Offer....

"We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts and in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle and magic."
These are these are the words of E.Merill Root. I would like to add to his words, the word, “mystery”. A mystery that is to be lived, never solved or exhausted.

This year, more than ever we need to exercise, and celebrate our wonder-full, God given gift of wonder. Thomas Caryle said that "wonder is the basis of worship". It is not surprising then that wonder is one of the manifestations of the presence of The Holy Spirit. I am so grateful to my Dad, for awakening in me , at a very early age, the possibility there is so much more to life than that which is before your eyes. There is the beyond. There is, the around the corner. There is the person behind the person you see. Now the words of scripture make sense, " what is seen is transitory, what is unseen lasts
forever".

For a number of years now, I have been reading that each person in the scriptures is actually a part of me. It is consoling to look for an encounter with Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wisemen, all the good guys. I also have to make sure that Harrod and his cohorts are also alive and well within me. After a period of time, I have accepted the fact that both groups are alive and well and do exist within me.

John The Baptist, a wild looking man, and a desert dweller. When you are in the desert you can feel safe that not too many people
can track you down. Then, the Lord is not just any person. The Word of the Lord came and reached John in his desert dwelling. He was not
hanging out at the Ritz with the power brokers. He was not properly dressed for cocktail hour. What he had to say was not for the faint of heart, or for the self-righteous . His was a message of repentance, and reform. A very deadly mixture. He of course paid the ultimate price, but this was the price that every prophet paid. When he received the call to be a prophet, he offered his life to, and for, God's plan. Because he said 'yes', the way was prepared for the coming of the Full revelation of God in human form.

We see that whatever happened to John, the same thing happened to his cousin Jesus. Jesus was to bring to a fuller understanding what John first taught. He was not the Light, but was preparing the world for Light that was to come. John was opposed, so too, The light would be opposed. Death could not overcome the Light. In this time of darkness it is so very important for us to remember that salient fact. Evil, darkness, death, is NOT the final word. The final word is LIFE. Our choice. We can say yes to life, or say yes, to the enemies of life. We will be the presence of John the Baptist, in this world, when we proclaim the truth and live its challenge knowing that we too, like John, will suffer persecution. We, too like John will have people in our lives conspiring to eliminate us.

John, announced the coming of The Word. Mary, on the other hand, by her "yes", her fiat, gave FLESH to the word of God. Who was Mary? Mary was a 16 year old, living the life of a teenager in a little village. She had to be excited, and the whole village with her. She was engaged to Joseph, the local carpenter. Their wedding was going to be a great community celebration. Then came a radical change, for Mary and Joseph. Life as they knew it came to a screeching halt. Mary had to journey through FEAR, and questioning to that place where she was able to say to God's messenger “I, am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me as he wills”. With that "YES" the relationship between the human and the divine was forever changed. "Earth was united with Heaven'. The Infinite love of GOD became Enfleshed. “Love became a Man.” This continues today through our "yes", to what is right, just, and life giving. We continue Mary’s life-giving work.

What a simple that word YES is. Yet so powerful. Wonder of wonders we by our “yes” can continue the work of Mary. We, by grace, allow the Incarnation to take root in us in every moment of every day. We become the "contemporary Christ" in the place our God has placed us in. We have the God given gift to say no as well as to say yes.

As dreamer's journey continues...