Christ Is Coming Soon!

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Christmas, Emmanuel, Isaiah, Jesus, Malachi, radiant dawn, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I read the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ offering of the lectionary readings for the day, I am occasionally stopped by a line or two that rankles or makes me squirm a little. We’re very close now to Christmas, the “feel-good” holiday. It’s surprising, I guess, that I would be experiencing the opposite feeling two days before Christmas. I’m singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and loving the titles given to Christ by Isaiah’s writings (e.g. O Radiant Dawn or O Key of David…) not expecting Malachi’s insertions of counterintuitive questions such as the following:

Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire…he will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi…

Does that include us? Must we leave our “heaven and nature” singing of “joy to the world” because “the Lord is come?” I think not, but there is a caution in this message from the prophet Malachi. Jesus was born into this world – this great and wonderful world – to show us the way to navigate all the joys and sorrows, the gifts and tests that help us grow into our true selves, to become more conscious with each turning of the earth that we are beings of light, made in the image of God, here to mirror that image to the world each day. The celebration of Christmas reminds us of the privilege and the responsibility of that birthing that is ours in imitation of the Christ who is coming to walk the path with us with new vigor each time we experience this commemorative moment.

The sun is strong this morning. Let us now prepare for Christmas, as the “Radiant Dawn” appears in the sky of our lives, offering to us the Word of Life!

The Fuller’s Lye

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clean, fuller, growth, Jesus, lessons, Malachi, openness, pain, prophecy, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, willingness

I’m thinking about laundry this morning, specifically the necessity of working really hard to get spots off clothes – usually new ones that I’ve just worn for the first or second time. It would be nice to just drop a little bleach on the salad dressing or beet juice or whatever has created the offending stain, but that only means total ruin of the garment. It might have helped the biblical fuller though – the one from the third chapter of Malachi (3:2) where “the one who is to come” will be like the refiner’s fire or like the fuller’s lye. I remember from my childhood that lye soap was the strongest kind, used in the big laundry sink where clothes got really scrubbed on the washboard. It’s a vague memory, blotted out by modern conveniences like a wringer-less washing machine and every kind of spot remover possible to human invention. Our lives have been made easier in lots of ways but it would be unfortunate to lose the meaning of this analogy in Malachi’s prophecy.

I understand the process of what happens in a refinery to produce pure gold or silver – leaving the dross behind in that hottest of hot fires. Less easy to comprehend, perhaps, in this age of progress is the work of the fuller, who not only scrubbed and picked at the material (usually wool, I think) but beat it with a stick or some other hard object to get out all the natural oils and impurities before weaving or selling it.

I think, as I look back on my life, there have been times of significant growth occasionally brought on by the pain that can accompany purification in some way.  More often, however, it is simply life experience that has taught me the lessons necessary to moving deeper in consciousness. I’ve missed some of the signs along the way, but those are the times when something more blatant happens to wake me up and helps me to let go of what holds me bound. Interestingly, as I get older, the fire seems less hot and the lye less abrasive or caustic as I welcome rather than resist the refining as a step closer to “the finished product.”

I think that might just be one of the things that Jesus came to teach us, so that as we welcome him on Sunday, we do it with an openness and a willingness to learn the hard lessons. In the end, that should stand us in good stead to greet God as brilliant garments wrapped in purest gold.

The Refiner’s Fire

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Book of Malachi, Christmas, fire, God, Lord, Malachi, Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Refining, Second Coming, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There is a caution in the readings for today. It’s about promise and possibility but also about responsibility for what is given. The psalmist seems eager when he sings: Your way, O Lord, make known to me. Teach me your paths! It reminds me of how enthusiastically I sing O come, O come, Emmanuel…with the image in my head of a sweet baby in a cradle of straw – no thought to the entire package of His coming. The implication of the seriousness of the Incarnation of Christ is foretold in the book of Malachi, which is what caught me this morning. When it speaks of the Lord coming soon, it then asks a question.

Who can stand when He appears? For He is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver…”

What it does not say but what is patently clear is that WE are the silver that needs refining. Perhaps we are like Zachariah in this morning’s gospel who heard something from God (Elizabeth’s pregnancy in her old age) that was just too incredible to trust as true revelation. We know what happened to him! His refining took place all during the months before the birth of John the Baptist when he couldn’t speak. It was during that time, surely, that he learned the depth of what it means to trust and to serve the Lord.

In the very brief time left before Christmas, can we make ourselves ready for this force, this refining fire? Can we bring ourselves to a willingness to trust that whatever needs still to happen in order that we might be purified of the dross of our lives is for our good? Although the refining process will go on, today is the perfect day to stand up and step toward the fire of the One who loves us mightily and knows our deepest beauty and value.