Consider This… From Chris
Christmas 2018 is passed now. Perhaps shortly after Epiphany, on January 6, some of us will begin putting away the decorations, carefully packing our traditions and memories, wrapping the baby Jesus in swaddling tissue paper and settling in for those long January winter nights.
A year or so ago I started something new in my office décor, (such as it is). I have a carved nativity, done in an African style, which I leave out year round. It sets on a crocheted table runner done in rainbow colors. It’s a kind of dynamic, (as in moving around), display. Sometimes the figures are gathered on one color, sometimes another, more often spread around the rainbow. Some of the figures are a bit unstable on the yarn, so they gather on the edges, watching or waiting.
In a flash of insight from being a part of the Emmaus movement, I remembered that the rainbow represents “all the colors of God’s grace”, and also has the colors of our liturgical year: Red for Pentecost, Green for the seasons of growth, Blue for Advent and Purple for Lent. That of course leaves Orange and Yellow, which probably have their own hidden meanings. Harvest and plenty? Forgiveness and Love? Sunlight and pumpkins? We can work on that. I just know that God’s grace comes in ways that are sometimes obvious, and sometimes subtle.
I find that we are all rarely “on the same color” at any particular time, some of us inspired by the Holy Spirit in Red fired up ministry, some in the Purple contemplation of our need for forgiveness, some in fields of Green spiritual growth, some in the bright Yellow sunlight of sharing the love of God with those who are marginalized or in need. Yet we are all gathered around Jesus, expectant and hopeful, connected to one another by His love and the colors of grace.
And in all the myriad ways that we experience that grace, Jesus is present. All year, every moment. If you have a chance, come and see my nativity, and we can talk about where and when you are experiencing God’s grace, and the ways God is leading us as a Church to share that grace in all the ways and colors that we can during this new year.
Shalom,
Chris
