For each of our four advent Sundays the blog will have 3 components:
Read: the scripture of the week from the lectionary
Reflect: a short meditation about the topic
Respond: A chance to connect with the idea and share your wisdom or experience with someone else. You can email me, leave a comment or just talk with someone (or many) about your answers, but make sure to share the light with others this season. I will answer each question on the blog as my way of sharing with you.
Be blessed this Advent season, and be a blessing.
Week 1: The Week of Hope
Read: Romans 13: 8-14
Reflect:
A mother knocks on the door of her daughter’s bedroom.
“Sweetie, it’s time to get up and go to school,” she says.
“No,” is the sleepy reply.
“Why don’t you want to go to school? Give me three reasons,” the mother responds.
“First, it’s sooo boring; second, the kids keep giving me a hard time and third, I want to stay in bed, I hate school.”
“I see, well let me give you three good reasons to get up and go to school. First, you can’t just stay in bed all day; second, you are thirty years old, and third, you are the teacher!”
Sleep. Isn’t it wonderful? When asked what the most important invention in the last 50 years is – I skip quickly over things like the artificial heart, the internet and the remote control and think of the thing that most deserves the title: the snooze button. I love the snooze button. 7 more minutes of beautiful sleep. 7 more minutes of warm blankets and soft pillows. 7 more minutes of bliss.
And every 7 minutes the alarm goes off again: telling me its time to get moving. Telling me I can’t stay in bed all day. Telling me a new day is here that is full of God’s mercy and hope and promise. Every 7 minutes the alarm tells me to wake up.
Advent is God’s alarm. We spend all year hitting the spiritual snooze button. We might wake up in Lent just enough to see the path of Jesus’ life and for some Christians the reality of the cross and the joy of the Resurrection is bright enough to get them out of bed long enough to get a glass of living water, but inevitably by the time Pentecost Sunday ends, they will have gone back under the covers. Things in our life can wake us up momentarily but unless one of those things is happening right now – Advent will find you sleeping, comfortable in your relationships and not really wanting to be moving about too much. So God uses these weeks to say:
“Wake Up! The Christ Child is coming.”
“Again?” is our sleepy spiritual reply
“Again and Again and Again,” God responds through the week of Hope
“Didn’t we do this last year?” We whine – pulling our covers over our heads
“The Infant King wants to change your world,” God responds through the week of Peace
“I don’t wanna get up. I’m warm and comfy,” we moan as we fluff our pillow
“There is abundant life in the Manger Throne” God responds through the week of Joy
“What do I get if I wake up?” we bargain, reaching for the snooze.
“You get to be with me fully and forever” God responds through the week of Love
and then, to prove it – Christ is born. Anew. Again. Alleluia.
Don’t take my word for it. One of the great spiritual masters, Anthony De Mello, wrote the following in his ground-breaking book, “Awakening”.
The day of hope is the alarm sounding Advent day we say – our Christ is coming and our nightmare is over.
Paul writes advice to the Roman church – who after facing persecution and trial were more than ready to climb back into bed – and he reminds them the day is come and they can’t keep pretending its night anymore.
“And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
Paul reminds the Romans that love is the commandment God gives us, and that the time for love is now. “Don’t keep waiting to love others or share the good news of God’s love. Don’t sleep on it. Do it NOW” Paul seems to be telling them. Paul is also helping them keep hope. The time for Jesus to arrive is nearer than we think (no matter what we think) and we need to keep working with that as a true and blessed hope.
I always thought it was strange to prepare for the second coming in the season where we are celebrating the first. But each coming of Jesus into the world requires the same preparation. We must awaken from our slumber and remember what’s important. We must make our plans to greet Christ and bring as many people as we can with us. We must prepare for the world to change, and prepare ourselves to change with it.
This season: whether you are in your working world halls or shopping malls, look around you with eyes preparing to open wide and see the Christ child arriving to take away your nightmares so that you can sleep in peace, and rise in love.
Respond:
“Sweetie, it’s time to get up and go to school,” she says.
“No,” is the sleepy reply.
“Why don’t you want to go to school? Give me three reasons,” the mother responds.
“First, it’s sooo boring; second, the kids keep giving me a hard time and third, I want to stay in bed, I hate school.”
“I see, well let me give you three good reasons to get up and go to school. First, you can’t just stay in bed all day; second, you are thirty years old, and third, you are the teacher!”
Sleep. Isn’t it wonderful? When asked what the most important invention in the last 50 years is – I skip quickly over things like the artificial heart, the internet and the remote control and think of the thing that most deserves the title: the snooze button. I love the snooze button. 7 more minutes of beautiful sleep. 7 more minutes of warm blankets and soft pillows. 7 more minutes of bliss.
And every 7 minutes the alarm goes off again: telling me its time to get moving. Telling me I can’t stay in bed all day. Telling me a new day is here that is full of God’s mercy and hope and promise. Every 7 minutes the alarm tells me to wake up.
Advent is God’s alarm. We spend all year hitting the spiritual snooze button. We might wake up in Lent just enough to see the path of Jesus’ life and for some Christians the reality of the cross and the joy of the Resurrection is bright enough to get them out of bed long enough to get a glass of living water, but inevitably by the time Pentecost Sunday ends, they will have gone back under the covers. Things in our life can wake us up momentarily but unless one of those things is happening right now – Advent will find you sleeping, comfortable in your relationships and not really wanting to be moving about too much. So God uses these weeks to say:
“Wake Up! The Christ Child is coming.”
“Again?” is our sleepy spiritual reply
“Again and Again and Again,” God responds through the week of Hope
“Didn’t we do this last year?” We whine – pulling our covers over our heads
“The Infant King wants to change your world,” God responds through the week of Peace
“I don’t wanna get up. I’m warm and comfy,” we moan as we fluff our pillow
“There is abundant life in the Manger Throne” God responds through the week of Joy
“What do I get if I wake up?” we bargain, reaching for the snooze.
“You get to be with me fully and forever” God responds through the week of Love
and then, to prove it – Christ is born. Anew. Again. Alleluia.
Don’t take my word for it. One of the great spiritual masters, Anthony De Mello, wrote the following in his ground-breaking book, “Awakening”.
Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, and they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence. You know, all mystics -Catholic,Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter whattheir religion -- are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to besure. But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. And in their sleep they are having a nightmare.
The day of hope is the alarm sounding Advent day we say – our Christ is coming and our nightmare is over.
Paul writes advice to the Roman church – who after facing persecution and trial were more than ready to climb back into bed – and he reminds them the day is come and they can’t keep pretending its night anymore.
“And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
Paul reminds the Romans that love is the commandment God gives us, and that the time for love is now. “Don’t keep waiting to love others or share the good news of God’s love. Don’t sleep on it. Do it NOW” Paul seems to be telling them. Paul is also helping them keep hope. The time for Jesus to arrive is nearer than we think (no matter what we think) and we need to keep working with that as a true and blessed hope.
I always thought it was strange to prepare for the second coming in the season where we are celebrating the first. But each coming of Jesus into the world requires the same preparation. We must awaken from our slumber and remember what’s important. We must make our plans to greet Christ and bring as many people as we can with us. We must prepare for the world to change, and prepare ourselves to change with it.
This season: whether you are in your working world halls or shopping malls, look around you with eyes preparing to open wide and see the Christ child arriving to take away your nightmares so that you can sleep in peace, and rise in love.
Respond:
What events of the past year woke you up? Maybe they were events that shocked you into seeking spiritual truth. Maybe they were events you didn’t realize were shaking you awake until much later. Maybe they involved so much joy you woke up laughing. Share these events with someone this week, and reflect and pray for continued sense of hope as you wake up for the child to come.
Events that woke me up this year:
Cathy’s cancer, surgery, and chemotherapy – from that nightmare God has brought us much healing and hope.
Moving to an entirely new place – there is nothing like being lost all the time to make you depend on God.
The Virginia Tech shooting – This happened only a few months after we moved here, and the mourning and sadness I felt was the first real communal emotion I shared with the people of VA. It reminded me of why Christ’s work must continue to be manifest in our world.
Fall – Our first Virginia fall was so beautiful (even though the Virginians complained it wasn’t as pretty as normal) I started seeing God everywhere around me and feeling at home in this new place. I have a hard time meeting people and making friends, but fall has made me bolder, and God has given me hope that I have found a home.
Events that woke me up this year:
Cathy’s cancer, surgery, and chemotherapy – from that nightmare God has brought us much healing and hope.
Moving to an entirely new place – there is nothing like being lost all the time to make you depend on God.
The Virginia Tech shooting – This happened only a few months after we moved here, and the mourning and sadness I felt was the first real communal emotion I shared with the people of VA. It reminded me of why Christ’s work must continue to be manifest in our world.
Fall – Our first Virginia fall was so beautiful (even though the Virginians complained it wasn’t as pretty as normal) I started seeing God everywhere around me and feeling at home in this new place. I have a hard time meeting people and making friends, but fall has made me bolder, and God has given me hope that I have found a home.
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2 comments:
2 Events that "woke me up" this year - 1 sad event, 1 happy event:
1)VT shooting - really "hit home."
With 9/11 & Columbine, it was tragic but I was further removed from the situation so I wasn't an emotional "wreck" for a week. This time it included a couple friends of my friends who had been killed, and 1 friend who had miraculously left Norris unharmed, but witnessed stuff no one should have to see on his way out. (I had just graduated not even a year before, thats how I still know a lot of people there). Lots of my friends were dealing with grief, loss, fear, and overall trauma of going through all that. The I.V. alumni(InterVarsity) reunion had already (coincidentally) been scheduled for the Saturday following the shooting and that really provided a good "community setting" to talk about it all. It really made me realize how quickly life can be taken away. We don't know when our last day will be. We should value our friendships and families, we never know when it will be the last time we get to see or talk to someone. It also made me realize how we need to reach out to hurting people among us...not that that would have changed Cho's course of action (we'll never know) but it seems to be a common theme that school shooters are lonely, depressed, and lacking friends. Imagine the impact if we just all made it a goal to reach out to even just 1 (but hopefully more) people a year who we otherwise wouldn't have talked to. It made me realize that due to the profession I'm in (teaching) I can reach out to people who are hurting, I could have an impact on people like this. Finally, it really helped me see God's healing power at work...it wasn't just the "Hokie Spirit" that helped people heal...it also involved a lot of the Holy Spirit at work...it was amazing beyond words And thats powerful!
2)Mission trip to Mexico
I could write a couple pages on this but I'll try to be brief :)
Someone in the group called this trip her "annual reality check"...which it sort of is for me too. Instead of school aged children whining about not having the latest ipod, cell phone, or plasma tv, the villages there are full of children who had never before played with crayons, bubbles, or jump ropes. They were more poor there than in the city school where I had a field experience. They really relied on God for everything. Thats something thats hard to do in America. AND, they were more generous to their church and guests than most Americans would be (and how much more do we have??)
Definitely a "wake up call."
I was starting to feel shallow and out of touch because I couldn't think of anything that has woken me up this year. Then tonight I remembered my spring retreat into the north Georgia mountains. Five days alone, me and the trees and hiking and singing to trees and watching the new leaves come out. I felt so alive, so connected to the Divine, so confident and whole.
And of course I got married this summer. Does human love count as being awake? Mostly I just want to crawl back in bed with her in the mornings instead of leaving for work (I'm the teacher who doesn't want to go to school) and snuggle down and sleep some more.
I feel like I'm waiting for the appropriate moment to wake up. Maybe for my 3 week Christmas vacation it will happen, but I suspect I will come back to Miami and sleep the 5 months until our move, when I can leave the parts of my life in this city I feel are 'nightmarish' and start over, try again, in a new place.
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