Dear Ones,
I’ve been astounded, as we have moved through this Advent season, by how our four themes—taken from the New Zealand night prayer, of releasing expectations and fears, finding stillness, and embracing hope—have spoken to me in particular ways during their assigned weeks.
I realized early in the first week of Advent that this was not going to be the year I finally got around to sending out Christmas cards! Giving myself that grace and permission early on created elbow room for a lot more grace throughout the season.
During the second week of Advent, while on retreat, I was touched by an Advent reflection that reminded me that although there is plenty to be afraid of in this world, God does not want us to live in fear. My seminary classmate, who wrote the Advent devotional just after giving birth to her first child, said that God actually created each of us with a womb for joy—the capacity to grow joy within us and bring it into this world. In my journey through post-traumatic stress disorder, I have found joy is my primary antidote to fear.
During the third week of Advent, I was so blessed by our Quiet Christmas service led by Julie Garvey and Sarah Christopher. That stillness in community was exactly the thing I needed, and the nearly hundred other people who experienced it, I think, felt the same way!
This week, as I have struggled against my pre-Christmas malaise, I walked a bit of the labyrinth in the rain and wind on the winter solstice, holding a tiny flame in a glass jar—thinking about how my call, like Joseph and Mary’s, is to protect and nurture the hope, the joy, the new thing that God is doing in me, even when the winds of the world want to blow it out!
Ultimately, that is the hope of Advent and Christmas: God did not just come 2,000 years ago as a little baby. God is still coming. God is always coming—waiting to be born, waiting to burst into our disturbed or dreary, desolate or business-as-usual world and do something new. Isaiah, the prophet we most often read during Advent and Christmas, writes, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19—but go ahead and read the whole chapter!)
As we gather at the manger this Christmas and bask in the light of the Incarnation, may we also be given eyes to see and hearts to perceive the new thing that God is doing in our lives, in our families, in our community, and in our world.
Grace’s Christmas Eve services are our family pageant at 4:00 PM and traditional choral service at 8:00 PM, with lessons and carols at 9:00 AM on Christmas Day. All services include Eucharist; all will be livestreamed. We’ll see you there!
Merry Christmas, in the deep peace and joy of the new life in the manger,
Amy+
Recent Comments