The Unexpected Christmas

 

“And in despair I bowed my head

There is no peace on earth I said

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

In many ways, the complete joy of the Christmas season doesn’t exist. For hatred and violence in our world continually mar the image of a season of Peace. This year alone, twenty families are having a Christmas without their young children; taken away too soon. Some didn’t even believe that this Christmas would even be reached; expecting a devastating worldwide apocalypse. Just this Christmas Eve, a gunman set his house ablaze and, from a sniper position, opened fire on firefighters, killing two and injuring two others; then turned the gun upon himself.

The Unexpected Christmas. Failed apocalypse or not, senseless violence remains rampant. Humanity in its shattered state, ever begetting pain with more pain. The world didn’t end on the 21^st, but our slow apocalypse continues.

And while not everyone succumbs to this kind of devastating violence, the potential for it exists in every one of us. Given the exact right conditions, every person has that same capacity for violence, for deceit, for fear, for anger, for despair, for greed. None are innocent.  I feel that this is our human condition; perhaps even our inherited sin; not what we do, but what we could do.

“Then ringing, singing on its way

The world revolved from night to day.”

But, yet, this day celebrates the One who can redeem all the pain, all the violence, all the suffering; not in part, but in whole. While our walk upon the earth will be wrought with struggle, it will not remain so, for night will revolve to day when we come to know Him. For the day the Lord came to ransom us, He made a promise, a new covenant, and brought flesh to our dry bones that we may know Him. From that day, born and laid into a cradle of wood, Jesus the carpenter began the journey that would result in his finest work; the cross.

For all the pain, the senseless agony of this life and the despair; we have a promise that it will not last forever. A glorious day will come, and our Lord’s might be shown. Until then though, we rest on His promise, His hope, His love, and His faith. And we rest on each other. For every one of us is another weary traveler on this path. We do not bear our burdens alone.

For, it is through each other, and through the small joys that can be found from day to day, that we are able to meet the despair of this world with hope, meet the pain with faith, meet the violence with peace, and meet the brokenness with faith.

“Then rang the bells more loud and deep

God is not dead, nor does He sleep.”

                                (Casting Crowns “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”)




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Sonnet 1. Ashley C. Goff:

                Sonnet I, by Ashley C. Goff:

The Summer’s hot envy did flare, when saw

Our hearts as one in Love’s heavenly bliss.

No storm alter, our Love, nor Time claim flaw,

While drink the sweet melody of his kiss.

The chill, bitter Autumn us nearer brings,

But finds me safe in those protecting arms.

Through gold, leaf-tipped black boughs, a shadow sings

A haunting song of Season’s ending harm.

Winter, his toothless grin he bares, rapture,

Of farewells said in pain. His sadistic

Pleasure in tears we shed. The departure

Agony to our heart, become septic.

                But ice will melt, these bonds no more constrain,

                For Spring will find us together again.

 

This is my first attempt at a Sonnet, so it's undoubtedly still a little rough around the edges. But, I wrote this for Nathan Barber, who has been and continues to be one of the biggest blessings in my life. He is the most incredible, caring, and talented person I know. There is no hesitation when I say that "I love him with all my heart, and I will love him always." There is no place I'd rather be than in his arms, and it hurts to be so far away from him for most of the year. But there is no one else that I would rather wait for.
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Untitled

As an artist, I usually begin with an idea. A little spark of inspiration that sets me on a path; usually into some pretty late nights, fervently working paint onto canvas or charcoal onto paper. During the course of my work though, many things change, and RARELY does my work ever come out exactly as previously planned. In my experience, what I have discovered though is that, by my art, I am not so much trying to convey precisely what I have in my head; rather, it is a process of discovery. There is an element that I am even unaware of, and my job as the artist is to discover that, because there is something that I am attempting to find just as much as there is something I am trying to portray. It is a small, but pertinent journey of spiritual discovery.

Drawing from another subject entirely, but which, I promise, that I will relate in a moment; names are severely important. They are our IDENTITY. And the name of a piece of art or a book is no exception, for the title is what sparks our interests, sparks our judgments.

As an artist, I am severely critical of what I do. I could honestly spend a lifetime on one work, and NEVER get it to look precisely how it does in my mind. I could waste my life away in front of a canvas, miserable and never content. Now, tying in the spiritual discovery I experience in my art as well as the significance of names; it is in the naming of my artwork that generally symbolizes the completion of my small journey.  I never begin a work with a title in mind. But, over the course of the work, eventually, one will be revealed to me. Whether it be in reading, in conversation, sudden inspiration, ANYTHING, it doesn’t matter how it’s revealed, the important part is that it is. At that time, and at that time only, do I know the work is complete. It is finished. My work has fulfilled its identity, its purpose, its message.

We are God’s artworks. His creation.

Biblically, names are very, very important; from Genesis through Revelation. He brought the animals to Adam, to see what he would name them. God already had a true name for every living thing, but He brought them to Adam regardless because He wanted to see what Adam would name them. A gift perhaps, to share in the creation process; we continue to name things today. Every new discovery, humanity bestows a name upon it; Creation continues.

19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

Later, in the New Testament, names are changed; Saul becomes Paul and so on; possibly to indicate the baptism that occurs within a person when they invite God into their life. For one cannot accept Jesus into their heart and then walk away as the same person.

 Then, in Revelation, we are promised a white stone, and on it written a new name known ONLY to God and our self; a name is an identity on both a very public and a VERY private level. I believe that when He grants us that new name, that new identity in Him, I feel that signifies our completion. We, His creation, have attained our identity, our purpose, our message.

17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

Until then though, we remain unfinished. And each experience we go through, even our daily experiences, only continue that process of our individual creation. One day, we will be completed; but not yet. Each person is still a work of art in progress. But God is working on us daily; and until we stand before Him, now completed by His no longer obscured presence, we must say:

Until that day I am yet unfinished.

I am Untitled.






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