Epiphany - Revisiting Advent - Is the Wait Over?

By -
Epiphany brings with it new discoveries of that which we thought we once knew. This Epiphany Sunday, I find myself gazing back at the season that has just passed. 

Each Sunday during the four weeks of Advent a candle was lit as churches gathered to worship and waited for the arrival of the Christ.

On the first Sunday we lit the first candle on the Advent wreath, the candle of hope. And we waited. 
A full week later, we gathered once again and lit the second candle on the Advent wreath, the candle of peace. And we waited. 
On the third Sunday of Advent another candle was lit on the wreath, the candle of joy. And we waited. 
Yet another candle was lit on the fourth Sunday of Advent, the candle of love. And we waited. 

The final candle was lit on Christmas Eve, the Christ Candle. The wait was finally over.  

Or was it.

I missed something along the way. For...
hope void of action is only wishful thinking; 
longing for peace without being an agent of change is an exercise in futility and an acceptance of the status quo;
the promise of joy when traded in for the lure of momentary happiness is empty; 
love found in words alone is little more than a romantic notion and saccharine coated politeness.

At the end of Advent, the coming of the Christ is represented in a sanitized nativity scene that can be safely packed away in its cardboard box for yet another year of waiting.

I am challenged this Epiphany to allow the one born into the messiness of this chaotic world to move me toward...
...hope;
...peace;
...joy;
...love.

I don't want to wait any longer for a faith that can be found in the depth of my unsanitized life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persistence is her name (a poem)

By -
Persistence "firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition." Persistence is her name. She stands when it would be more convenient to sit. She sits when others wish she would move. She moves when action is demanded. She speaks because her voice shall not be silenced nor stolen yet again. Persistence is her name. She has birthed nations. She has ended wars. She has toppled empires. She has nursed change. Persistence is her name. Mercy is found in the milk of her breast. Empathy is seen in the tears on her cheek. Justice is felt in the sweat of her brow. Righteousness is coursing in the blood in her veins. Persistence is her name. Difficulty will not stop her. Obstacles will not stand. Opposition will not cause delay. Trouble will not linger. Persistence is her name. Nevertheless, she persisted; for Persistence IS her name. — bshivers
Read more

Lent: Walk - John 5:1-18

By -
Image
JOHN 5:1–18 1 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12 They a
Read more

Actively Giving Thanks

By -
Image
Land acknowledgement: I live on the ancestral lands of the Kickapoo and the Miami. They were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands. This Thanksgiving, I have found myself thinking about what it means for thanksgiving to be an active exercise instead of something akin to a passive counting of blessings.  What if my thanksgiving were not just a self serving activity?   What if my giving thanks actually led me to something more than keeping a tally of the ways in which I have been #blessed throughout the year? What if it was more than a naming of the results of my privilege and advantage? What if it was more than a list of the same old things that I know I should be thankful for but often take for granted because I can? What would happen if my thanksgiving actually spurred me to action? What would that look like? Perhaps an active thanksgiving would result in a process of discovery of who/what is on my list, of who/what isn't on my list, of who/what is ignored, of who/what I hav
Read more