ADVENT'S STRENGTH

Recently I shattered the top of an old fashioned lantern- it was perched on a table in a new place; it crashed spectacularly on our front hall tile. Wow. What a sound, what a mess. It is how my soul feels at times living in this world- as I watch the glass shards fall all around me in lives and hearts and people learn to tip toe around the brokenness of our being.

It is wearying to constantly clear the glass, sweep the mess, pick myself up again and realize I do not need to clean up another's chaos, I can only gather my own shards, and even this is too much for me. There is One who swoops down into my mess and helps me. He strengthens me for what must be done. I must go on, my weak knees need to continue the journey, my feeble arms must carry on.

Yet a star shines, a promise is given that God is with us: Emmanuel. He comes to give us strength. Strength to hope, strength to believe, strength to bring the light and love of God into the darkness.

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men shall stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint."

 Isaiah 40:28-31

May the Holy One come and carry you on eagle's wings.

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

"The Babe that I carry carries me, says Mary, 

and He has lowered His wings and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted to the air; and a promise has been given to me that height and depth and all shall be my Son's."

Ephraim the Syrian

Hymn XII on the Nativity

ADVENT'S GIFT

So much of our focus in the holiday season is on gifts. "What will I bring to the party? What shall I give to this one or that? How can I find that "perfect" gift? And the gift giving even seeps into our carols, "Yet, what can I give Him; I will give to Him my heart." What if the gift was for us and not from us? What if Advent held a gift for us each day?

Today's gift is comfort. Listen to these words of Isaiah:

"Comfort, comfort My people, 

says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and proclaim to her

that her hard service has been completed;

that her sin has been paid for,

that she has received double from the Lord's hand

double for all her sin.

Isaiah 40:1-2

God longs to comfort us; He speaks tenderly. He quiets us with His love. He watches us perhaps with bewilderment, like a Father perplexed at an anxious child. 

"My child, I long to comfort you. You can find no comfort here, on this earth, in others, in the haste and hurry of your days. Turn to Me and trust Me with your sorrows, with your disappointment and unmet expectations. I know the love you have for your family and friends. Do not fear, let Me comfort you and then you can bring the comfort I have given you to those you meet. My comfort is the promise of My presence, Emmanuel, I am with you. I come to dwell with you and never will I leave you or forsake you. This is the Good News: I have come to save My people from their sins."

Can we allow ourselves to be comforted this Advent season; to go to Him who is able to keep us from falling and let Him hold us in His arms. Sometimes we stumble on our own self-sufficiency. Perhaps we could make room for His comforting Presence.

Medicine from Sacred Writing:

"Blessed is Your flock since You are the Gate of it,

 and You are the Staff, You are the Shepherd, You are the Drink, You are the salt, 

You the Visitor. 

Hail to the Only-Begotten, 

that bears abundantly all manner of consolations."

Hymn VI On the Nativity 

 Ephraim The Syrian 

ADVENT'S SECRET

Christmas cards are rolling in and the pressure is on! Bake the cookies, send the cards, mail the packages, buy the gifts, wrap them, tie the bows, hang the garlands, make the gingerbread, decorate the tree and on and on it goes. How do we maneuver these demands in a meaningful way? Perhaps we can pray for every card that comes in as we light the Advent candles at dinner time, and we have done this for years. Or maybe we limit the purchases to only a few and buy gifts for those in need. All this trimming has been done to the gluttony of Christmas activities, yet, I am searching still..I wonder if there is a "secret" to getting through the holiday in a holy way?

Might Advent hold a secret to comfort me as I navigate The Nativity's festivities?

What if it was really simple?

What if it was hope?

A Babe came in a manger bringing hope to a girl with an unplanned pregnancy, it brought hope to the lowly shepherds out on a hill and it brought hope to a world caught in political tension that was filled with hatred and oppression. No one expected an angelic announcement and a Divine visitation, nor, I am afraid, do we. We expect catalogs and cards, presents and pews full of family. If I open my heart to the hope of Advent- that God sees me and knows me, and longs to reveal Himself to me then I rightly place my expectation in His unfailing love. Our hearts are longing to believe everything will be okay- in our world, in our families, in our children's lives, and yet oftentimes it looks so dark. Have faith. No matter how dark our world seems, "the people walking in darkness have seen a great light," Isaiah 9:2.

What are you hoping for this Advent? An end to violence and hatred? Help for the poor and marginalized? A cure for a sick loved one? A way back home for a child you love?  Let hope in the Light of the World comfort you as you walk this Advent season. And may Emmanuel, God with us, give us hope to believe.

Medicine from Sacred Writing

“He, the Son of God, gives on His day secret comforts.”

Hymn XIV on the Nativity
Ephraim The Syrian

ADVENT'S SMILE

What if each person we encountered this Advent season received a smile? Could we bring the love the world craves instead of adding to the critical conversation? “Make me an instrument of Your peace…Where there is hatred let me sow Your love…” Another song our world needs a little more of.

What a gift to give: a smile; a warm greeting of love and a tender expression of care. The power of love is a force to be reckoned with. When we love, we can change the world. Start small, some of us need to, because loving is a verb, and it is hard work to go against our own self-protective, and sometimes selfish tendencies. Begin with your family by smiling and greeting them with kindness. Let this be your first Monday of Advent’s act ~ kindness. When you have been able to smile with kindness on the ones closest to you, try the stranger. Witness the power of one person who simply loves. One came two thousand years ago from heaven and loved; He changed the world.

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

“How fearless are You, O Babe, that You let all have You;

 upon every one that meets with You, You do smile; 

to everyone that sees You, You are gladsome! 

Your love is one that hungers after all.”

 Hymn IX on the Nativity

Ephraim The Syrian

ADVENT'S JOY

“This is the month which brings all manner of joy…

Lo! The First-born has opened unto us

 the feast of His coming as a treasure-house.”

Ephraim The Syrian's Hymns on the Nativity

Joy tip-toes softly, stealing into hearts, warming homes, lifting spirits. Who doesn’t need joy these days? We all know the song: “We need a little Christmas, right this very minute…” yet I wager it is wonder and joy that our hearts most long for.

On this first Sunday of Advent intentionally name your longing for this season- beyond hand-knit sweaters and Christmas cookie swaps. Take time to consider your heart and what you are hoping for. Dare to peer into the Manger for the treasures held there. Open wide your heart to Him and let the joys He has to offer fill your soul this Advent. And then, go, share the joy and love you find. Our world is waiting for us to bring the gifts this Babe in the manger bears.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, 

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

 Romans 15:13

SUSTAINED THROUGH THE HARVEST

Summer peaches ripen and trees heavy laden with harvest beg for relief, someone to come and lift the weight of the fruit from branches bent. My soul bends now at the weight of this new season; it is at once fruitfulness and emptiness. Trees clap their hands and empty their wares. I, too, am invited to give praise and release the weight of all the years behind me. 

 I do give thanks and bear witness that the work of our hands has not been our own, that God has blessed the work of our hands. And yet, I long to interfere with His vineyard, His plantings. In my secret soul would like to keep planting, replant or perhaps even transplant all those olive shoots into my own soil.

Seems silly to think that a prophet who wrote thousands of years ago speaks of my life, but the words ring so true I think God might be smiling as I read:

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west...Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth." Isaiah 43:5, 6

We will gather soon on the west coast to celebrate lives and a marriage, fruitfulness and the faithfulness of God. The ground keeps shifting underneath me, yet there is One who lifts the weight of this fruitfulness from me. He sustains me and then, stoops down to carry me! 

"Even to your old age and grey hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

"Let present things be the ground, the ground of your trust in Me."

John Chrysostom 

Fourth Century

LOVE NEVER ENDS

Seasons come and go, I know this. But whole seasons? It seems the field of my life- children and the joys and challenges of a young family are cut and dried - donzo! (as some of our boys say). The scythe of time has cut a swath that has left me stunned and somehow bereft. I long to create, recreate, gather up the threads of moments and days to make a new thing, but I have only this space to walk in. No threads, no hustle and bustle, just the stillness of this old field shorn of its plantings.

I can choose to walk in this new season with empty joyful hands once I mourn what has been gathered up to serve the world. I can release, yes, and let go, of course, but it requires a sacrifice of praise, for only in this holy way will they have the coveted wings to fly, leaving home, filling the world with their flight and their song.

For now, I can barely tiptoe on these empty places in my heart and find His song of love again. When I am still enough, when my ceaseless questioning -"Did I do enough, did they have enough, is He enough?" ceases, I hear Him singing over me:

"The Lord my God is with me; He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in me; He will quiet me with His love. He will rejoice over me with singing." Zephaniah 3:17 

So the labors of that intense season come to an end; but it was never about the labors, the fatigue. It was always about the love. Love never ends. And He sings over them as well.

Medicine from Sacred Writings;

"For not by laboring and sweating, not by fatigue and suffering, but merely as being beloved of God we receive what we receive."

St. John Chrysostom 

Homily on Matthew from the Fourth Century