We have entered that darkening time of watchfulness, a season of ripening contradictions. Festooned with jingle-jangle, temples of commerce lure us with sweet indulgences so very good for the economy. All the while, in hallowed spaces, choirs croon over starlit, snow-globe nativities. So familiar are those alluring songs and fuzzy festive feelings, it is difficult to stay awake. For unto us and into the fabric of this deep-divided world, Christ takes fragile flesh; God-within, all around, among us everyone. Blinded by brutality, carved up by inequity, our fractured family huddles into separateness. While some bow to the East and others incline to the West, we also hark from Global North or South. And many undertake that desperate exodus, crossing desert, sea, or mountain in search of peace: possibility and the promise of a new beginning. Under the rain of mercy all are re-consecrated, as separations are washed away. In that blessed-broken body of Christ there is no room for “they,” no place for “them,” and justice means “just us”—all and every one of us. May you find your way today to honor the Holy One already abiding-with-us.
—from the book Wandering and Welcome: Meditations for Finding Peace
by Joseph Grant
