknown.”

And he replied: “Go out into the darkness

and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be better than light

and safer than a known way!”

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God

trod gladly into the night.

M. Louise Haskins (1875-1957)

The Power of Silence

“Progress in intimacy with God means progress towards silence.” (Richard J Foster).

How can we make space for God during this busy Advent season? One way is be silent! In ‘The Big Silence’ - a three part BBC documentary broadcast recently, a group of five busy professionals (only one of them a Christian) found God in incredibly deep ways through spending time in silence at a monastery. But the hardest challenge they faced, was making space for silence once they were back home.  

St Beuno’s, the monastery where part two of ‘The Big Silence’ was filmed, was the home of the famous poet and Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins. Many of my books grow out of the soil of silence written either at home or while staying at my local Anglican convent. But you don’t have to visit a monastery or convent to find some silence. Here are some suggestions:

• Switch off the radio, TV, cell phone and computer etc.
• Go for a walk. 
• Sit in the garden. (Even better build a shed or poustina in your garden)
• Wear ear plugs!
• Put on your headphones but don’t switch on your iPod. Folk then leave you alone because they think you’re listening to music! 
• Use your car as a sacred bubble. I often travel for hours on the motorway in silence as preparation for an event I’m about to lead. If you travel by public transport, then the ‘pretend headphones’ technique works well!

Let’s try a few minutes silence now:

In order to find the pathway that leads to intimacy with God, we need to discover the gift of silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks.  

So let’s spend a few minutes just enjoying the silence… You might like to close your eyes…Don’t worry if thoughts or distractions pop into your mind – that’s quite normal… Simply visualise yourself placing them to one side like piles of papers (you can always pick them up later if you choose to)… Now try to ‘tune out’ the noise and clutter of life and ‘tune in’ to the stillness and peace...

Silence is...             

A space in time to retreat.

A place to grow, to be watered and fed.

To learn only those things 

that flourish

 in its soil.

from ‘The Pilgrim Heart’ Liz Babbs