Advent 1 Weekly devotion
We have waited in silence on your loving-kindness, O God.
—Psalms 48:8
This week we entered the Advent season – a time of expectation, anticipation and above all a time of waiting. This is not an easy season to honor. Our economy and our culture push for more and more activity: more shopping, more decorating, more partying, more planning. This push leads to more of others things: more stress, more depression, more unmet expectations, more disappointment. The hustle and bustle, the frenetic pace keeps us from taking the time to consider what our heart truly desires, not just for Christmas, but for our whole life.
Sometimes the true desires of our hearts, the longings we yearn for are scary to us because they may call us out of known comfort and toward an unknown possibility. But we need to remember that those desires of our heart and longings we crave are gifts of God, blessings God is waiting to bestow upon us. They are gifts that cannot be quickly unwrapped and immediately utilized. Gifts of God’s grace are often discovered slowly, after much time spent listening and discerning God’s desire for us. Trust, courage, strength and a full reliance on God need to be developed through spending time with God. This time doesn’t need to have an agenda, formal prayers or lengthy readings because even these holy acts, when used to keep us talking and in control of the conversation, cause us to avoid having to hear God’s will. Yet, stillness and silence can bring not just a sense of rest to our minds and bodies, but these also allow the voice of God a space to break into our hearts and minds.
I recently took a continuing education on line from the Episcopal Seminary in Austin. The teacher was an Episcopal priest, author and poet named Mary C. Earle. Her writings and reflections center on spiritual direction, contemplative prayer, and Celtic and desert spirituality. She wrote an essay on Advent called “Waiting in Silence” that can be found on a Website called Explore Faith. Here is an excerpt:
Waiting in silence, creating space for steadfast love to grow within, may be the most essential practice of all. It is in many ways the spirit of Advent, that time of the Christian liturgical year when we practice the waiting of gestation and hoping, of trusting in new life not yet fully known.
Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and author, remarked that life is a perpetual Advent. He sensed that in that waiting, trust began to grow. Trust in God, trust in the Holy One who is beyond all that is created and is the source of all things, seen and unseen. Trusting and waiting allow the loving-kindness that is the essence of God’s own Life to grow in us, and to bear fruit that we never expected.
Grant me O God the capacity to wait in hope, to allow your own loving-kindness to grow in me, for the life of your world. Amen.
{http://www.explorefaith.org/miracles/earle.html}
I pray your Advent may be filled with times of waiting in silence so that not only may your mind and body be restored and refreshed, but that you may also receive and experience the gift of God’s grace that awaits your waiting.
Grace and Peace to you all,
Laurie
If you are interested in a more contemplative Advent calendar of short readings, check out the one at Explore Faith: http://www.explorefaith.org/advent
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