Devotional
I understand the idea of Advent. I get the whole thing about early-times northern people’s annual focus on the lessening light and their great joy with its gradually returning at the solstice—their waiting and their celebration. Maybe it’s genetic—my grandfather came from the Sligo in the northwest of Ireland. Or maybe it’s just because I’ve made my home north of the 44th parallel and, while the shifting seasonal light is not as dramatic here as in some places, this time of year I pretty regularly leave my house to go to school in the dark and return home in the dark. I understand the way darkness can seep into your being this time of year. The dark can be sad and lonely and scary.
I get the ancients—their waiting and their wonder. I get how those natural patterns translated into rejoicing with Jesus’ message of a loving, forgiving God, how we shifted from the darkness and despair of oppression into an always loving, always forgiving Presence. The kingdom—the experience—of God embraces me like a sunny afternoon, my loneliness and my fears retreat. Waiting and wonder.
I get how George Fox and other early Friends came to understand waiting and wonder was not part of a calendar but written on our hearts and that the searching and the finding of God’s embrace were really one and were always present. Advent yesterday. Advent today. Advent tomorrow.
I get it. Each day I await the loving Divine Light. Each day I find it. Advent in my heart, in my soul. Waiting and wonder. Hallelujah.
Requests
I understand the idea of Advent. I get the whole thing about early-times northern people’s annual focus on the lessening light and their great joy with its gradually returning at the solstice—their waiting and their celebration. Maybe it’s genetic—my grandfather came from the Sligo in the northwest of Ireland. Or maybe it’s just because I’ve made my home north of the 44th parallel and, while the shifting seasonal light is not as dramatic here as in some places, this time of year I pretty regularly leave my house to go to school in the dark and return home in the dark. I understand the way darkness can seep into your being this time of year. The dark can be sad and lonely and scary.
I get the ancients—their waiting and their wonder. I get how those natural patterns translated into rejoicing with Jesus’ message of a loving, forgiving God, how we shifted from the darkness and despair of oppression into an always loving, always forgiving Presence. The kingdom—the experience—of God embraces me like a sunny afternoon, my loneliness and my fears retreat. Waiting and wonder.
I get how George Fox and other early Friends came to understand waiting and wonder was not part of a calendar but written on our hearts and that the searching and the finding of God’s embrace were really one and were always present. Advent yesterday. Advent today. Advent tomorrow.
I get it. Each day I await the loving Divine Light. Each day I find it. Advent in my heart, in my soul. Waiting and wonder. Hallelujah.
Requests
- Pray for those called to witness God’s love and Jesus’ message in the world.
- Pray for the Las Pavas community in Colombia that CPT has accompanied as 123 families returned to land from where they were displaced. The Colombian government now denies the displacement and is investigating organizations that have supported the community.
