Hello my dear hearkeners.
As we begin this time of quiet meditation,
I invite you to find a comfortable place to sit with your back straight and your root chakra planted on the ground or on a chair.
Allow yourself to notice your breathing.
Try not to change your breathing pattern.
Simply notice it.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Take a few moments and close your eyes,
Preparing yourself to listen to what the divine may be saying to you during this time of meditation.
As you sit with your eyes closed,
Use these or similar words.
Here I am Yahweh.
Here I am.
This is all to say,
Be still.
Be still.
Adopt an attitude of gratitude and non-judgment and embrace a spirit of peace and loving-kindness.
It is the middle of the night and you are sound asleep in your bed.
Just a typical night in first century Bethlehem.
Or at least it was just a typical night.
You are suddenly awakened when you hear the faint sounds of what seems to be a woman screaming in the distance.
It sounds like it must be coming from the cave up the hill behind your house.
That cave is where the innkeeper keeps his animals.
Sound reverberates from that cave.
A natural amplifier.
So if ever one of the animals has a bad night,
So does everyone else.
As you slowly regain consciousness,
You realize it's not quite screaming you're hearing.
Well,
It is,
But it sounds like there's hope,
Peace,
Joy,
Maybe even laughter in the screaming.
Someone giving birth in that cave.
The city has been crowded lately,
Even more so than usual,
As people have come from all over Israel to register their families in the census.
Up until now,
You had been able to sleep through the bustling sounds.
There seems to be more excitement at the moment.
Even more excitement.
There is loud chattering and you distinctly hear the words,
There it is,
Over the stable.
And then you hear it.
The unmistakable sound of a newborn baby crying.
And a mother,
Laugh crying with pure,
Unadulterated love.
It's definitely coming from that amphitheater of a cave.
You are wide awake now.
Something in you says you need to get up and go meet the baby.
That would be weird though,
Right?
It must have been a hard night for them.
They obviously don't have a place they can stay right now,
Considering half the Jewish population are in Bethlehem right now.
They could probably use some food.
You've got a loaf of bread and some wine you could bring them.
Grab the loaf and the wineskin,
Put on your tunic and head out the door.
And suddenly realize you're not the only person headed that direction.
As you make your way behind your house,
Along with everybody else,
The cave comes into view above and ahead.
And you realize there's already quite a crowd of people at the mouth of the cave.
You start gently pushing past people as a feeling of eagerness and elation inexplicably comes over you.
What is the meaning of this?
What is the meaning of this?
As you make your way up the hill,
You begin to notice there are people from much further away than the furthest corners of Israel.
People are speaking in different languages.
Not like Aramaic or Greek,
Like really different languages.
It seems like people from all over the earth are here.
Maybe there are.
And finally,
You are reaching the mouth of the cave.
You recognize some shepherds in the crowd of people gathered.
You think you've seen them in the marketplace from time to time.
And then there are other people who are most definitely neither Roman nor Jewish.
It is an even more diverse crowd than the busiest of marketplace events.
And then,
Finally,
You stand in front of the cave.
The first thing you notice is that you're not the only one to bring this new family gifts.
The cave is littered with treasures,
Lavish and modest alike,
From gold to frankincense and myrrh.
And then,
The most peculiar thing happens.
It is as if the rest of the crowd begins to fade away.
And it is just you and this beautiful family.
You look into the eyes of the mother.
You see pure peace and joy in her glistening eyes.
You look at the father.
A hope that surpasses reason seems to just emanate from him.
His eyes look tired,
And yet this hope persists.
And the baby,
Wrapped in swaddling cloths,
Pure love seems to radiate from him.
He seems,
Though just a newborn baby,
Like an old soul.
As if,
Somehow,
This baby,
This moment,
Existed before the beginning of time.
As if this moment is all there is.
The baby looks at you.
It seems as though he sees you,
Truly sees you,
In a way no one has ever truly seen you before.
Is that a smile?
How would a newborn smile?
How could this be?
You look back to the mother.
What is his name,
You ask?
Yeshua,
She answers,
Which means God saves,
Because he will save his people.
He will bring peace to the earth and loving kindness to humankind.
They will call him Emmanuel,
God with us.
From the three of them,
There seems to flow a radiant light.
It is as though you are looking at love itself.
Time seems to slip away as you simply bask in the radiance of light and love.
Basking in the radiance of light and love.
You faintly hear the words,
Surely this is the one of whom the prophecies speak.
As you bask in this moment,
In the radiance of light and love,
You slowly begin to remember the crowd.
Above all the chatter,
You clearly hear the words,
Peace on earth and loving kindness toward all humankind.
Peace on earth and loving kindness toward all humankind.
Surely those words will echo for an eternity.
Surely this moment will echo for an eternity.
Surely this moment will echo for an eternity.
Peace on earth and loving kindness toward all humankind.
Peace on earth and loving kindness toward all humankind.
Toward all humankind.
Shalom on earth and chesed toward all humankind.
Thank you for sharing this tender,
Sacred moment with me today,
My friends.
Merry Christmas,
My dear hearkeners,
And may grace and peace,
Light and love,
Shalom and chesed be with you.
