Miracles Aren't What You Think They Are

     

I was raised in a tradition of faith that believed God could do miracles. Seemingly impossible, out-of-the-blue, supernatural miracles. 

Do I still believe that God can perform miracles. 

Yes, I suppose I do believe She still can.

My experience, however, has taught me that even miracles happen most often manifest not because God supernaturally intervened. Instead, miracles happen through average human beings doing what they can to help another.

Christmas, among christians, celebrates what we call “The Incarnation.” The belief that God wrapped up in human flesh and entered the limitations of time in order to walk this space between the sod and the sky. Incarnate = in flesh. God took on flesh and experienced the messy, wonderful, haunting, beautiful, broken, and exhilarating experience of being human. 

And God incarnate is given a name…Jesus.

Over and over in the ancient scriptures, Jesus is seen performing miracles. And over and over, these miracles involved people being willing to take action so the miracle could come to pass. 

People filled jars with water at a wedding. 

People distributed the multiplied bread and fish.

People dissembled a roof and lowered their sick friend down.

People moved grave stones and unwrapped grave clothes.

I think what we name as miracles are really a collaboration of divine initiative and human effort. It’s both/and. 

Could God could act alone, intervene in the natural order of things, and perform a miracle?

Yes. 

But does God do it that way very often?  

I don’t think so.

The Incarnation that began with Jesus is still happening. 

God still shows up in the flesh. 

It happens when you and I, with skin on, 

choose to mark ourselves present, 

and refuse to accept the status quo. 

Incarnation is the restlessness that moves us to action. 

Incarnation is the belief that this world can be healed, 

that there can be peace on earth and goodwill toward all. 

Incarnation is that which compels us to accept our part in this drama of life 

and not settle in on the sidelines.

Incarnation is never about spectators.

You want to see God in the flesh?

You want to see miracles happening? 

Look at people who are doing something to welcome the foreigner, 

clothe the naked, 

feed the hungry, 

disassemble systemic racism, 

defend equality. 

Look for the people who listen, 

who look each other in the eye and aren’t afraid, 

who offer an embrace, 

who remember your name. 

Look for the people who don’t give up, 

who build bridges between us, 

who celebrate our shared humanity, 

who pay for more than just their own bills.

Look for people who befriend those who look different than them, 

who are willing to pray for someone of another faith tradition, 

who welcome the most vulnerable among us, 

who refuse to resort to violence to prove their point.

I grow incredibly weary of christians who say they’ve prayed and then they kick back and wait for God to show up in some kind of supernatural appearance. Do these brothers and sisters of mine not realize that we are the answer to those prayers?

You and me.

Our hands, 

our feet, 

our minds, 

our compassion, 

our resources, 

our sweat.

This world will not change simply because some people sat in a room and prayed. 

That is, at best, misguided theology. 

At worst, heresy.

This world will see miracles happen 

when everyday people stand up, 

one by one, 

and do their part to promote peace, justice, equality, and love.

Perhaps you think me a heretic who is diverging from christian orthodoxy.

So be it.

Everyday, I go to work and I rub shoulders with those who are experiencing homelessness. I have the opportunity to serve those who are mentally ill, addicted, abused. I look into the eyes of those desperate for a job, or a home, or a speck of hope. 

Don’t tell me God can perform miracles for these beautiful people and then go on your merry way. Don’t tell me you prayed for them and move along. You know why? Because after those platitudes and prayers, they will be back in library tomorrow still dealing with the same issues of yesterday.

Life change is hard, slow drudgery. It demands people who are willing to get messy and do the hard things, and walk the journey with someone else. Even then, there's no guarantee that life will turn around. There's no magic bullet. But I guarantee there will never be a turn around without people who showed up and were willing to do something. 

That’s incarnation.

Miracles happen because the divine ache in us propels us to action. Miracles happen when we have the divine eyesight to see the beauty of being human and are moved to come closer, not push further away.

Everyday, I wake up to headlines that break my heart. Yesterday’s included five people being stabbed in the New York home of a rabbi during a Chanukah celebration. 

You want a miracle through this this tragedy?

Go ahead and pray. And then refuse to accept hateful speech or racist thinking in your future conversations. Call a Jewish friend and say you are sorry that this continues to happen. Don't have a Jewish friend? Then humbly go make one. Make a monetary contribution to a Jewish organization. Learn about Chanukah and light a menorah.

It may not seem like much, but if you and I do just a little than the collective picture changes. And when the collective picture changes, we see miracles have happened.

In this season of Christmas, when we celebrate the Incarnation in Bethlehem, 

may we not forget that incarnation is still possible. 

God can still show up and work miracles.

She just does it, most often, through me and you.

Show up.

Be present.

Center yourself through prayer.

Have courage.

Do your part.

Refuse to sit on the sidelines.

Then maybe, we will see the miracles for which we have so long prayed and hoped.

Dyslexia and Ash Wednesday

My daughter has a reading disability, most likely dyslexia. 

It’s a recent diagnosis, but I’ve known something was amiss for years.

My older two children took to decoding and reading like a fish takes to water, but not M. She was like a fish that landed in a tree.

From the beginning, she struggled to grasp and memorize the letter sounds. The idea of putting sounds together to make a complete word took many, many, many months to take hold. Even then, it was slow. The progress was always slow. 

We worked twice as hard for twice as long to make less headway than expected. 

For a time, I thought it was just M taking her time like she does with so much of life. I lovingly refer to her as my “enjoy the journey” child because, to her, deadlines are merely suggestions.

As progress continued to be slow and arduous, I realized there more going on than a late reader waiting for the moment to bloom. Instead, I came to understand her reluctance and hesitancy toward reading was more complex and complicated.

I won’t bore you with the details of it all, but the last 2.5 years have been very difficult for me. As a home educating mother with a struggling reader, I have constantly battled the thinking that I wasn’t good enough, prepared enough, capable enough. I waged war in mind to overcome the idea that I have somehow failed my child.

When a parent is trying to unlock a child’s struggle, failure is a familiar feeling.

I have spent countless hours working one on one with M. We’ve made flashcards and worn them out until the edges were bent. I’ve done armchair research on reading disabilities, then worked to employ tools from others’ toolboxes. I’ve changed up my teaching style, incorporated various learning styles. We’ve used games, dice, printed materials, and computer games. We've repeated and repeated and repeated spelling words until she can correctly write “friend” and “people” without fail. I’ve increased the amount of time I read aloud to her, which has become every night - no matter how tired I am.

I am so tired.

Parenting a child with a disability or chronic illness is accompanied by a tremendous emotional toll.

I carried the weight of M’s struggle with me at all times. It would surface during predictable situations like during a reading lesson when I would take a deep breath and find words of affirmation instead of frustration. 

The weight would also surface in unpredictable moments like at my work Christmas party. Amidst the gaiety of a party game that requires speed and reading, the unexpected question sprung to mind of whether M will ever feel comfortable with this kind of game because it requires rapid reading skills.  Those thoughts sobered me and delivered a familiar internal blow while I affix an external smile hoping not to give anything away.

Add into the mix the roller coaster of a life we lived the last few years complete with ministry burnout, the grief of losing a parent, and a major move away from all that is familiar. It flurries into a perfect storm of emotional tyranny usurping any sense of order, control, or peace I once perceived I possessed. Suffice to say, it’s been a year…or three.

Life has dealt some difficult blows, but I’ve done what we all hope to do.

I try to do my best with the tools I’ve got.

And maybe, on a good day, I extend myself a little grace.

Long story short, since moving to Sioux Falls, we’ve been able to connect with some resources that can aid in the effort to help M build confidence and unlock some mysteries still remaining for her in reading.

In the midst of securing evaluations, assessments, and intervention I have also battled fear.

I’ve been afraid of judgment - judgment of my parenting skills, of my teaching skills, or both. I’ve been afraid that I’ve not done enough and that I’ve ruined my child forever. I’ve been afraid that our ability to home educate would be disrupted. I’ve been afraid that fellow homeschoolers will condemn our decision to accept help from the school district. 

Whether you can relate to these fears or not, can you admit we all experience fear. Can we also acknowledge that fear is not usually rational, and fears often augment and distort in nonsensical ways that create all kinds of crazy in the head. Am I right?

Humans possess an immeasurable capacity to give in to fear that will paralyze us and prevent us from pursuing the very things that could help us. Yet, humanity also possesses an immeasurable capacity to stare fear down and choose to move forward trusting that an unknown process might yield positive results. 

The gift is in the choosing. 

You and I get to wake up everyday and decide which immeasurable capacity will win out - fear or trust. 

In what seems to be unrelated news, today is Ash Wednesday. The first day in the season of Lent. A time when followers of Jesus prepare for Easter by recognizing their own humanity. Today, millions of people worldwide received the sign of the cross on their forehead, formed with a finger dipped in ash. A black cross serving as a reminder that we are limited creatures - mortal, fallible, finite. A black cross that reminds us that death is part of life, but death can also make way for hope and rebirth. 

A black, ash cross is a visible symbol that surrender can give birth to new hope.

Today, M started dual enrollment as a homeschool student and a student at a local elementary school. She will spend two hours Monday through Friday in class receiving some specialized services with the goal of improving her reading abilities.

I awoke today, Ash Wednesday, and smiled as I considered the apropos timing of this journey. On a day when ashes remind us of our own limitations and dependence, I will release my child into the capable care of others. 

On a day when we embrace the confines that restrict us, I will enlarge my circle by partnering with those who have the training and aptitude for reading interventions. 

On a day when death looms large but makes way for life, I will lay my own fears to rest and allow certain ill-held dreams to die so that hope is offered to a 10 year old girl who has struggled to read.

Death to life. 

Limits transformed to abundance. 

The finite making way for the infinite.

All on a Wednesday filled with ashes.

I stroked M’s arm as I gently woke her this morning. This morning that was a beginning in so many ways. This beginning that will unfold one step at a time. This step that has been hard fought.

As I styled her hair and presented her breakfast, I chose to embrace my capacity to trust it will all be ok. Honestly, that’s easier to believe when you’ve met the teachers who will be working with your child. It’s easier to believe when you’ve been warmed by their welcome and calmed by the intentional ways they’ve already prepared to receive your child. It’s easier to believe when you’re told that the class can’t wait to meet their new friend and you know it’s true because that broad smile on the face of “Mrs. S” doesn’t lie. She means every word. 

Sometimes, it’s hard to trust that others will fight as hard for your child as you will. 

Sometimes fighting for your child means entrusting them into the care of those you have to trust will know what’s best when all you’ve been doing is second guessing yourself. 

Sometimes, you hug your child and wish her well on her very first day in a school classroom, and believe it will all be ok, because renewed hope often comes from surrendering to our own limits.

And sometimes, 

in the quiet moments after your goodbye, 

when you’re reminding yourself that Ash Wednesdays lead to Easters, 

your husband texts you a picture. 

And in that photograph your child is standing with her new teacher, 

in her new school, 

and they’re both smiling

and that teacher is donning none other than, 

you guessed it, 

a black, ash cross on her forehead.

All on a Wednesday filled with ashes and hope.

In that kind of moment, surrender is sweet and no diagnosis feels final or fatal.

Advent Hymns of Waiting (Week 3)

Advent 3: Modern Hymns of Waiting

I don't know why, but I think I was created with a melancholy streak. It's like I'm wired to remain unsatisfied with the status quo and I look ahead to something more. The way I often experience the space between those two realities is like a deep marrow kind of ache. This is so much a part of who I am that sometimes I just need space to feel the longing, the yearning, the unrequited search for contentment. 

Sometimes I connect with that melancholy by journaling; sometimes with poetry, or a movie, or a walk outside. Sometimes only music will quell the state of my soul. Perhaps that's why I find Advent songs that touch that ache to be so comforting.

The Advent waiting is where we anticipate a better world. It's the belief that this life, while it is not as it should be, is full of hope because God is doing something. If, however, we are to hope for something that will change our existence for the better, it means acknowledging the pained imperfections of the present. That realization - that today is still lacking - is cause for lament for me.

My penchant for melancholy coupled with the acceptance of today's shortcomings, creates a space that finds solace in those Advent hymns that act as lament. While many (including me) choose to sing the upbeat, joyous melodies of this season, there are times my heartsick soul is satisfied only by the balm of a ballad that expresses the longing of the not yet.

This theme of waiting, yearning, longing, aching is nothing new to the human experience. Hymn writers and classical composers from centuries past have been setting that ache to music. The two Advent hymns I have already shared fit that bill. They've been around for a bit. Even still, there are modern songwriters,that also channel that same spirit of Advent longing through moving melodies that connect with me.

This week, I am sharing three songs that fit my definition of an Advent Hymn of Waiting. Each of these songs, in various ways, touch the parts of me that hunger for something more, something better without escaping the importance of today, with all it's flaws. These three songs speak of hope, of better tomorrows, of loving and being loved, of the beautiful mess created when humanity meets the sacred. These three songs find a resting place in my heart as I am eager to greet another bethlehem morning while still thirsting for that elusive peace here on earth.

If you have some quiet moments, take a listen. Maybe your weary soul will find some respite in the melodic spaces of these songs.


Rest written and recoded by the band Joseph

oh holy night 
choirs are singing 
about the good things 
saying light and love are winning 

in a world of 
goodbyes 
crossed lines 
hard times 
bad signs 
headlines are making me cry 

how can I still believe for peace 
what is my comfort and joy 

come in from the cold 
and go slow 
it's been a long and winding road 

rest


Someday at Christmas  recorded by Stevie Wonder and Andra Day

Someday at Christmas, men won't be boys

Playin' with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December, our hearts will see
A world where men are free

Someday at Christmas, there'll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found what life's really worth
There'll be peace on Earth

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmas time

Someday at Christmas, we'll see a land 
With no hungry children, no empty hand 
One happy morning, people will share
A world where people care, oh!

Someday at Christmas, there'll be no tears 
Where all men are equal and no man have fears 
One shining moment, one prayer away
From our world today

Another Merry Christmas written and recorded by Amy Grant

Mary's in a nursing home She puts her favourite records on Reminds her of the years long gone Another Merry Christmas Billy's home from overseas The pride of his whole family Still fights a war that no one sees Another Merry Christmas It's happy and sad The good and the bad Someone's up and someone's barely hanging on It's everything all at once And if we're honest enough Everybody wants to be loved Every year on Christmas Eve Jill hangs four stockings, now just three Wonders if there'll ever be Another Merry Christmas Our painted old nativity Is fragile like the lives we lead Silently reminding me God is with us Another Merry Christmas

Advent Hymns of Waiting (Week 2)

Advent 2: O Holy Night

So, I am late with my post for this second week of Advent. Even still, here are my thoughts...

My pick for this week’s Advent hymn is one with which I have long held a love-hate relationship. I love the lyrics, but the message of this song can easily be overshadowed by a poorly matched messenger. This week’s song, O Holy Night should come with a warning label. One that says something akin to… 

WARNING: All amateur vocalists with big dreams and no solid awareness of their actual vocal chops should keep their distance. This song is not to be trifled with.  Don’t mess with it. Do not greet this Christmas standby with so-so vocal talent. Average church choirs should shelve this piece. Congregations? Just no. And soloists? If you aren’t Carrie Underwood, Josh Groban, or Idina freakin’ Menzel - Just. Back. Away. Before anyone gets hurt.

O Holy Night is a favorite Advent hymn of waiting for me, but only under the best conditions. The powerful lyrics be hijacked by a poor performance. So, with fear and trepidation, I name this beloved Christmas hymn as a favorite. (But everybody needs to behave themselves and possess a heavy dose of reality, otherwise O Holy Night becomes a Christmas menace before you can ever “fall on your knees” to beg for mercy.)

That said…the words of this song embody the spirit of Advent waiting and the hope of a new day dawning. This song partners peace and longing in melodic tandem, and invites the hearer to yearn for something more while simultaneously celebrating the arrival of something great.

O Holy Night

O Holy Night!

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees

Oh hear the angel voices

Oh night divine

Oh night when Christ was born

Oh night divine

Oh night divine

Truly He taught us to love one another

His law is love and His gospel is peace

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name

My favorite line is found in verse 1: “Till he appeared and the soul felt it’s worth.” I love the idea that we recognize our true worth when God shows up. 

I grew up in a conservative, evangelical tradition that reduced my humanity to the sum of my failures. Flesh and bone was seen as a depraved limitation, almost as if it was a curse to be in the body on this earth. As a result, I saw myself as wrecked, broken, flawed. None of which empowers me to embrace a healthy and accurate sense of self-worth. 

Somewhere along the way, I defined my humanness by my failures alone. Yet there was a God who took on that same flesh and joined us here. I was left to ponder how my humanness could be such a curse if God not only created it (and called it good), but also wrapped God’s self in it and showed up in Bethlehem.

O Holy Night helps settle that conundrum for me. When Jesus appears on the scene, and God moves into the neighborhood, I see me for who I am - priceless, worthwhile, messy, and beautiful. God shows up in flesh and bone and I know my humanness is infinitely valuable. He appeared and I felt my worth. 

Advent waiting reminds me of the ongoing struggle to embrace every bit of my humanity because being human is good.

Of course, verse 2 affirms the value of humanity as well. It is a reminder that Jesus modeled the ways the Kingdom (love, equality, justice). The line of the mid-crescendo of verse 2 (“all oppression shall cease”) assures us that what Jesus modeled is indeed the path toward peace. 

God doesn’t intend to strong-arm the Kingdom into existence. Jesus proves that when he comes in the fragile form of an infant to poor parents in a region of the world suffering under the cruel reign of the Romans. God’s kingdom is realized one act of love at a time. God’s kingdom comes when we help set people free from the chains that would otherwise keep us bound. God’s kingdom comes when everyone is valued and loved. Period.

Advent waiting reminds me of the ongoing struggle to embrace every bit of humanity in others because being human is good.

We help establish God’s kingdom when we embrace our humanity, and affirm the humanity in others. That’s what Jesus did. He took on flesh to affirm our humanity and worth.  

Jesus came to save us from the lies that would say we are never enough. He came to save us from the fruitless pursuit of temporary riches. He came to save us from all that would keep us from realizing the potential that is possible because of our humanness. He came to remind us that all power is fleeting, except God’s. 

And Jesus showed us that this salvation is achieved not by military might or governmental strength, but by another way. It’s an upside down way that chooses love and peace, even when it means a manger…or a cross.

May you embrace the inherent value of your humanness this Advent, for when we do a little bit of heaven comes to earth. 

O Holy Night by Josh Groban...a completely acceptable rendition of this hymn that leaves me still loving this song.