Do you remember Tevye, in Fiddler on the Roof???
Can you hear him, even now???
I can! Dancing on the roof, shouting Tra-di-tion! at the top of his lungs, while his version of the way we’ve always done it was rapidly changing around him…
And, as you’ve already guessed, I can relate!
In fact, I feel like one huge collection of traditions – of stories – that don’t all seem to get along very well.
And how in the world did The Muse get Tevye and the angels and shepherds into the same story on this third Sunday in Advent???
We’ll come back to that question in just a bit!
First, though, could we agree that many, many of us are more conscious of living in the midst of mixed metaphors than we used to be?
Some of that change is technical… as in access to information Tevye could never have imagined! And today – in one of my old, old stories – is about information.
Angels appearing in the fields, telling the shepherds to take their flocks and make their way to Bethlehem, following a star.
No Google Maps. Just wilderness.
No generations of Grandmothers telling them this story all their years. Just go. Now.
No Motel 6 or Howard Johnson’s along the way.
And, at least in my heart, they went. Complete with a Hungarian herding dog (!) and – quite possibly – some Red Thread of their own… connecting them in ways too big to really comprehend.
In this moment, we are remembering. Many, many of us.
The questions – the ones they leave out of Hallmark® cards… probably quite intentionally – are important.
Whose version of the story are we remembering?
Who is included? And who is left out? And who gets to decide who gets to decide???
And – perhaps most timely of all – who benefits hugely, while others suffer???
I’m going to go way out on a limb here. Just me… the most sense I can make of all of this, at this moment. Now.
This story is for everyone who would say yes. Everyone longing for hope. For peace. For justice. Everyone ready to set out on the path with others, longing for ways to be love.
It’s not the only way to tell such a story… and I’m not sure the details really matter all that much.
As long as we choose love… the kind of love big enough for everyone.
ps.. yes! That last word – everyone – is a challenge for me. There are, indeed, a few folks my hurt, angry, frightened emotional self might choose to leave out. (Go ahead and guess!) But, here’s what I know… that part isn’t my job. My job is to say yes. Over and over again. As many times as it takes. Good news isn’t easy. It just beats the hell out of the alternative.
pps… meet my #wip – even though it isn’t Wednesday! A very opinionated painting known, officially, as #Embrace. Unofficially, she is becoming Our Lady of Good Trouble. Stay tuned!
ppps… need a Good Trouble gift for the Littles you love??? A Creation Poem… is just the thing!!! Put 3 copies in your basket and the elves will be thrilled to make one copy free at checkout! And HURRY… they’re magical… and they still need to be shipped! Daphne & I are on it! (AND, everything in the Original Art, Archival Prints, and Special Guest Artist collections is 25% off the listed price. The math elves have got you!) Just click here to be instantly transported to the place where Hope is waiting…
