Advent 6

Friday, First Week of Advent
2 December 2022

“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” -C.S. Lewis

What do you think of when you consider miracles? Moses parting the Red Sea when he led the Israelites out of slavery? The wine at the Wedding at Cana? Jesus feeding the masses with five loaves of bread and two fish? These are all miracles - big, dramatic ones! Miracles like these can feel far-fetched for a skeptic to embrace as fact. We think of them as a nice story.

When you look up at the night sky in Clinton, perhaps you are filled with wonder. Imagine such a sky on a night in Bethlehem. Shepherds were tending their sheep in the fields that night. Did they think of the sky as miraculous? They certainly did when the angels appeared in it and said, “Do not be afraid.”  Most of us can agree upon the magnificence of an Upstate New York night sky, but angels announcing a miracle may feel out of our realm.

 Miracles don't have to be big gestures.  What was the last miracle you witnessed?  Perhaps you participated in a food-ministry this Thanksgiving. Maybe you comforted someone feeling lonely. You may know someone who is recovering from an illness or recently you held a newborn baby.  Whether we had a friend or a stranger help us through a difficult time, or we were the ones providing care and attention, these little miracles of extending love to others can be seen every day. You are a part of the network of miracles, both giving and receiving.  

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Let all that you do be done in love.”  As we await the celebration of the miraculous birth of the Christ-child this Advent, perhaps everyone can make this a daily intention.  What a miracle that would be.

Katie Winn Boyer ’93