by June Friesen, photos by June Friesen
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For those who lived in a land of deep shadows— light! sunbursts of light! You repopulated the nation, you expanded its joy. Oh, they’re so glad in your presence! Festival joy! The joy of a great celebration, sharing rich gifts and warm greetings.
Here Isaiah is talking about the coming of the Messiah – the Israelites have been struggling in their lives to follow God and yet so many times it appears as if God is ignoring them and some probably, like many today thought and felt/feel God is non-existent. We know that when the Messiah did come there were two different announcements of His birth with light – the light that accompanied the angels when they appeared to the shepherds and the great star that the wisemen of the East saw in the sky. The shepherds and the wisemen welcomed the birth of the Messiah; they embraced the light that was unusual and believed it was a gift/sign from God.
For us today, many of us may feel as if we are being overwhelmed in so much darkness of so many kinds. There is the darkness of inequality, the darkness of the pandemic, the darkness of fear of tomorrow, the darkness of everything seeming to be out of control – and for some of us – we may even feel that our spirits are fighting an overwhelming darkness. Somehow, some of us, even in the midst of our faith walk with God, may feel as if God is absent or asleep, or not very interested in the fact that we are trying to keep our faith in Him. I find myself on alert for God’s presence around me – in a person, in an animal, in a bird, in plant life, and God has not disappointed me. Today I share with you embrace the light of God wherever it appears and be filled with encouragement.
EMBRACE GOD’S LIGHT
Walking through the world of nature
I am constantly amazed at the creative ways that plant life grows;
It finds a crevice, sometimes small, sometimes a small crevice ledge,
And there it allows the moisture and simple soil to nourish it as it also embraces the light,
And it grows and shares it beauty with the world and even with you and me.
Now you may notice in these two photos that there is a difference of light –
First the light is rather small and misses some of the growth looking for light,
But the growth in darkness waits patiently and soon it too is embraced in the light
And now – all is well.
And so it is with you and I my friend –
As we are walking through the world –
We must find those places of light and nourishment –
Sometimes the light is somewhat obscured
Sometimes it is clouded
Sometimes it comes in full force.
Sometimes we feel squeezed in a crevice….loosely….but now so tight – OUCH!
Sometimes we feel as if we are on a ledge, maybe almost falling….. OOPS!
So today – pause –
Embrace your crevice experience –
Embrace your light – partially, more fully and in full cover of light –
God is present –
Waiting – waiting – waiting
To be embraced.
Will you embrace Him today?
June Friesen 10/2020
by Lisa DeRosa
On December 1st, we recognize the necessity of generosity and awareness in our own lives and for the lives of others in this place, this God-created world we call Earth. Each day, we rise and are blessed. We can choose to be grateful for and accept ourselves and others as they are; made in the image of God. We can choose to love God and love others.
As we begin this last month of 2020, the year that has wrecked us in more ways than one, I find myself asking: How is this year going to end? I know when it will end. Like it does every year; with my birthday on the 31st. But unlike most years in the few decades I have lived on this earth, the end of this year feels just as different as the months before it. Uncertain. Unpredictable. Uneasy. Yet, each day, I remind myself that all I have is this day that God has gifted to me. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. I have the capacity for only today. In light of that, I want to share with you some opportunities that December 1st brings us.
Today is the 8th anniversary of Giving Tuesday, “a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.”
I have heard of Giving Tuesday before, but this year, I almost overlooked it! An unexpected package arrived from Circlewood and reminded me that they celebrate Giving Tuesday as “Reverse Giving Tuesday” where they as an organization send a gift to their supporters. This year, we received homemade blackberry jam made with the blackberries they foraged on their land on Camano Island. Such a lovely gift and reminder that this day is important and must not be forgotten.
Giving Tuesday provides an opportunity for us as a consumer culture to remember to give back after our Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday shopping sprees. While I am a HUGE fan of Small Business Saturday, the consumer still receives a commodity for their purchase. Giving Tuesday is about generosity and placing the needs of others above your own by donating time, talents/skills, money, and/or resources to support others in need. This list of ways to give back in 2020 was really helpful for me as I researched more about Giving Tuesday this year.
As today is also World AIDS Day, I urge you to consider supporting them on this Giving Tuesday. HIV is a virus that was identified back in 1984 and still affects an alarming amount of people around the world today. I know we have been inundated with the current Coronavirus pandemic, but the AIDS epidemic cannot be ignored. There are ways you can help to raise awareness, to give online, and to join their campaign using this virtual red ribbon to #rocktheribbon on social media and in your email signature.
In the spirit and hope of beginning traditional Advent this week, take time right now to ask Jesus how you will respond today. There are an abundance of opportunities, organizations, and neighbors that are seeking generosity and awareness this season. If you don’t already know which person, people group, or cause to focus on, ask Jesus to guide you! He absolutely will because he came to seek and save the lost, lonely, and broken on this earth. As we focus on the light that Christ has brought to us in this season and on the light that he is, we as followers of Jesus are called to share that light with others.
Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV) says,
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
God, I am humbled by the gift of this day and the love You have for me and others in Your creation. Thank You for Your presence, for who You are, and for the opportunity to share Your love and light with others. Guide me in who You are asking me to reach out to specifically today. Amen.
by Christine Sine
Today is the first Monday of traditional Advent and I feel like Elizabeth greeting her cousin, Mary. In some ways, this year has seemed barren, just as Elizabeth’s womb seemed to be barren, but in the midst of that barrenness, heartache and grief, at God’s appointed time, unexpected seeds have been planted. Just as Elizabeth’s baby leapt for joy when they encountered Jesus in Mary’s womb, so the seeds within us are beginning to leap for joy as they encounter the yet unborn Jesus, for whom we wait with such longing.
On my desk in front of me is this beautiful image of Elizabeth and Mary meeting each other when Mary flees (my interpretation) from her family and the wrath of her community to find protection and comfort with her cousin. My eyes constantly drift to this image throughout the day, especially to the babies growing in Elizabeth’s and Mary’s wombs. Both of them are babies of promise. Both of them are being prepared for important destinies but at this stage, they are just seeds of hope and promise.
As I look at these women and the amazing babies growing in their wombs, I find God reminding me of the seeds that have been planted in me over this challenging year – embryos that are still growing slowly in the comforting darkness, nurtured and sustained by the spirit of God. Like Elizabeth’s baby, I feel these “embryos” leap with joy as they encounter the baby Jesus during this Advent season.
This morning, we lit the first candle on our Advent wreath, which sits in the middle of our breakfast table. It is the candle of hope and I already find myself looking forward to the new life of a new year and new possibilities with hope and expectancy. As I breathed in, I felt that every breath that I took was drawing the light of that candle, and its hope, in with it. I was aware of the light of life and love flowing through my bloodstream to nourish the womb of my spirit where the seeds God has planted will continue to grow.
I am looking forward to 2021 being a year of healing and I wonder what can I do now, during this season of waiting, to ensure that happens? How do I nourish the seeds that God has planted in me during this challenging year?
We seem to be living in a world that needs so much healing. The sick and dying long for it, the unjustly treated and abused crave it, the marginalized and economically fragile are starving for it. Even the creation cries out for it. And as I wait during this Advent season, reaching out with longing and hope to the child growing in Mary’s womb, I ask, “How can I use Advent to prepare me to be a better healer in this coming year?”
What about you? Take some time to study this image and allow your eyes to rest on the babies growing in Elizabeth’s and Mary’s wombs.
What has germinated in the womb of your soul this year that leaps for joy at the sight of the child in Mary’s womb?
Invite God to remind you of what has been seeded as a result of the challenges you have faced. Ask for divine wisdom to understand how best to nurture and grow those seeds during this Advent season.
As I did that this morning, I was not only reminded of the seeds growing inside the womb of my soul, but I was also reminded of the wise men who came and visited Jesus and then returned to their homes by a different route. (Matt 2:12) I wonder if during this Advent and Christmas season part of what God intends us to get ready for too is the fact that once we have encountered the Christ child this year we too will need to “return by a different route” The future will not look like the past. This is a great time to start getting ready.
Conceive in us your wholeness Lord
Form it in the darkness within.
Grow it in embryonic form,
as the Christ child grew in Mary’s womb.
Give birth to wholeness Lord
Let it emerge in infant form,
as the Christ child came,
perfect in form, but not fully grown.
Grow in us your wholeness Lord,
Enlarge the tiny child of God within.
Nurture it, shape it
bring it to maturity.
Christine Sine
NOTE: This is one of the prayers on our Advent prayer cards.
It’s the first Sunday of Advent – a new liturgical year beginning with a season of waiting. This is great time to take some quiet time to rest, reflect and soak in the wonder of the season with music in the style-of-Taize.
A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the First Sunday of Advent. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below.
“In Silence We Wait” – text and music by Susan Masters. Copyright and all rights reserved by Augsburg Fortress Press.
“L’ajuda Em Vindra (I Lift up my Eyes to the Hills),” “O You are Beyond All Things” (O Toi L’au-dela de Tout) and the refrain of “Kyrie for November 29” are songs from the Taize community – copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé.
“Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus” – was written for The University Of Notre Dame Folk Choir by Steven C. Warner, released on the album “Prophets of Joy.” Copyright 1996 World Library Publications.
by Carol Dixon, photo above of St Andrew’s Church, Bothal, Northumberland, UK by Carol Dixon
Growing up in a household with a Scottish father, we never forgot St Andrew’s Day! Not just because he happens to be the patron saint of Scotland (among other places) but also because Andrew is such a likeable character among the disciples of Jesus.
Andrew is mentioned only 12 times in the gospels but a number of them are on key occasions. In the synoptic gospels, apart from appearing in the list of disciples, he is one of those called by Jesus at the lakeside; he is present when Jesus goes to Peter’s house (the house Andrew shares with his brother); and he is one of the four disciples who question Jesus about the destruction of the Temple. My favourite stories of Andrew though are all recorded in John’s gospel and all involve introducing people to Jesus – it is to Andrew that Philip goes when some Greeks turn up wanting to meet Jesus and it is Andrew who facilitates it; it is Andrew who brings the small boy with the loaves & fishes to Jesus at the feeding of the 5,000.
Perhaps my favourite story of all is in the first chapter of John when Andrew and his unnamed friend (who are disciples of John the Baptist at the time) leave John to tag along behind Jesus and end up being invited to join him for the day. (John 1 v 35-42)
Andrew was a young man living in difficult times. He came from Bethsaida which was in the area ruled by Philip, son of Herod the Great (& brother to Herod Antipas). Philip was a hedonistic head of state who loved all things Roman and who cared neither for God nor for the people and society where he was tetrarch so the area he ruled was more secular than other places in Palestine at the time and the ancient values of respecting God and caring for your neighbour had all but disappeared.
Many devout Jews at that time were hoping & praying, expecting God’s Messiah to come and overcome the foreign oppressors in the manner that King David had destroyed the nations who had overpowered God’s chosen people, the Israelites. So it is little wonder that many of the young people in particular were hoping and praying for a new way of living.
When John the Baptist points out Jesus to his two disciples as the person they might be looking for, they wanted to know more and started following Jesus at a distance. So Jesus turned round and asked them a question, ‘What are you looking for?’ or ‘What do you want me to do for you?’. I often wonder if they were able to answer Jesus’ question by the end of the day. It seems so, partially at least, because Jesus must have made such an impact on Andrew that after spending time with him, the first thing Andrew did was to rush home and tell his brother, Simon that he had met God’s promised Messiah and he took Simon to meet Jesus at the earliest opportunity.
It’s a good question to ask ourselves from time to time – What am I really looking for in life? Not an easy question to answer but a good one to ponder especially in these difficult times. So how will you celebrate St Andrew’s Day this year? I hope that with God’s grace I can find new ways to bring people to Jesus during Advent, whether we are in lockdown or not.
As one of my favourite hymns by Graham Kendrick says: One shall tell another and he shall tell his friend…
The first Sunday of Traditional Advent begins this Sunday with the lighting of the candle of HOPE. We need HOPE more than ever. What does HOPE mean to you? What does it look like to you? What if you spent some time this weekend considering what HOPE is and where and how you find it. Collaging or drawing, taking a walk, talking to a friend, and journaling are all ways you could use to ponder and process the expansive word of HOPE.
What are you hoping for this Advent season?
What is your desire? How do you want to find more HOPE? What can help you do that?
What things are you putting your hope in this season? Does your focus need to change in order to experience HOPE?
Talk to Jesus about HOPE. What would help you connect with him more and thus provide you with more HOPE in the day today?
LIGHT YOUR HOPE CANDLE
Sit in quiet and reflect on the things, people and places that bring you hope.
Next, consider where and how you need to receive more hope.
Take time to pray for people who need more hope.
Pray for places in our world that need HOPE today.
corporate advent wreath
Here’s a Prayer I like to pray during ADVENT.
Lord God,
Calm us as we wait for the Gift of Jesus.
Cleanse us to prepare the way for his arrival.
Help us to slow down and prepare our hearts.
Help us to wait and take time to be with you.
Teach us to contemplate the wonder of God with us.
Teach us to know the presence of your Spirit.
Teach us to bear the life of Jesus and live out his Kingdom.
Today and Always. AMEN
(adapted from Ray Simpson of Lindesfarne)
by Carol Dixon
I love words! Since childhood I have been an avid reader, from my teens & twenties I have written poetry, songs, & Biblical reflections and, more recently, have written a number of hymns which have been published by the Iona Community among others since the early 2000s. For more than half my lifetime, I have been a lay preacher, dealing with the spoken word, despite being shy and unable to read aloud as a youngster – my father once told me that I spoke my first word aged six months then added under his breath that he didn’t think I had stopped speaking since!
Words are wonderful things, conjuring up images in our imagination, interesting us, empowering us, consoling us, delighting us. So it is little wonder that one of my favourite passages from the Gospels is John Chapter 1: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.‘
I often like comparing favourite well-known readings in different translations so that they don’t become stale and also to discover what new insights I might discover. I love to look out and see what particular word might resonate with me and spark my imagination and it’s interesting to note if a different word catches my eye at different times (You might like to try it).
I like the Message Bible translation which keeps close to the original but phrases it in new ways:
The Life-Light
1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out. (John 1 v 1-5 The Message, Eugene Peterson)
Another modern version ‘The Word on the street’, a translation for Young People has a very arresting way of starting the New Testament (which is called ‘New Promise’):
‘Nothing. No light, no time, no substance, no matter – the Voice was there. Before anything moved, mutated or mated, Jesus, God’s Voice, was there with God from the kick-off. How come? Cos Jesus, ‘God’s Voice’, is God. Before anything began, they had always been. Before there was even anywhere to be, they were there.
Jesus got the name ‘God’s Voice’ because he just spoke and stuff started. From nothing to everything, sparked only by the Voice. There’s nothing that doesn’t have the phrase ‘made by Jesus’ stamped on it somewhere. His words were life itself, and they lit up people’s lives – his light could blast its way into the darkest corner, yet the people who preferred darkness still missed it.’ (John 1 v 1-5 The Word on the street, Rob Lacey)
The beginning of John’s Gospel (in whatever translation you prefer) tells a profound truth – that God wanted to communicate with the world in a way they could relate to so he shared part of himself, his living Word, who would show humanity what God was really like, attested by his own Word made flesh. The Word of God became a human being, full of grace and truth.
So this Advent, as we try to tell the story to people who walk in darkness around us, how will we communicate God’s love to our world in our time. What will the Word on the street be for us?
A poem I wrote a few years ago says:
Word made flesh
How do you
flesh out
a word,
God?
Cover letters
in sinew,
skin?
Is it possible
to produce
pigment
on paper,
Or life-lines
and laughter lines
in script,
So that the impact
resonates throughout
the mists of
time?
In a word,
Yes.
LOVE! © Carol Dixon
Let’s leave the last word to John – this time in a musical setting of the first chapter of the last gospel written by another friend of mine & fellow hymn writer, Greta Wrigley: Word of God.
Word of God, source of life, born into our world of strife.
Word of God, bringing light, born into our world of night.
Chorus: The Word of God became a human being,
Jesus born at Bethlehem;
The Word of God became a human being,
Glory to god in highest heaven.
Word of God, full of grace, born into our human race.
Word of God, truth made known, In him is God’s glory shown. Chorus:
Word of God, good news to tell, God is here, Emmanuel.
Word of God, Prince of Peace, his kingdom comes and will not cease. Chorus: © Words & Music Greta Wrigley
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