The 60-Second Sabbath

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A Reflection on Luke 2:15-21

Luke's version of the Christmas story
    invites us to turn our attention
to the embodiment of Christ
    in the untidy ordinary:

        a baby born in back-water Bethlehem,
            a poor family shivering in subpar accommodations,
        a stable, cows, pigeons, manure,
            uncertainty, chaos, anxiety.

Sure, angels made the brief and flashy pronouncement,
    but then directed the shepherds [unkempt, lowly!]
not to a temple to pray,
    nor a cathedral to sit in hushed silence,
but to this strange, impoverished setting:

        earth, not heaven,
            you and me, not angels,
        this kitchen table, not a sanctuary.

The truest incarnation
  is apparently the lowliest:

        here, now,
            without, within,
        painful, like childbirth,
            then relief, joy,
        and once again,
            the newborn Christ.

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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Eternity Prayer

O God of Time and Eternity,
    you hold all moments--
past, present, and future--
    while we know only this moment,
this single speck of Time.

All moments are yours,
    only this moment is ours,
and now it is gone,
    and this moment replaces it.

We experience only now,
    while you are now,
and then,
    and what's to come.

Absorbed in you,
    we glimpse Eternity,
the all before, beneath, beyond this time
    where Time is no longer a line
but an unimaginable, mysterious, glorious
    spiraling, twisting, single whorl.

Words fail.

So...Time...Eternity...
    just two more names found
on the limitless, free-for-all list
    of your names,
two more ways our infant minds
    imagine your fullness,
always failing,
    yet always reaching.

But I don't need to imagine it;
    being in it,
I need only rest
    and know it.

God of Time and Eternity,
    wrap me in forever.

Amen.

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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A Reflection on Luke 2:41-52

Ironic, isn't it, that the one story we have of Jesus' boyhood
    is one in which he pisses off his parents?

They've been to Jerusalem for Passover,
    likely traveling with friends and family,
and after a day of walking back toward home,
     Mary says to Joseph,
"Um, where is Jesus? Have you seen him lately?"

"No, I haven't. I though you were watching him."

"You were supposed to watch him, not me!"

"No, you were!"

And so the search begins:

"Have you seen Jesus?"

"Have you seen our son, the one they call Jesus?"

On it goes, more and more frantically,
    as they make their way upstream,
back toward Jerusalem...

"We're looking for Jesus, have you seen him?"

"We seem to have lost our son, Jesus.
    Has anyone seen him?"

And the inevitable comments:

"Great, you've lost the Son of God!"

"Good going--finally, we have a shot at the Messiah,
    and you've misplaced him."

Poor Mary--poor Joseph--    
    not only does their anger mount at Jesus,
so does their angst:
    Where is he?
Is he safe?
    Boy, is he gonna get it...

And then there he is,
    back at the Temple, which he had never left.
    And what is he doing?
Talking to the priests and scribes,
    and not just talking:
this 12-year-old is, apparently, teaching them!

Back to Mary and Joseph: What are they feeling?
    Relief, certainly, and anger still,
but confusion! embarrassment!
    "We are so sorry!
Jesus, what are you doing?
    Don't bother these men..."

But they are interrupted:
    "No, hold off a moment.
We want to hear what the child has to say.
    He is a deeper child, a child of wonder.
He speaks with ancient echoes,
    with colors and shapes we have not seen before.
He sings to us of hope and transfiguration.
    In him we touch...eternity."

"But...but...he is just our boy, our Jesus."

A pause. A whisper:
    "And our Jesus, too."

Mary hugs her son, still confused.
    Joseph clears his throat:
"I suppose we should head home...?"

"Yes, go, as you must, with God beside you.
    This is God with us, Immanuel,
God forever in us."

And Mary and Joseph and the boy
    turn back toward Nazareth,
Jesus happily humming,
    Mary and Joseph wondering, hoping,
keeping him close.

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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Returning

Returning,
    I find my original home,
        this, my real birthplace,
    and wings to fly,
    and eyes to look upward,
    and a glass of water,
        one sip of which,
            restores my rainbow of lost colors.

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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I AM

"I am what I am,"
    I say,
"and that by the grace of God."

    [No apologies.]

I AM --
     the great, eternal I AM,
from burning bush
    to John's journey with Jesus
to this,
    to me, to us...

I AM what I AM.

You...me...us--
    I AM.

    [No apologies.]

Text and image © 2022 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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Think Less

Think less.

Thinking can be
    a swollen, turgid stream
        overflowing its banks,
        ripping out shrubs and trees,
        washing away roads,
    a roaring, careless destroyer.

Silence thought;
    let the storm pass.

When the waters again run clear
    you will be at peace,
    you will return to yourself.

Think less.

Be more.

Text and image © 2022 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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The Path

I wonder:
    Where is the Path?

It appears as I take
    my first step,
not before.

It's a step of faith
    taken despite uncertainty,
with trepidation,
    but there it is,
the Way I've been awaiting.
    Huzzah!

Next step the same,
    and the next...

What took me so long?

The Path, the Way
    is God's very self,
reconciliation, healing,
    transformation, restoration,
the Path, the Way.

With God, in God, every step.

Hmmm--
    have I been on the Path
the entire time?
    I awaken to discover the Way
not only with each next step
   but extending into the distance behind me...

Text and image © 2022 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Have you ordered your copy of Contemplative Vision: Photography as a Spiritual Practice? 
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