Advent Series, #1
I am so grateful for this morning’s Taizé Service, and happy to have seen some of you there. I know Radiant Health and Happiness for each of us as we move into this season of Advent.
Today is the first day of Advent on the Liturgical Calendar, the Christian Calendar of Feasting and Celebration. I wasn’t raised with the observance of Advent, but I did some exploration and Practice grounded in the Advent rituals last year and found that it deepened my experience of the holidays. Unlike the Christmas celebrations of my youth, this time of year has become sacred… the holidays have become Holy-Days.
The Season of Advent begins each year on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. It is celebrated by Christians to commemorate the coming of the Holy Child, the birth of Jesus. Metaphysically, we could say that we are awaiting, and participating in the birth of Christ Consciousness among humans here on earth. The season of Advent is a time of waiting for what is yet to come… for the physical light to return… for what is to be born in us and in our lives. At this time of year, the world becomes still, quiet, and we are encouraged to reflect on the Spiritual Qualities involved in waiting…Patience…Surrender…Presence… Compassion…Gratitude…Humility…and Faith.
Each week of Advent invites us into the contemplation of a different quality of Spirit. Traditionally, Hope is the first week’s focus. I prefer to ground my heart and mind in Faith, as Hope seems to leave room for doubt, while Faith in the way Jesus used it, meant an absolute Knowing. Committing four weeks to such meditation, reflection, and practice, opens the way for Faith, Peace, Love, and Joy to become more present in our experience.
In her book, Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting, Holly Whitcomb reminds us that waiting is part of living. If we plan to continue living, we had better get more comfortable with the process of waiting. She speaks of the Seven Gifts as disciplines. Now there’s a word that can ruffle our feathers. Let me clarify…discipline is not punishment. It is not something that happens to us when we are bad. It has nothing to do with an outer authority enforcing rules and regulations in our lives. Discipline, from the same Latin root as disciple, refers to the act of following a deeper Guidance, aligning with a higher Truth. It is grounded in an Inner Authority; it interacts with, and is affected by, natural law…Spiritual Law. It is an internal process and has nothing to do with anyone or anything outside of our own being.
We begin our Advent-ure by looking at how waiting grows our ability to have Patience. Whitcomb says that, “Waiting teaches us to live life in increments, in small pieces rather than large chunks. Waiting teaches us to measure our progress slowly. It teaches us patience.” She suggests that “Patience means trusting there’s no quick fix”…that “Many chapters of our lives require long commitments”… “Waiting without immediate solutions presents us with an opportunity to lean into the unknown…When we can embrace the gift that Patience offers, we can trust beyond the moment.” Practicing Patience can grow our faith by leaps and bounds. Each of us must acknowledge that we have only our own narrow perception. Based on what we think we know, there seems to be a right and perfect time for things to happen – and the time we have in mind is now! By letting go of the need to control, we can learn to trust that the fullness of God’s time will allow us to bloom and grow.
Jesuit Priest and Spiritual Evolutionary, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says:
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything to reach an end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages; we are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability…and that it may take a very long time.”
It is as if he was writing for our time and our world circumstances. One would almost think that humankind has always struggled with faith. To help us along on our journey, I offer these contemplations, that they might help us to grow in faith. We begin by inquiring…what is the nature of Faith? What does it mean to have faith? How does it feel? What qualities and experiences does it bring into my life? Where is my faith weak? Where is it strong? I believe that by taking the time to ask, we find the answers that are helpful in Guiding on our way.
We are on an Advent-ure of faith. To close this writing, and in response to your request this morning, I offer these lyrics by Gary Lynn Floyd and Karen Mitchell as a prayer to guide your week.
The Adventure
You can never really know which way it’s gonna’ go,
Set your feet down on the road, facing the unknown.
Staring through an open door like you’ve never left the shore.
Walk on through, there’s so much more to find.
All you ever need to bring, an open mind, a willing heart.
The song that you were born to sing, be a candle in the dark.
One step is all it takes to start to be the adventure you are…you are the Adventure.
You can carry all the weight of your past mistakes,
But that’s a heavy load to bear. Just pack what you can take.
Standing on the precipice, you know there must be more than this.
Leaning into all that is divine.
All you ever need to bring, an open mind, a willing heart.
The song that you were born to sing, be a candle in the dark.
One step is all it takes to start to be the adventure you are…you are the Adventure.
As I weave this tapestry, thread by thread uniquely me.
Slumbering within the seed is everything I’ll ever need…Awakening…
All you ever need to bring, an open mind, a willing heart.
The song that you were born to sing, be a candle in the dark.
One step is all it takes to start to be the adventure you are…you are the Adventure.
