Advent and Christmas: Week 2
Sunday
He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove, the glories of his righteousness, and wonders of his love. (Joy to the World #100 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Wonders of His Love
If you look at a list of the wonders of the world, one thing stands out. They are all made by humans. No Kilimanjaro or Grand Canyon, no Amazon river or Great Barrier reef. It’s odd that the natural wonders do not make it onto to the list. Beneath them all, running through all these wonders of nature or humanity, is the adoring, unending love of God. It is God’s love that creates, upholds, sustains enfolds us. There is nowhere we can go outside of God’s love for us. No height nor depth, nothing we can do, nothing we can say—there is no way we can separate ourselves from God’s love for us. What a wonder!
Write on a piece of paper, “The wonder of God’s love for me,” and put in your pocket.
Listen to Lo How A Rose E’re Blooming
Monday
Lo, how a rose e’re blooming from tender stem hath sprung, of Jesse’s lineage coming as seers of old have sung. It came a blossom bright, amid the cold of winter when half spent was the night. (Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming # 81 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Seers of Old
This last spring we took a trip to Washington DC and had a chance to see one of the newest of the Smithsonian Museums, the Museum of the American Indian. It is magnificent! It has a beautiful and unique way of inviting you to experience some of the culture, wisdom, and really great food of the native peoples of the Americas. I was mesmerized by much of the foundational teachings of various groups. It gave me a new perspective that I’m just beginning to explore. There are many who are seers, ones who can help us look at things in a new light, to deepen our faith, to challenge us to live in a more deliberate way. They are around you. Listen to them.
Look for the seers in your life. Listen to them.
Tuesday
Isaiah was foretold, it the rose I have in mind. With Mary we behold it, the Virgin Mother kind. To show God’s love aright, she bore to us a Savior when half spent was the night. (Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming # 81 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
“After Annunciation,” by Madeleine L’Engle
This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There'd have been no room for the child.
This is a reflection that I come back to again and again. Mary sets aside all that makes sense. She says “Yes” to God, even when it means stepping outside the expectations of her culture, her neighbors, her family. Mary trusts that what God is asking of her will bring hope to the world.
God often invites us to step into things that are beyond our comfort zone. What is God inviting you to say “Yes” to?
Wednesday
O flower whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air, dispel in glorious splendor the darkness everywhere. True man yet very God, from sin and death now save us and share our every load. (Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming # 81 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Darkness
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, this is the darkest time of year. We leave home in the dark, we come home after dark. I find I long for light, for the feel of the sun on my face. I also long for my spirit to be lighter. I want to let go of those things that haunt me and weigh me down: past mistakes, angry and hurtful words, fears and worries. I long to leave them in the shadows and go out and see the night sky brilliant with stars.
Look at the stars tonight and seek the light in the darkness.
Listen to O Come All Ye Faithful
Thursday
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him born the king of angels. (O Come All Ye Faithful # 83 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Faithful
One of the greatest gifts is to have people you can depend on. The ones you can call at 2AM and know they will find a way to be coherent and helpful in whatever crisis you have found yourself. Just knowing that these people are in your life is a blessing. Being faithful, showing up day after day, is part of what feeds our souls. Being faithful in prayer and worship, showing up, even when it is not easy or convenient, strengthens our faith, so the strength is there when we face pain or sorrow or loss.
Be faithful today in prayer and caring for those around you.
Friday
God from God, Light from Light eternal, lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb, only begotten Son of the father. (O Come All Ye Faithful # 83 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Begotten
“The only son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light for Light,... begotten not made, of one being with the Father” The Nicene Creed, Book of Common Prayer, pg. 358.
The authors of the Nicene creed in the fourth century were struggling for words, struggling to find a way to express their experience of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. The word they landed on gets translated into English (from the Greek, homoousias) as “of one being.” Jesus then is a different person from the Father but of the same substance, eternal and uncreated. The language soars on into poetry: “God from God, Light from Light.” Trying to pin God down into the words of our limited understanding is always an incomplete task. I find it better to swim in the world of poetry.
How would you describe God? What words or images would you use? How do they help or hinder your
Saturday
Sing choirs of angels. Sing in exultation. Sing all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God, glory in the highest. (O Come All Ye Faithful # 83 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Citizens of heaven
At St. Gregory of Nyssa Church near San Francisco there is a wonderful icon that encircles the altar. Saints from every era and every continent are dancing, arm in arm. You can see John Coltrane and William Byrd, Charles Darwin and St. Francis, Elizabeth I and Sojourner Truth all being led in a joyful celebration by Jesus himself. It’s a vision of heaven, one that rings true for me. This vision of all of Christ’s own gathered into his presence drives away the shadows we feel as we miss those we love and desire healing in ourselves and our relationships. It is into Christ presence we go to find that comfort and healing, so that we can all join together in this joyous dance.
See the icon at http://www.allsaintscompany.org/icons/dancing-saints.
He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove, the glories of his righteousness, and wonders of his love. (Joy to the World #100 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Wonders of His Love
If you look at a list of the wonders of the world, one thing stands out. They are all made by humans. No Kilimanjaro or Grand Canyon, no Amazon river or Great Barrier reef. It’s odd that the natural wonders do not make it onto to the list. Beneath them all, running through all these wonders of nature or humanity, is the adoring, unending love of God. It is God’s love that creates, upholds, sustains enfolds us. There is nowhere we can go outside of God’s love for us. No height nor depth, nothing we can do, nothing we can say—there is no way we can separate ourselves from God’s love for us. What a wonder!
Write on a piece of paper, “The wonder of God’s love for me,” and put in your pocket.
Listen to Lo How A Rose E’re Blooming
Monday
Lo, how a rose e’re blooming from tender stem hath sprung, of Jesse’s lineage coming as seers of old have sung. It came a blossom bright, amid the cold of winter when half spent was the night. (Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming # 81 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Seers of Old
This last spring we took a trip to Washington DC and had a chance to see one of the newest of the Smithsonian Museums, the Museum of the American Indian. It is magnificent! It has a beautiful and unique way of inviting you to experience some of the culture, wisdom, and really great food of the native peoples of the Americas. I was mesmerized by much of the foundational teachings of various groups. It gave me a new perspective that I’m just beginning to explore. There are many who are seers, ones who can help us look at things in a new light, to deepen our faith, to challenge us to live in a more deliberate way. They are around you. Listen to them.
Look for the seers in your life. Listen to them.
Tuesday
Isaiah was foretold, it the rose I have in mind. With Mary we behold it, the Virgin Mother kind. To show God’s love aright, she bore to us a Savior when half spent was the night. (Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming # 81 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
“After Annunciation,” by Madeleine L’Engle
This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There'd have been no room for the child.
This is a reflection that I come back to again and again. Mary sets aside all that makes sense. She says “Yes” to God, even when it means stepping outside the expectations of her culture, her neighbors, her family. Mary trusts that what God is asking of her will bring hope to the world.
God often invites us to step into things that are beyond our comfort zone. What is God inviting you to say “Yes” to?
Wednesday
O flower whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air, dispel in glorious splendor the darkness everywhere. True man yet very God, from sin and death now save us and share our every load. (Lo How a Rose E’re Blooming # 81 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Darkness
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, this is the darkest time of year. We leave home in the dark, we come home after dark. I find I long for light, for the feel of the sun on my face. I also long for my spirit to be lighter. I want to let go of those things that haunt me and weigh me down: past mistakes, angry and hurtful words, fears and worries. I long to leave them in the shadows and go out and see the night sky brilliant with stars.
Look at the stars tonight and seek the light in the darkness.
Listen to O Come All Ye Faithful
Thursday
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him born the king of angels. (O Come All Ye Faithful # 83 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Faithful
One of the greatest gifts is to have people you can depend on. The ones you can call at 2AM and know they will find a way to be coherent and helpful in whatever crisis you have found yourself. Just knowing that these people are in your life is a blessing. Being faithful, showing up day after day, is part of what feeds our souls. Being faithful in prayer and worship, showing up, even when it is not easy or convenient, strengthens our faith, so the strength is there when we face pain or sorrow or loss.
Be faithful today in prayer and caring for those around you.
Friday
God from God, Light from Light eternal, lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb, only begotten Son of the father. (O Come All Ye Faithful # 83 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Begotten
“The only son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light for Light,... begotten not made, of one being with the Father” The Nicene Creed, Book of Common Prayer, pg. 358.
The authors of the Nicene creed in the fourth century were struggling for words, struggling to find a way to express their experience of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. The word they landed on gets translated into English (from the Greek, homoousias) as “of one being.” Jesus then is a different person from the Father but of the same substance, eternal and uncreated. The language soars on into poetry: “God from God, Light from Light.” Trying to pin God down into the words of our limited understanding is always an incomplete task. I find it better to swim in the world of poetry.
How would you describe God? What words or images would you use? How do they help or hinder your
Saturday
Sing choirs of angels. Sing in exultation. Sing all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God, glory in the highest. (O Come All Ye Faithful # 83 1982 Episcopal Hymnal)
Citizens of heaven
At St. Gregory of Nyssa Church near San Francisco there is a wonderful icon that encircles the altar. Saints from every era and every continent are dancing, arm in arm. You can see John Coltrane and William Byrd, Charles Darwin and St. Francis, Elizabeth I and Sojourner Truth all being led in a joyful celebration by Jesus himself. It’s a vision of heaven, one that rings true for me. This vision of all of Christ’s own gathered into his presence drives away the shadows we feel as we miss those we love and desire healing in ourselves and our relationships. It is into Christ presence we go to find that comfort and healing, so that we can all join together in this joyous dance.
See the icon at http://www.allsaintscompany.org/icons/dancing-saints.
