Echoes of Heaven

 In the countryside close by there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the night. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing:

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace to men who enjoy his favour.’

When the angels had gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.

We discussed this passage at an Advent retreat that I attended recently and it struck me that you could hear echoes in it.

 

The Angels, messengers of God (already echoes themselves of his glory) come down to meet the shepherds, to tell them of the birth of Our Lord and to praise God - to teach them to praise. The shepherds go, as they are told to, welcome Christ, honour and adore him, and then they leave, repeating what they have been told about this child, and glorifying God, just as the angels did.

One can imagine that they repeated exactly what they had heard, word for word, and sang the song of the angels. They echo.

And in that is an amazing role. At the Nativity, heaven breaks through to earth. The person of God is born as a child, divinity invades humanity, and nearby, this invasion is echoed with an army of angels appearing to a group of working men and filling the sky with shouts of victory. 

And so the shepherds are echoing heaven in what they say, and in adoring and glorifying the Lord. 

Thus they become like disciples, hearing and repeating, seeing and following. They are models for us in our weakness and humility. Even those who have little power or importance in the world can echo heaven and bring the divine message to those on earth. 

It tells us that praising and glorifying God is worthy work for a lifetime, if these men did nothing else of merit, they have seen and believed and made Jesus their joy. 

 

So can we echo heaven, when we praise God in liturgy (so vividly when we sing the Gloria at mass or repeat the words that we were taught in the Our Father) also when we follow the example of Christ in raising up those who are unfortunate, when we speak for justice, when we participate in Christ's sacrifice, when we pray, and when we adore. 

 

We may not be angels, but we can participate in this heavenly invasion, especially at Christmas.

May you echo heaven this Christmas!

x

Disaster Prone

The other night I found myself leaning against a column at York railway station wondering why God would make someone as useless as I.

To properly illustrate where this (terrible) thought came from, I'll start about a week before that moment on a Sunday. I was out on the fell in Northumberland, running my first fell race in a long while. It was a ten miler and something I had been really looking forward to for weeks. I had even bought new shoes.

Well, I should have realised that everything would be iced over that day - it was bitterly cold, and new shoes wouldn't help my balance which was now inexpert since my time out. Within the first two miles I had fallen and ripped a hole in the knee of my (favourite) running tights. Four falls and perhaps five miles later I was limping home, upset that I couldn't now stage a comeback.

That Sunday I described myself as disaster prone. I made it to the finish with a bloodied and bruised knee and a sense of disappointment in myself.

The knee caused me trouble all week, hurting and preventing me from kneeling, but perhaps the label I gave myself caused me more pain. I let myself believe that that was who I was, someone who can't live up to her full potential because she will always fall over and slow herself down.

The upset on the train came from forgetting where I had put my tickets, I had remembered to pick up my outbound tickets for a week away as I was leaving, but had totally forgotten the return part. Already beating myself up about forgetting those tickets, I couldn't help feeling rather miserable when one of my connections down to Wales was cancelled, and I managed to worry and upset myself to the degree where I felt worthless and silly.

So I wondered why God would make me this way, why everything would keep going wrong, and whether I was just failing in all these things. Well, one thing I'm glad I did, I asked him!

In a time of silent prayer that weekend, I asked God why he would make someone like me, who seems to encounter difficulties and frustrations at every step. The answer was clear, God didn't make me like this, God is making me like this.

To explain, I felt that I was being reassured that I'm not the finished article, and this isn't all I'll ever be. So God continues to form me, he chips off a little here and there, adds something, changes an attitude. In all these difficulties, God is creating a more whole version of me, someone who can deal with a few bumps in the road when they come, who doesn't expect the path to be smooth and who can give thanks in small things when they go right.

His plans are bigger than mine, I'm just worried about travelling to Wales and back, he's taking me on a journey that will change me and make me more able to serve him.

I am reminded that these thoughts came to me in a similar way once, when I was at mass in Westminster Cathedral, that Cathedral is not finished, and no one quite knows how it will look when it is. Even in it's incompleteness, it is a beautiful place to worship. Likewise with myself, even though I am miles from perfect or adequate, I will worship the Lord in my heart because it is formed by God to be his temple.