Moonlight - h2o devos loc 120512

(Photo by NASA)

Does the moonlight shine on Paris

after the sun goes down

If the London Bridge is falling

would anybody hear a sound

If you follow the sunset will it ever end

Does the moonlight shine on Paris

How can you just walk away

is it something that I said

I see only black and white you see green and red

You believe in the miracles, water into wine

I’ll believe when it makes the New York Times

Moonlight Over Paris by Roger Guth, Peter Mayer, Jim Mayer

Photo by Sue Ann Glusenkamp

Moonlight! It’s simply captivating. But, Peter asks some really good questions about “moonlight.” As I think about Advent  and moonlight it seems to me that they are all about faith and relationships.

I really like what the author of Hebrews has written about faith:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”  Hebrews 11: 1-3

 

In terms of relationships, hey this is the season to reflect on those, isn’t it? I mean we have a God who loved us so much that he sent his Son. We have connections with each that transcend our own brokenness, woundedness and fearfulness. Our community is blessed when the moon brightly shines over us. And yet, we really don’t know or understand totally how any of this stuff actually works.  (Photo by NASA)

Anyone who has lived a little bit of life knows that relationships need to be nurtured by faith and in faith. In fact, maybe the sweet wine of relationships comes from the “sweat equity”  - which is the water that gets transformed over time. People like to say, “the proof is in the pudding.”

I recently checked out this saying (in my free time) and learned that the original saying probably went like “the proof in the pudding is in the eating.” And it makes even more sense when one realizes that to “proof” means to “test.” So when I bake and “proof” the yeast, what that means is that I let it be so it can be active.  The “test” of the pudding is in the act of eating the pudding. So, the test of the relationship, the “proof” of the relationship is in the very act of relating to another. And to do that, my friends, takes faith, not evidence or proof.

Maybe you are in a place right now where you are asking all kinds of questions. Maybe you are in a place right now where you are being asked all kind of questions. No matter what situation you are in, I say, “God bless you.”  Here’s the good news that I know and not just in some brainiac, creedal, dogmatic sort of way, but in a way that is experiential and liberating. I know  that when Jesus blesses ordinary, routine, basic things, (water, bread, wine, fish-to name just a few) that these ordinary realities become extra-ordinary portals and access points into the holy presence of God.

Just imagine what happens when moonlight shines on Paris when you are standing next to your beloved!

Cheers,

rtg