Curt's Ponderings From The Bioshelter

  When I walk in the hills around my house every evening, I am moved to an ever deeper awareness of the beauty of the relationships that make our world function.   The glaciers melt and provide the water for the river in the valley. The salmon spawn in the rivers, providing food for bears and Eagles, which leave the uneaten parts in the forests to decay and fertilize the soil.   The plants flourish in amazing abundance, nourished by the soil as well as the fungi and other micro-organisms that are necessary to upload nutrients for the benefit of the plants.   The humans in this region have set aside this land as a state park, where only certain areas are to be used for human habitation and the rest is a nature preserve.   All of it is about relationships, in which what one creature does affects all others, resulting in a complex, and marvelous ecosystem. The amazingly relational nature of God's creation offers a window on the nature of Christ's birth, as well.  As

  For Christians the Christmas season traditionally runs all the way through the celebration of the arrival of the magi on January 6.   I have been using these days since Christmas to reflect more on Jesus and what his birth has meant for humanity and for all creation.   As this Christmas week has passed I have collected an amazing mixture of impressions.   I have enjoyed family gatherings, I have listened to the ongoing news of political brinksmanship, I have walked in these December evenings and marveled at their beauty, and I have learned of people struggling with things like the after-effects of storms and the grief and fear of the Newtown shootings. Through all of this I have wondered about the import of Jesus, born among us on that first Christmas.   I have been thinking about how to understand the difference it makes in our day-to-day lives that Jesus was born. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well-known 20 th century theologian, pointed out that we approach the m