Category: Sacramental Life

Advent Hope

illustration by Daniel Boyles 2001

Our Advent challenge is to seek and find Christ in our world just as it is, not as we wish or even pray it might be. In the words of Thomas Merton, the “fact that the world is other than it might be does not alter the truth that Christ is present in it and His plan has neither been frustrated nor changed: all will be done according to His will.”  Our Advent is the celebration of this hope. “What is uncertain,” writes Merton, “is not the coming of Christ but our own reception of Him, our response to Him and our own readiness and capacity to go forth to meet Him.” Our Advent is much  more than a rehearsal of traditional cultural practices or a nostalgic return to our childhood memories, be they rich or poor. The coming of Christ conveys a sense of God’s presence in our past experiences not for memory’s sake but to find fulfillment in the present and to point us to the new and transforming possibilities of receiving Christ in any and all moments for the sake of our future.

Thomas Merton, Seasons of Celebration

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An Advent Prayer

Gracious God:

Help me to prepare my heart as faithfully as Mary, to be a place of hospitality, awaiting the re-presentation of Christ in my life.

Help me, I pray, to be obedient like Joseph as I journey these next weeks by faith.

Help me, Lord, to be watchful like the shepherds, with new eyes; anticipating the coming of Christ’s light, anew, in the midst of all I see.

Increase my faith, Lord, so I may freely share the hope and love of Christ with others, as confidently as your angels, singing ‘Glory to God’, through Jesus the Christ.      Amen and Amen

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Lectionary Readings

Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary to shape their weekly worship services. The RCL is a three year cycle of weekly scripture readings from both the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and New Testament. When the cycle is maintained all books of the bible are read, including the prophets, psalms, proverbs, gospels and Paul’s letters. When pastors preach from the lectionary readings it encourages the church to hear and respond to the full gospel in all its textual expressions and guards against focusing on selective or favorite texts. If you are interested in following the lectionary cycle on your own then I recommend Vanderbilt’s website to you.

I especially find it helpful to reflect on the lectionary readings during my daily prayer times so I can meditate on the ‘Word’ during the week and bring a deeper appreciation to what I hear in the sermon on Sunday morning. Try using these readings in your Morning Prayer where Scripture Reading appears. Let me know if this daily ‘reading forward’ enriches your weekly Sunday worship.

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A Resting Place

Rest. Reflect. Breathe. Remember. Read. Learn. Listen. Respond. Return.

I invite you to journey with me and explore the meaning of ‘living a sacramental life’. Christians practice many different spiritual disciplines. I want to look not only at the practice of the disciplines but the very spirit of them as well. Not all disciplines are alike. Sabbath and keeping sabbath is a popular topic as more and more of us find it difficult to step away from a life of chaos and stress to claim a life of calm and inner peace. What would be the point of working hard to establish a spiritual discipline that counters the very notion that hard work is something to strive for, not find release from?

I want to write about our right to rest and our responsibility to rest. As a person of faith, prayer and discernment require a certain ‘resting in’ the presence of the One who calls me to work and authors the very nature of the work I do.  Won’t you join me? In future posts I will discuss prayer practices using the daily offices of morning prayer and night prayer.

Have you ever written your own psalm? Do you want to create a small worship space in the home? Have you shared your spiritual autobiography with anyone? Do you have a church home? Journey with me, won’t you?

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