This has been the fourth year in a row without snow even on the ground on Christmas Day in Denver, CO. This in and of itself isn’t that strange, as it doesn’t snow on Christmas itself very often, but the fact that we still haven’t had any significant snow this year -just one teeny little storm with no real accumulation- has all of us a little on edge. Even the ski runs are in trouble from lack of snow, although some has fallen at the higher altitudes. It’s freaky.
But at the same time, it’s just absolutely gorgeous outside. Clear blue skies. Crisp and cool wind with no chill, at least during the day. Temperatures in the 60s.
This odd weather-limbo reminds me that change comes incrementally and immediately in equal measure, that enjoying rest and respite along this life journey is not only natural but required, and that vision and dreams compel and propel us.
We know the climate is changing, and environmental and ecosystem relationships are in great flux. Everything has moved quickly beyond the era of our warnings -we have passed the thresholds of no real upheaval already.
Not all upheaval is ultimately detrimental, although it can all cause damage. Ground to be sown must be tilled. Rocks and other obstacles must be removed or shifted. Some upheaval is necessary for growth.
My environmental justice awakening has been a large part of my own life journey. As a child, I was shown visions both of degradation and pollution and of a beautiful world we could build together. There was great dissonance in the clash of images between the pastoral scenes of the City Beautiful and Community Gardening movements of the 1970s and 80s and the news stories of burning rivers, nuclear power disasters, oil spills and an unlivable smog-clogged LA.
I think I was propelled by both sets of visions, by the dream of a beautiful sustainable world and by the fearful images of disaster. Both are present in scripture, to be sure. It took me some time to choose my ground, because fear can be useful and danger is real.
I’m struck that dreams given to Joseph moved Jesus and his family around the region, enabled them to escape mass slaughter, warned the visiting Magi of their own danger, and drew the Holy Family to Egypt for refuge, as their ancestors had done hundreds of generations prior.
I have looked at the texts as thoroughly as I have the knowledge to do, and I cannot find much insight into the nature of Joseph’s dreams. I cannot know if they were nightmares or enticements, if they sowed seeds of fear or hope. But I choose to believe hope.
Fear is useful, and when seen as a tool or a signal, it can be an alarm for action. Sometimes, the shift in the pit of your stomach or the hair raised on your arm reveals immediate danger. Intuition will sound such an alarm, as will attuned empathy when we encounter a situation deeply askew. But as a place to live, a sea in which to swim, fear is toxic. It eats away at trust.
The most frequent phrase in scripture is “Be not afraid” and it always precedes the messages of God. It is spoken hundreds of times by God’s angles and prophets throughout the stories of God and God’s people.
This is not an accident or a coincidence. This isn’t a joke or a baseless wish. This is actually the entire point.
Fear is real. We are in fact to approach the divine with a sense of awe and awareness that is sometimes translated or perceived as fear. It can feel the same, with its internal shifts and goose-fleshed skin.
Danger is real. We should heed alarms, shift our direction, and heighten our awareness when danger is present.
Hope and choice are also real, and become more sustainable and solid the more often they are the ground on which we stand.
I believe that the angels of God gave Joseph a dream of refuge and safety when the family needed to flee. I believe that the angels of God gave Joseph a dream of partnership and shared love when he chose to remain with Mary. I believe that God gives us a yearning for community, the common good, and a just society because they are possible. These are what will sustain us throughout own upheaval, give us the tools to thrive through our own times of danger.
May we see the beautiful in the strange, the abundance in our scarcity, and the signals and signs in our times of fear. For God is with us, on this journey and all that we take.