A Christmas Reflection at the Edge

At the Edge we see Thee most clearly.  Weddings, birth of a child, graduations are among the many edge experiences where our vision of God gains a modicum of clarity.  I know in my soul that God is in me and through me, around me and beyond me.  Yet it is at the edges of my life where I see Thee most clearly.

A recent watching of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens reminded me of the edge experiences.  Scrooge is visited by a ghost, Marley.  He travels with the three spirits of Christmas; past, present and future.  Scrooge is made aware that Tiny Tim’s life is so fragile as to be in question.  Scrooge is confronted on his relationship with the poor who live on the fringe of life as he knows it.  

This fascinating tale is strewn with edge experiences.  Scrooge is made a spectator by the three spirits.  However, his journey to the edges is actually an invitation to transformation.  At the edges, more than Scrooge’s vision is changed.  

You and I are invited this Christmas season to travel to the edge of life, to the place where Jesus is born.   It is not an invitation to be a spectator.  Spectators stay in the back of the church and watch the journey of others.  You and I are invited up front to worship Jesus and to be changed, saved, healed.   The invitation is not to scare you.  Rather it is an edge experience found in a cradle of new life.

Imagine your Christmas morning following a journey of such magnitude.  No gift beneath the tree will compare.  All gifts will have more meaning.