A Christmas Eve Devotional

In Jan Karon's book Shepherds Abiding, Father Tim quotes the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius:  "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

Yesterday I found a quotation I had copied down. I read it again and couldn't  quite get my head around it, or figure out what it might have to do with Advent and Christmas. 

"What you think the world is or want the world to be can overwhelm your perceptions of the now. Don't let it. Your perceptions are all you have that are truly your own." ~~ John Rember

A few minutes later I opened a Christmas letter from two friends, which turned out to be not only a letter but a picture and a poem. The letter included this quotation:

"There is within us an immense capacity for perception, for the receiving of messages from outside; and a very little consciousness which deals with them..." ~~ Evelyn Underhill

Two mentions of perception and consciousness within half an hour seemed like too much of a coincidence, but I still didn't understand what that had to do with anything. In the letter, my friends explained that the picture was a painting by Jules Breton, called The Song of the Lark. It shows a young woman ready to start her work for the day, but stopping, standing there, listening to a lark singing. Larks are the only birds that sing as they fly...they are a sort of symbol of courage and faith, of what Marcus Aurelius called an untroubled spirit.

The poem was "The Prayer of the Lark", from Carmen Bernos de Gasztold's Prayers from the Ark. Like the lark and the other animals, we are each given our own part to play, our own perceptions, our own reality. Our job seems to be to live out that part, to not be overwhelmed by trying to do everything now or to be anxious about what might be later on, but to slow down, stop, and focus in on what God is telling each of us.

Then Mary said, “My heart is overflowing with praise of my Lord, my soul is full of joy in God my Saviour. For he has deigned to notice me, his humble servant and, after this, all the people who ever shall be will call me the happiest of women! The one who can do all things has done great things for me—oh, holy is his Name! Truly, his mercy rests on those who fear him in every generation."

"I am here! O my God.

I am here! I am here!

You draw me away from earth,

and I climb up to You" ("The Prayer of the Lark") 

But while he was turning the matter over in his mind an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife! What she has conceived is conceived through the Holy Spirit, and she will give birth to a son, whom you will call Jesus (‘the Saviour’) for it is he who will save his people from their sins.”... When Joseph woke up he did what the angel had told him.

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

 The shepherds went back to work, glorifying and praising God for everything that they had heard and seen, which had happened just as they had been told.

"What you think the world is or want the world to be can overwhelm your perceptions of the now. Don't let it. Your perceptions are all you have that are truly your own." ~~ John Rember

 And now the star, which they had seen in the east, went in front of them as they travelled until at last it shone immediately above the place where the little child lay. The sight of the star filled them with indescribable joy.

"This assurance is not the cool conclusion of a successful argument. It is rather the seizing at last of Something which we have ever felt near us and enticing us: the unspeakably simple because completely inclusive solution of all the puzzles of life." ~~ Evelyn Underhill

"Let my exultant nothingness

soar to the glory of Your mercy,

in the same hope,

until death." ("The Prayer of the Lark")

Hymn:

God Himself is with us:

Let us now adore Him,

And with awe appear before Him.

God is in His temple,

All within keep silence,

Prostrate lie with deepest reverence.

Him alone God we own,

Him our God and Savior;

Praise His name forever.

God Himself is with us:

Hear the harps resounding!

See the crowds the throne surrounding!

Holy, holy, holy,

Hear the hymn ascending,

Angels, saints, their voices blending!

Bow Thine ear to us here:

Hear, O Christ, the praises

That Thy church now raises.

O Thou fount of blessing,

Purify my spirit;

Trusting only in Thy merit,

Like the holy angels

Who behold Thy glory,

May I ceaselessly adore Thee,

And in all, great and small,

Seek to do most nearly

What Thou lovest dearly.

Closing: Prayer (written by Jan Karon):

"Thank you, Lord, for the grace of an untroubled spirit, and for the blessings which are ours in numbers too great to count or even recognize."