Dear Friends,

 We hope that you are safe and well.

 Today's Meditation is the vignette "Jesus in the Closet" by Jennifer Brownell.

We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in the church, in healthcare, in the workplace--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.

 In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that it is God's economy of abundance: when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.

We hope and pray that you find peace, healing, hope and the infusion of joy in your life!

With our love and care,

Ron and Jean

MEDITATION 540: Jesus in the Closet by Jennifer Brownell

December 13, 2021

Jesus-in-the-Closet

Jennifer Brownell

And one called to another and said: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of God’s glory.” - Isaiah 6:3 (NRSV)

“Mommy.” My son’s voice wavered urgently in my ear. “Mommy, there’s a monster under my bed … and Jesus is in my closet!”

I meant well when I talked to my three-year-old about Jesus being always near, but like many of my good intentions in those early days of parenting, our little pre-bedtime chat did not have quite the effect I had hoped it would. Now instead of a Friend to guide and comfort him, my son had a Nightmare in his closet.

We got rid of the monsters with a broom, sweeping them out from under the bed and then out the door, my little one shouting in his high, sweet voice, “Get out! Get out and don’t come back!”

What to do with Jesus-in-the-closet was trickier. After all, unlike the monsters under the bed, Jesus is not just in the closet, but out of the closet, too. Jesus was everywhere! Eventually, as my son grew up a bit, this stopped being such a scary idea.

If the whole earth is full of God’s glory, then there’s no sweeping God out the door. If the whole earth is full of God’s glory, then sometimes God’s presence can be scary or frustrating or at least inconvenient. If the whole earth is full of God’s glory, however, then God is available to help us through those scary or frustrating or inconvenient times. If the whole earth is full of God’s glory, then maybe eventually we will grow up enough that the scary things will stop seeming so scary. And on that wonderful day we will shout one to another in high, sweet voices, “Holy, holy, holy!”

Prayer

Holy, holy, holy God! We rejoice that the whole world is full of your glory! Help us to know your overarching presence as a gift, in the scary times as well as the joyful ones. Amen.

Click here to get today's guide for discussing Jesus-in-the-Closet by Jennifer Brownell along with today's scripture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Garrison Brownell is pastor of Vancouver United Church of Christ. Her writing appears in the collection, The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms For the Struggle, available from The Pilgrim Press.