Embracing the darkness

 Daily Advent Reflections may be found here

1 Peter 3:15

Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;

In this season I sense the nudge

to move from optimism to hope

For optimism encourages me 

to reframe the darkness

While hope exhorts me 

to embrace it

After almost two years

for the most part reframing

This Advent brings opportunity 

to stop and embrace

To sit with the darkness

until I can resist the urge

to flee or attack 

To sit with the darkness

until stillness settles in

To sit with the darkness

until I can acknowledge

the parts of self I’d rather stay hidden

To sit with the darkness

until I can show some love for the wounds

that make me all that I am

To sit with the darkness

until I can pick off the scabs

knowing that more healing is possible 

To sit with the darkness

not anxious about finding light

but to sit with darkness

until hope dawns.

Dredging up hope

 

Daily Advent Reflections may be found here

Psalms 25:4-5

Make me to know your ways, O LORD;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all day long.

Advent

Season of hope

Season of light

Season of joy

Season of peace

It seems that every year

we have to work harder

dig deeper

look longer

for the signs of the season

for those signs

of hope

and light

and joy

and peace 

They are more elusive than ever

in a world that is burning

with fear and rage

in a world where we barely turn our heads

at the ever increasing toll of death

from pandemic, from war, from terrorism, from displacement 

all refugees in a world that has no room for love

May we walk through this season

with our heads held high

so that we can look the darkness full in the eye

pledging not to look away

May we be prepared

to do that hard work to which we are called

to be harbingers

of hope

and light

and joy 

and peace

even and especially when our hearts are breaking

May we simply live into and out of love

by the power of the God of Advent, 

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.

Drag Queen God

 

This morning, through the autumn mist

I glimpsed God

Her auburn hair swirled around her

Her long purple boots tramped determinedly

through a carpet of autumn leaves

And her train trailed behind her

swirling up a rainbow

of red and gold and green and brown

The leaves were swept up

and deposited

in her wake

Indiscriminately

None left untouched

but all finding a new place to settle

and continue their work

of nourishing the earth

while God walked purposefully on

like a drag queen on the cat walk

displacing everything in her path

Disturbing

Repurposing

Grounding

Sanctifying

Autumnal God

Finding a home

 Ephesians 2:19-20

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

In our faith communities

it is possible to be homeless

without knowing 

that our restlessness

and our searching

that sense of not fitting in

were all signs

of homelessness

And when we discover

the way home

when we are welcomed

and embraced

shown hospitality

and invited to settle in

only then do we recognise

all that was missing

Only then can we breathe deeply

and rest in place

shrug off our big coats

step out of our walking boots

and allow our bare feet

to enjoy the feel

of sacred ground 

That is coming home.

Perspective

 Luke 13:10-14

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

Perspective

It’s all about perspective

Hers

and his

She had a limited field of vision

So did he

She was forced to look down

to see what others left behind

in the dust

He looked up

and over

She saw things that mattered

He focused on things that didn’t

She went home healed

He…

The Pilgrim’s backpack

 Hebrews 11:13-14

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

In the pilgrims backpack..

are not just the essentials of travel…

Like water

and a snack

spare socks

lip balm

and first aid supplies

In the pilgrims backpack..

is also the community from whence they came

those they have left behind

the ones they like to hang out with

and the ones they avoid

those who bring them joy

and those who drink deeply 

from the well of another’s compassion

and test their tolerance

They all find a way to cram themselves in

a bit like the cloud of witnesses

who jostle around the altar

every time bread is blessed and broken

The whole community gathers

carried by the pilgrim

bidden or unbidden

And, as prayer is offered

all are gathered up

into God’s embrace

for God, too, is a pilgrim 

For the feast of Michaelmas

 Revelation 12:7-8

Michael Defeats the Dragon

And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

On the feast of Michaelmas

celebrating angels

and dragons

and all things

mythical

and mystical

For what is faith

if not filled

with the fickleness

of humankind 

while angels gather

in the dying light

infusing the world

with love

and laughter

and song

and grace 

and nudging us

to get on board

the angel train

wreaking havoc

one radical act of love

at a time.