December Twenty-Seventeen

December Twenty-Seventeen 

Eating, drinking, loving, writing, working, reading, praying, playing: God is Immanuel. 

-Advent Word 2017 

 It is Advent again.  In his sermon this morning, Oscar Uzin said: "Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily papers.  The Lord is coming, is always coming.  Be alert to his coming.  When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life.  Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.” –Henri Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal

It is tempting this Advent to see only leafless trees, falling sunlight, and a darkening cultural horizon. But this is God’s pattern: death to life, bad news to good, sorrow to joy. Lift up your shoulders, shed your burdens, and open your eyes; joy springs up in unlikely places. 

 -James Amadon

Advent, in particular, gives us the opportunity to practice the challenging spiritual discipline of waiting. Advent, which literally means “arrival,” teaches us to wait for the coming of Christ into our world, not just way back in Biblical times, but now—in the places where we long for his presence and need his intervention.

This season ushers us into a special kind of waiting that is alert and watchful, patient and yet full of anticipation. Like the doorkeeper in the Gospel reading for the first week of Advent who is assigned to keep watch while the master is away, we are instructed to be aware and awake so that we don’t miss Christ’s coming in ways that we could not possibly predict. This is the kind of waiting that has us perched on the edge of our seats!

-Ruth Haley Barton

The point is too make room for God to speak to us in that still, small voice; 

He will show up in the space that we give Him. 

That’s what Advent is all about–preparing room for the Savior to come.

 -Jody Collins 

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . .means a little bit more!– Theodor Seuss Geisel, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Christmas, my child, is love in action. – Dale Evans

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

– Charles Dickens

God came to us because he wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving towards the house of peace and joy. This is the great mystery of Christmas that continues to give us comfort and consolation: we are not alone on our journey.  The God of love who gave us life sent us his only Son to be with us at all times and in all places, so that we never have to feel lost in our struggles but always can trust that he walks with us... Christmas is the the renewed invitation not to be afraid and let him- whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend- be our companion. -Henri Nouwen 

There is a love that is patient and kind and that keeps no record of wrongs.

There is a love that does not envy or boast and that is never rude or self-seeking.

There is a love that always hopes and always perseveres and that never ends.

But our love is not like this.

We have sharp edges, and we wound our lives and the lives of others 

with our imperfect love.

And that is why we need Christmas.

We need the gift of Emmanuel to come into our work,

 into our families, into our relationships.

We need to be reminded again and again that God’s love is the deeper magic at work bringing light into our darkness if we will just open up our hearts to this transforming power.

We need this season to remind us of the hope that is before us.

Oh come let us adore him

just as we are-- in all our messy glory.

Oh come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

-ewh 2017