Dear friends,
Each year at Advent, it is a joy to decide among wonderful Advent devotionals and resources to accompany us on the journey to the manger. So many people and organizations offer materials to help us pray, focus, hope, and prepare for Christmas in our hearts. This year, there are hard copy devotionals from Living Well, a trusted resource in the Episcopal Church. Copies are available in the Narthex to pick up, or if you need one mailed to you, Beth in the office would be happy to send one to you.
I decided that in addition to following along with Living Well in Advent, I would engage on-line with Kate Bowler’s “The Weary World Rejoices.” I resonated first off with the title…for many of us are weary. Tired of the divisiveness in the political discourse, or simply weary from illness or grief, and even from the many normal demands of raising children, caring for an elder, keeping up with work, school, the news.
Kate Bowler suggests that in this season of Advent, as we await the coming of the Christ Child once again, even the “weary” might rejoice! Not instead of the very real challenges we face in our lives, but in addition to our human concerns. God’s promises of new life and hope are for each of us, everyday. Bowler’s daily Advent reflections and poems offer companionship and truth, hope and love. I am finding her advent resources helpful and maybe you will too. Click HERE to explore and register.
For “in real life” Advent conversations, Fr. CJ and I are always here to meet with you or visit you in your home, for conversation and prayer. We, too, live in the real world with family responsibilities, and sometimes hard days. We love each one of you as we walk with you on this faith journey. And we know the hope and longing of this season; to rejoice and sing with the angels and shepherds at the Good News of Jesus’ birth. Together, we walk toward Bethlehem. May we all walk with love and kindness, hope, and a sense of God’s peace that surpasses our human understanding to guard our fragile hearts!
Here is a blessing from Kate Bowler (shared with permission) that invites us to open our arms and our hearts to the waiting, to the darkness even, trusting in God’s promise of hope in Christ. An Advent blessing indeed.
Your sister in Christ,
Nancy+
A Blessing for Open Arms
Blessed are you with open arms
to welcome God this Advent,
Willing to invite its promises into the center of your longing.
Blessed are you,
even now in the waiting.
Open to receive what is beautiful
though clothed in such precarity.
Blessed are you,
agreeing to stand still long enough
To let your eyes adjust to the darkness
until the starlight begins to appear,
the dawning of God’s promises.
In that gentle light, find a corner of your heart
where hope can stay protected.
A place from which we can nurture a little gratitude,
a little compassion, enough to go around.
Some for God and some for yourself.
And some for the next unsuspecting soul
that wanders into your light.
(Kate Bowler, from “The Weary World Rejoices”)
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