Author Gayle Boss gifts us with 25 devotionals that draw on the lives of animals to call us into patient waiting and quiet preparation for the arrival of Jesus. She writes, “The animals show us in twenty-five different ways the deep mystery and abiding truth at the heart of the Christ story: The dark is not an end, but the way a new beginning comes.”
Many people have proposed different theories about the astronomical events that led the Magi to Jesus. While we might not ever definitely know the scientific event itself, there is enough scientific data to support the idea of a God that can use physical phenomena to accomplish his salvific purposes.
We’ve had this remarkable evening, year after year, on which we come together for a little while to sing songs, to pray in hopes of feeling connected, to hear a story of a little place that comes out big, of a fleeting moment that turns out to be eternal, of an event that seems insignificance in a world of big plans and big ideas and big struggles, but that becomes the beginning of the most potent, meaningful, and world-changing story of all.
We were not left alone to navigate the disagreements between those gifted in recognizing the workings of the Spirit and others inclined toward materialism. God knew there are doubting Thomases among us who need to see, touch, and even be touched.
It’s hard to wait, especially when you know something exciting and life-changing is just around the corner. A cell’s life, much like our own, is characterized by moments of excitement and action and moments of monotony and waiting.