How good it feels to be home! That must be one of the best indicators of a good vacation. Mike and I are just back from the first longer-than-a-few- days’ vacation we have had since the day a phone call advised us that we’d be moving to Maine. Although I would cheerfully dispense with the three feet of mail awaiting my return, I am glad to be shifting gears back into the ordered days which tumble one upon another, passing so quickly from one sunset to the next.

Because I am happy, and love the ministry to which God has called me here, I rarely dwell on how very ordered my days are. They feel full sometimes; yes, even TOO full at times — but all those calendar entries are (mostly!) about things which satisfy and delight me. Vacations and times of leisure open up another rhythm for us, however; and it was quite lovely to wake up each morning, reflexively wondering "what’s on for today?"...and realize that NOTHING was scheduled that day. These weren’t even "days off", for even days off are SCHEDULED into the calendar. Each day was a blank slate, inviting me to BE rather than to DO. This rhythm blanketed me quickly and comfortably.

When we BE, we can hear God’s voice differently from the ways in which God’s voice is heard through tasks and conversations, deliberations and decisions, struggles and celebrations. We become conscious of God in the tiniest piece of creation (I found myself communing wondrously with God as I examined a small sea shell, the former home of a creature who shared this planet with me..the perfection of it, entire to itself.) Portions of the Psalter come spontaneously to mind: psalms of praise for God’s very being (Psalm 63: "O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you"); psalms which tell of the sea’s mysterious power (Psalm 107:23-25); psalms of wonder (Psalm 8: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars you have set in their courses," Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows his handiwork"). It is a wonderful thing to read the Psalter often enough so that its words come freely to mind as life is lived. I commend this to you, and remind us all that praying the Psalter has always been a part of the Church’s discipline. And Jesus found that the words of the Psalter often spoke the truth of his heart.

BEing times also allow us to pause, attend carefully, and sink into the stirrings which come and go within our souls. One kind of stirring which my long beachwalks presented was immense gratitude. Gratitude is not a foreign feeling for me, to be sure. But this gratitude was like a scrapbook, a scrapbook of little luminous moments. Here are some of the ones I relished:

- The glow on the face of someone who has just been confirmed,

- The sound of Vicki’s voice calling hello as I walk into Loring House,

- The ringing of the car phone, which is Mike "talking me home" as I drive back from a long weekend away,

- Mist hovering on the river (many rivers, really) as I drive in the early morning,

- The proud shoulders of the brand-new crucifer who carries the Cross into our midst,

- The exquisite sensory joy of a hot cup of coffee after a restoring night of sleep.

It is into this human round that God has come among us in Jesus. Because of Jesus, every human moment (yes, every one of them) holds within it the mystery of the Lord’s eternal sovereignty. Even the hardest moments, the ones which seem awash in pain, prompt us to yearn for God’s fuller presence, God’s piercing goodness. Someone once said that the season encompassing Advent-Christmas-Epiphany is the season of Incarnation, the season of Immanuel, God-with-us.

A blessed Immanuel-season to each of you! May we in the Diocese of Maine find in our lives moments of BEing, however brief, so that we all may experience for ourselves and show forth to others the reconciling presence of Jesus Christ in everything we DO. May your days be wrapped in prayer and wonder, for it is in prayer and wonder that the Spirit forms us for the mighty work of bringing the Good News of Immanuel’s sovereignty to the world which so hungers for this very gift.

With my love and gratitude,