Category Archives: Advent

Advent2021, Biblical Reflection, Meditation, Prayer

Light and Joy

1 Comment

Readings: Luke 1:68-79; Malachi 3:13-18; Philippians 1:18b-26

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he as looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people for the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1:68-79, NRSV

These days I awake early and find joy in watching the light of day come gradually.  If it is to be a sunny day, the light seems to come more quickly than on cloudy ones. I am patient with this process, confident that light will arrive; however, I am not as patient in my daily life as I wait for the pandemic to end, for peace at home and abroad, for my daughter to find happiness, or for some new spiritual insight. Waiting for dawn and reflecting on this scripture passage reminded me that light usually comes gradually to the dark places in my soul and the belief that God will guide me through the process of healing and growth.  

St. Paul is a good role model for this. In the reading from Philippians, Paul has joy and hope because he knows that all will be well, light will come, no matter what or however long it takes, because he has the prayers of the people and the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within him.  The Holy Spirit guided him to be faithful to his mission.  He chose inner joy, born of faith – the joy that provides light even in times of suffering and darkness.

The Christmas card I will send this year has a wonderful quote– “Joy is the echo of God’s life in us.”  How will we find God’s light, peace, joy this Advent/Christmas season?  How can we be the joyful echo of God’s voice for others?  Can we turn away from the voices of “joy marketing” (a real business term designed to lure us into buying stuff that distracts us from the authentic joy Christ promises) and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit that invites us to share the gifts of ourselves, our time, talent and treasure with family, friends and the needy, to help bring light into the darkness.

Offered by Ann Fowler to light our path to Bethlehem.

Advent2021, Meditation, observation, Uncategorized

Motives

2 Comments

Readings: Luke 1:68-79; Malachi 3:5-12; Philippians 1:12-18a

I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.

Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.

More than once I heard each of them preach. Both had taught at Princeton Seminary, and both had served in churches. One preached out of love for Jesus, God-With-Us; the other as a form of public speech. One made time to listen to the life stories of others; the other was too busy running a large church and left the pastoral work to his assistant. One had a deep and abiding prayer life; the other didn’t think much of that kind of thing, and mocked those who did. These two preachers were different in almost every way except one: they revealed the Gospel whenever they stood in the pulpit and preached.

Does it matter, the motives of these preachers? Both proclaimed Christ to a world desperate for hope and love. Paul figured the motives weren’t so important – false or true, the Gospel was offered.

I’ll do my best to remember that, and to remember that Jesus can shine through my own imperfect and mixed motives.

Advent2021, Biblical Reflection, Meditation, observation

Asking For A Sign

Leave a comment

Readings: Psalm 90; Isaiah 1:24-31; Luke 11:29-32

When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!”

One aspect of wisdom is having a broader perspective – one that sees beyond my own likes and preferences, taking into consideration how my life affects reality in a sense larger than my immediate here and now. Solomon excelled at that kind of wisdom.

But what is that something greater that Jesus mentions? What is beyond the wisdom of Solomon? This is my best shot at an answer:

God is not an object in my world, even the biggest and most beloved: I am a beloved creature in God’s world. If I keep trying to stuff God and everyone else into my own limited version of reality, I’ve missed the whole point of life.

Asking for a sign is pointless if I refuse to see that reality isn’t limited to my own personal perspective; if I already know that, then I don’t need a sign.

[I’d bet Solomon knew that, too…]

Advent2021, Biblical Reflection, Meditation, Theology

The First and the Last

Leave a comment

Readings: Psalm 90; 2 Samuel 7:18-29; Revelation 22:12-16

“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay everyone according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolators, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Revelation 22:12-16, NRSV

[Revelation is an example of apocalyptic literature – a graphic and larger-than-life depiction of the end of everything. It is a genre written for those in dire situations, who are already living in calamity. It is gospel, good news, for the oppressed because it offers this truth: there is nothing that prevents us from returning to the God who created us and loves us.]

All that is comes from God, from the first moment of creation through this very moment. That includes you, me, and everyone else. There is no one who didn’t come from God’s loving, creative act; there’s no one who won’t return to God’s loving embrace. It’s the here and now that seems to be a place of separation – from God, each other, and the earth itself.

Most of us, not all, are not living in a living hell that cannot be changed no matter what actions we take. For us, Revelation’s stark images and larger-than-life metaphors don’t give comfort because they aren’t written for us. But they can spur us to act for those living in those dark places. They also remind us that God is the last word as well as the first – our end as well as our beginning.

Jesus, show me how to trust in you in this space between the first and the last. Amen.

Advent2021, Biblical Reflection, Meditation

Divine Time

Leave a comment

Readings: Psalm 90; Numbers 17:1-11; 2 Peter 3:1-8

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them, I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of your Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles. First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the godless.

But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 2 Peter 3:1-8,NRSV

Time is tricky. She speeds by unnoticed when I am joyful, and drags her feet when I’m bored. At times, I’m acutely aware of her passing – birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, funerals, Christmas Eve services, and Easter Vigils. These mark her path through my life as the wrinkles on my face and grey in my hair reveal her mark on my physical body.

But time is slippery and doesn’t mark her path the same way in all cases. To a butterfly, my life span is unimaginably vast; to a redwood tree, my years are a leaf that skitters past in the wind – here and gone in little more than an instant.

Given God’s eternal nature, it’s no wonder that a thousand years is like a single day. But I’d be silly to ignore the first part of Peter’s verse: that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years. I may be blind to things that come and go in a heartbeat, but God has all the time in the world to see and love every single nuance and every single detail. There’s always time enough for God because time herself belongs to God.

Guide us, O God, on the way to Bethlehem. Amen.

Advent2021, Biblical Reflection, Meditation, observation

Insects and the Apocalypse

2 Comments

Readings: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:1-10; Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-35

There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth, distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Luke 21:25-28, NRSV

If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state

of equilibrium that existed 10,000 years ago. If insects were to vanish,

the environment would collapse into chaos.*

This prophecy from the eminent scientist E.O. Wilson presents the real apocalypse of our time. Here’s our Advent version, the “Little Apocalypse” of Luke: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. . . . Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

It is frankly spiritual malpractice to read gospels like the one appointed for today, and not challenge the sense of redemption-from-above, which made sense in the Ptolemaic universe of the Bible, but which today is deadly. Asking people to “raise their heads” and look up into the clouds for their redemption—while the earth burns up beneath them—has led us to disaster. 

This is not new. Ecotheologians have been warning for decades about the deleterious effects of a “left behind” eschatology, one that sees the earth as dispensable since we are on our way to the New Jerusalem in the sky. But now the distant drumbeat has become a deafening percussion. Now the evidence of our misuse of the earth is incontrovertible, and we must ask one another to look not up, but around us and beneath us.

This week I read an article on the disappearance of insect species. The threats to bugs, it turns out, are mostly the same as those that afflict other animals. Loss of habitat, fertilizers that leach out of fields and destabilize the plant life insects depend on, millions of pounds of pesticides laid down each year, climate change, light pollution. A friend who runs a pest control business told me that if you call an exterminator to kill all the backyard mosquitos for your daughter’s birthday party, most will simply blitz the yard with chemicals powerful enough to kill not just the mosquitos in the grass—but every living thing. 

But our life depends on insects. They are key to most every food chain, the earth’s principal pollinators, and critical decomposers. If humans were to disappear from the face of the earth, as E.O. Wilson reminds us, the planet would undergo a renaissance. If insects go, the ecosystem collapses. 

T.S. Eliot mused that the world would end, “not with a bang, but a whimper.” For centuries, Christian apocalyptic has been all about bang. The irony is, we could end it all by neglecting the ant and the bee and the beetle and their ten quintillion brothers and sisters (that’s 10 with 18 zeroes after it). 

Advent, squinting in opposite directions, envisions both the coming of the infant Christ at the beginning of sacred time, and his coming again at the End. We are to live our lives in view of that End, making wise choices, resisting short-term thinking that leads to long-term calamity. Christians in centuries past can be forgiven for looking to the clouds, for taking the health and vitality of the earth, and therefore the vitality of the human species, for granted. We cannot.

*“Bugs in the System,” The New Yorker, November 1, 2021. 

Offered by David Anderson, to light the path to Bethlehem.

Advent2021, Uncategorized

A Pause Before Advent

Leave a comment

In less than two weeks, Advent begins. Once again, daily posts from many different people will grace this space, lighting our path as we seek the Christ Child once more. This is the beginning of a new church year, and a time to reflect on all that this past year brought in its days. I’m taking a break from writing – a deep breath before immersing myself in Advent. Until then, I’ll ponder this:

Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105, NRSV

Advent2020, art, Meditation, observation

Robin’s Birds

1 Comment

[Robin Nielson’s sister, JoAnn, sent this card – a Unicef offering of beauty that also provides funds for needy children all around the world. It is beautiful in form and intent.]

They land lightly on my window sills, waiting for their turn at the backyard feeder. Sparrows, cardinals, chickadees, finches, and the occasional flock of grackles, crows, or seagulls offer a glimpse of poetry in motion for the paltry cost of a few seeds and bread crusts. Spend  $1.89  for suet and woodpeckers visit; last week, a northern flicker appeared – something I’d never seen before but hope to see again.

They squawk and squabble, they crowd each other out, but they are also grace incarnate. Birds are living symbols of faith, found in the pages of sacred writings throughout the world. The Spirit and peace – a dove. Wisdom an owl. Darkness a raven and death a crow. A cardinal is a messenger from God, or a departed loved one’s spirit. They connect this mundane life of ours to something soaring, something transcendent.

A Christmas card of birds is a reminder that the spiritual life is as real, as common, and as extraordinary as the flight of birds.

Thank you for sharing your card, Robin.

Advent2020, Biblical Reflection, Meditation, Prayer

OMG

1 Comment

Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12); John 1:1-14

The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him; nothing – not one thing! – came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was the Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.

There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into the Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed, and would do what he said, he made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. [The Message, John 1:1-14]

John 1: 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us.
 
When I worked in San Antonio there were large billboards that had messages of faith prominently displayed along major highways. These billboards could be seen in various parts of the country and were rather thought-provoking. One I remember said “DON’T MAKE ME HAVE TO COME DOWN THERE!” and was signed “GOD”. I remember thinking, “well, I guess we did—thank you.”
These words in John’s prologue say it all. Eugene Peterson, in The Message, interprets this verse: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood”. How amazing and awesome is this!
This Word that was in the very beginning, which was with God, which was God, which created all things, is now here in our midst as one of us. Jesus has arrived and is living next door. May we invite him into our homes and welcome him into our hearts today. Oh, my God!
Offered by Bill Albritton, seeker of the Life-Light.
Advent2020, Biblical Reflection, Meditation

Children and Shepherds, Seeking Jesus

3 Comments

Readings: Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:8-20

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven; and on earth peace among those  whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” [Luke 2:8-15, NRSV]

When I think of the Advent season,I go back to my roots.
I was born in a small rural village called Newbold,  just outside Rugby, Warwickshire, England. My sisters and I attended St. Botolph’s Sunday School in a small stone church similar to Christ Church. I’m sure that’s where we heard the Christmas story. We knew about the shepherds on a winter’s night listening and seeing the beautiful angels.
We went Christmas caroling and the one carol that I remember was Once in Royal David’s City stood a lowly cattle shed.  We were familiar with cattle sheds because the hillsides in our village had sheep and cows and cattle sheds. This is where the Christmas story came to life.
We could imagine the shining stars all about and one special star that guided the three kings to the cattle shed where Jesus was born. In that small village we could imagine shepherds on the hillsides with angels and bright stars. We were filled with anticipation, but not for presents and gifts.
When Christmas finally came we were filled  with the same excitement as the shepherds felt to see the Holy  Infant. We enjoyed home baked candy, cookies and cakes. We were very happy, filled with the Christmas spirit.
So Advent to me brings back warm feelings that I felt as a nine year old child. On a cold winter’s night I still enjoy the bright stars and I am still looking for that bright star which will lead me to Baby Jesus  and the true meaning of Christmas.
Offered by Anita Trottier, child of God bound for Bethlehem.
  [Holy Family,  by Margaret Hill]