the smallness of god

merry christmas everyone (did you hear that the avg. readership of a weblog is now one? so i suppose the emphasis in my xmas greeting is on the one in "everyone," and the real message is: "merry christmas, mom.").

by now everybody knows about the recent votes cast by va parishes to leave the episcopal church. if you ever read this space (and i actually estimate that mom only reads it quarterly, if @ all), you probably have noticed that i don't comment on the state of the my adopted church. i love it, i have no intention of leaving any time soon, i wish this all weren't happening, it breaks my heart generally to see xtns fighting (and nastily so), and listening to the noise from both sides of the debate tends to just tire me out.

i say that as a preface to my xmas post here b/c i link to a guy who clearly sympathizes w/ the episcopalians who are opting out. but what he had to say is something i think about quite a bit -- forget who wins the property war, the mantle of "anglican church in america," all the rest. in fact, forget about "winning" @ all. the blogger, who put it much better than i could, prays:

that god give them the gift of smallness - to be meek, to be weak, to lose if need be. no one can defeat you if you are willing to be small enough, meek enough, weak enough, if you are willing to lose. christ traded a throne for a cave. some may have to trade buildings and beloved properties for the kingdom of god. it’s a swap that’s been made before.

that's my prayer for my family and for the church this christmas. the mystery of the incarnation continues even now, in xt's extant physical presence on earth, his church. this year, i pray that we will learn to be smaller and not be afraid to lose everything for the sake of the world for whom god laid aside his god-ness to save. as my friend nate and i talked about a couple of nights ago on our front stoop, if xtianity means anything, then it's worth everything. tonight, in the sermon for the first mass of christmas, fr. davenport said "2000 years ago, god wriggled into our cramped darkness," and, if we can be more like the first xtns (read the epistle to diognetus), we'll be far more successful in winning the world.

blessings to you this christmas from our family in dc --
~ sammy