 By Diane Pate
As I am writing, it is the day after Christmas, the day known around the world as the Feast of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. My first thought is that it’s a shocking story to celebrate immediately after Christmas, yet after some guided reflection, I am struck by how much this story underlines for me a word I’ve been considering this season and into the new year. That word is tension. In the Christmas story, as I see God breaking into the world as the “God with us,” there is tension between joy and sorrow. The baby born in a manger and heralded by angels and kings with great joy grew up to be despised, rejected and crucified, identified as “the man of sorrow, acquainted with grief.” Similarly, in Stephen’s story, Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people, yet he was stoned by those who could not withstand the wisdom and Spirit with which he spoke. Tension. In this violent scene, Stephen dies seeing Jesus standing at the right hand of God and he calls out for God to receive his spirit. Joy among the horror. Incarnation offers both promise and threat. Stephen hands over his life to Jesus as gift rather than as loss. I feel tension today as I wake up with a full stomach and a stack of thoughtful presents from yesterday’s family celebration, yet remembering that my brothers and sisters in many parts of the world are waking up to empty stomachs, fear and desperation. My culture’s ideology is inclined to success and strength, yet I am learning that God’s grace flows mostly downhill toward the lowly places. This grace is welcomed by the poor, the sick, the downcast and the outcast. This grace flows downhill in my life where I am humble, weak, vulnerable and poor. I am blessed by the many places where I am strong, loved, purposeful and valued, but I must remember to look for God’s grace with humility and trust as it rolls downhill to the lowly ash heap of my broken places. This is where the grace of God will appear. As I anticipate a new year, I want to hold that tension between joy and sorrow, knowing that the “God with us” is in both, and having an attitude of attendance and expectancy as God breaks into my daily and ordinary life. Coming into the new year, where do you see or experience tension in your life? Is there a lowly ash heap of your broken place that needs God’s grace? Where do you need humility and trust to receive God’s promise? What threat keeps you from accepting it? |