Be present to the Holy in our midst

Today is December 7. This is a Christmas column. Yet as I write I am looking toward and thinking past Christmas, to the New Year and to the possibilities it holds because of Christmas. Christ the Savior is born. Let us ponder what that means for daily life.

My thoughts return to a recent experience at Kootenai Medical Center. Having visited a patient, I walked down a hallway where a group of six or so people were standing, staring, it appeared, at a wall. As I drew closer I saw that it was not the wall that had captured their attention, but a wide glass window. All were fixed on the window, focused intently, smiling, but not seeing much, for the blinds were drawn. It was the nursery and almost time to open the view and see the new babies.

This was a happy, expectant group that could hardly stand still. I was struck by how fully present they were to the moment; waiting, watching, so focused. A brass band could have marched by and they would have never noticed.

The Nativity of Jesus is the story of God coming to be present and visible with us as never before. And the invitation as we look to Bethlehem and to the New Year is to bring our whole selves to be fully present to the One who is with us. None of us will do this perfectly, but it is possible to be more aware and attentive.

As author J. Philip Newell notes, “God is to be found not by stepping aside from the flow of daily life into religious moments and environments, or by looking away from creation to a spiritual realm beyond, but rather by entering attentively the depths of the present moment. There we will find God, wherever we may be and whatever we may be doing.”

Being present wherever we are and with whomever is around us is a means of opening ourselves to what God offers us. In the words of Alan Watts, “Unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax. There is no point whatever in making plans for a future which you will never be able to enjoy. When your plans mature, you will still be living for some other future beyond. You will never, never be able to sit back with full contentment and say, ‘Now, I’ve arrived.’ Your entire education has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now.”

This Epiphanytide, may we practice being present and not so quickly distracted. In doing so, may we discover the holy miracles to be seen and experienced not just in hospital nurseries or in that manger long ago.