Icebraeker (ice breaker)

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Meditation on Friday, 3rd week of Advent, year B1

In order to start the training well, the group should be positively surprised. I always start with gifts. I hand out scripts, folders, pens and whatever else is included in the training, I chant a beautiful song to warm up the female part of the students, for example Passion – Sarah Brightman and Fernando Lima:

And it’s nice. This is the so-called ice braeker. Then everyone introduces themselves, tells who they are and what they do here, and of course I tell about myself, about my family, about my way of life. And this is how an intimate thread is formed between us. It develops every day and shapes the attitudes that will accompany these people during the next courses, months of study with other trainers, maybe not as experienced as me. These few days with me seem to give direction, morality, customs and ethics to the entire training cycle, which often lasts over a year.

Such God’s ice braekers were probably Samson and John the Baptist mentioned in the readings. They were strong people, devoted from infancy to God by their parents, to whom the angels revealed the role of boys in the history of salvation and the history of the nation.

But from now on beware: do not drink wine or soda, and do not eat anything unclean. Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and the razor will not touch his head, for the boy will be God’s Nazirite from the moment he is born. He will start saving Israel from the hands of the Philistines – it’s about Samson

He will be great in the sight of the Lord; He will not drink wine and soda, and will be filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb. Many of the sons of Israel will turn to the Lord their God; he himself will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to children, and the disobedient to the disposition of the righteous, to prepare a perfect people for the Lord – this applies to John the Baptist.

Both, though they are centuries of history apart, were sent to God’s people to change, prepare, move, awaken, change. We do not like change, we are conformists. No matter how it is, as long as it doesn’t change anything.

I work with people, trying to help them see a different perspective, but the biggest problem is to convince people that change is good and necessary for them. There is such a good book, and behind it the fairy tale “Who Taken My Cheese” was produced.

Spencer Johanson wonderfully shows our habits and the growing convictions in us about our uniqueness and immutability. The basic question out there seems to be this: What would you do if you weren’t scared? Oh, what an important question! Reader, ask yourself now. Jan, Samson didn’t have this problem. From the moment of the announcement, they were already burdened with a prophetic judgment, a calling from God, which was fulfilled and with which our heroes cooperated. They became different, different, maybe they were harassed because of this by ordinary people. Maybe no one understood them. They were lonely. As we know, Samson was very selfish and did not even succumb to customs, but took a woman from a hostile tribe, through whom he eventually died. To this day, this story inspires many people – incl. Leonard Cohen in the song “Hallelujah”: “The kitchen chair is your throne, she shaved you, you don’t have the strength anymore and she torn the Hallelujah from your heart.”

Dalida is still a symbol of bitter love to this day. Samson’s death under the rubble of the terrace is a symbol of faithfulness to being chosen in spite of everything.

John was not amorous, at least we do not know anything about it, he was rather an Elijah, lonely and devoted to God, around whom followers and disciples gather rather than women whom he impresses. His harsh life and not too fancy menu were not very encouraging. On the other hand, the lifestyle and “thunder” of the Word of God were piercing so that the crowds sought repentance and baptism. What was John’s baptism was a topic for another reflection, but it was probably specific and atypical. The Lord Jesus sanctioned him by coming to John and joining the chain of revival events. It was all different, it required people to change, open up, pay back.

Israel, this nation belonging to God, has seen many things. But something like that? What’s that supposed to mean? Elijah did not baptize, and neither did Elisha, the great prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zacchaeus, and others do such things. And Jan? But he was preparing the way for the Lord. Nobody has ever prepared this path. Is it possible to prepare the way for the Lord at all? Has Jan prepared?

I will run away from my considerations, because I would write and write, and in the end no one would like to read such a long text. However, I will ask us questions that will work in our hearts during the pre-Christmas and after-Christmas season.

Am I ready to follow God’s calling, even if it is a call to otherness, loneliness and suffering?

Am I ready to break all social conditions and expose myself to show, criticism, misunderstanding, and maybe even condemnation in order to fulfill God’s will?

Is love for Christ more important to me than a religious corset?

Closeness of the Lord on the upcoming Holidays of His birthday – yours in Lord Kazik