A Stable Faith…….. by Rev. Shayna Appel
I was online looking for Christmas Eve readings when I came upon a reading by Tom Schade called “Everyone Searches for Bethlehem.” It felt so appropriate for the time we are in. Tom writes:
Tonight, everyone searches for Bethlehem.
On this night, when the darkness comes so close,
We listen in the stillness for the songs of angels.
Like shepherds, we aren’t too sure of what is happening.
We don’t know why we are so expectant.
We don’t know why we long so deeply for miracles.
Well, we may not know why, but if I were to venture a guess, it would have something to do with the liminal time we find ourselves in. Some days it just feels like everything is in flux — EVERYTHING, all together, all at once! It can be dizzying. It can feel exhausting. It often reverberates with uncertainty.
And yet, every year at this time, the holidays come! Yule, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanza, and the New Year. No matter how upside down the rest of the world feels, the holidays come… as do the seasons… and we go on.
With all that is unsettled in our world today, I find myself gravitating to those dependable hythms. Within them there is a constancy, a place to land, time set aside for gathering with friends and family, and time for wonder.
Welcome to December! In the close darkness, may you find a stillness and hear there the songs of angels!
BIG Love,
Rev. Shayna