Advent again? We might wonder where the year has flown as we dig out the wreath, prayers, four candles. How often have we used that tattered purple ribbon? Can it be camouflaged under the greenery this year too? Can we possibly get together the gifts, decorations, baking etc. in the next 24 days?
Ah, we may be falling into the anxiety trap Jesus describes. A better approach comes from Thomas Merton who writes, “The Gospel is handed down from generation to generation, but it must reach each one of us brand new, or not at all. If it is merely ‘tradition’ and not news, it is not Gospel.” (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p. 127) No same ol’, same ol’ –or as Jesus says, “stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”
A marvelous newness stirs me awake this year: through the book Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories by Debie Thomas (Cascade Books, 2022). I hadn’t known this author before, but she has startling, refreshing insights into gospels stories that may have grown overly familiar. Her special sensitivity to women reassures me: I’m not the only one to seek their hidden stories. She points out how Jesus invites the woman with the 12-year flow of blood to tell her “whole truth” (Mark 5:25-35). He insists she come forward, not skulk away in shame, and he listens: even if she stammers, stumbles, or takes all day. She has been diminished and ostracized, but his careful attention “renames the outcast ‘daughter.’”
In the Cana story, Thomas points out how Jesus changes his plans, his timeline for love of his mother. “Jesus is no fool; he knows that his countdown to crucifixion will begin as soon as he makes his identity known.” And we cringe, we who are overly devoted to our deadlines and our plans–when the stakes are far higher for him.
If we’ve grown jaded about the gospel and want to rediscover the vulnerable Jesus who notices, who pivots, who astonishes, this book gives a fine nudge. And Thomas deftly interweaves highly relevant personal experiences, so it’s clear: She Gets It. An added bonus–we like the same authors: Barbara Brown Taylor, Mary Gordon, Brene Brown, Frederick Buechner, Parker Palmer.
Recently, I’ve been reading Merton with his focus on contemplation and Teilhard de Chardin, who praises the Creator, and Kathleen Singh who comes from a Buddhist perspective. Thomas brought me back to the humanity of Jesus, who got tired, thirsty, and relished the feel of ointment on dry skin. Poignantly, he compares himself to a mother hen, wings stretched wide in welcome, whose children refuse to draw near. Yet still, she calls us home; “she will not fold her wings and turn away.”
Although I’ve just begun this book, I’ve also ordered Thomas’ A Faith of Many Rooms: Inhabiting a More Spacious Christianity and two copies of Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories for Christmas gifts. This newness stuff gets addictive!
Kathy Coffey 