Sunday Is. 12 ends the first section of the prophet’s words with a wonderful sort of hymn. I love the image of drawing deep from the well of salvation. Can’t you picture a well in a desrt oasis? You draw the bucket into the bracing water and lift it up to bring life in the dry ife. What dry parts of your soul does salvation quench?
Monday-Quiet pervades our mental picture of Bethlehem, but we are surrounded by noise and confusion at this time of year.Msay I suggest getting disciplined about carving out some quiet time during Advent to allow yourself to commune with god, your thoughts, the best parts of yourself.A quiet environment can help quiet the drumbeat of anxiety that seems to pervade life today.
Tuesday-I just notice how the first three chapters of Luke build on the political and religious scene, but the special attention to the rulers. I almost imagine it as a shot from the air with a voiceover and then settling in on Bethlehem or Nazareth. Luke adds more and more detail to the political context of the life and mission of the Baptist and of Jesus. Take a look at the political and religious context of when and where you were born and where you have lived through continuity and change over the years.
Wednesday-Phil 4:4-7 is a good reading for Advent.Let’s just take the verse, the Lord is near. It could be taken to mean near in time, but it could also mean near in locale. Indeed with the Incarnation and the indwelling spirit, we could say that the presence of the Lord is as near as our next breath.We then have no need for a second Advent as it is present with us in our baptismal life.
Thursday-Let’s look at some more boring biblical detail, Matthew’s deivison of the ancestors of Jesus.Some important figures are there,including well known women with involving stories. this year I am struck by names that barely register at all in v13-16, after the deportation to Babylon.We only know that Matthan is the grandfather of Joseph, and the name means gift or hope of the Lord. yes Jesus has royal lineage, but his lineage is also quite quotidian.In other words, jesus bears the great and the seemingly insignificant into his ancestry, for God love without partiality.
Friday-Steve Shoemaker posted a short poem on Facebook on the manger recently. It reminded me that the word we translate as inn, is closer to guest room, the upper room of the Last Supper. The one known to be the bread of life was laid in a feeding trough for animals. He was placed there for there was not guest room, a room where the first Communion would be held.Look again at O Little child of Bethlehem and ask yourself how we act as mangers for the presence of Christ. If that is accepted, how to we feed others?
Saturday-I got the urge to review some christmas picture books and the one I checked out was A Christmas Tree for Pym. I love the little girl’s desire for a Christmas tree to brighten their woodland cottage and her use of nature to decorate it; how they come to grips with the absence of her mother,how they both grow. What are favorite Christmas picture books or stories?
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