We are all touched by something that may or may not be the presence of God, but many of us would be shot sooner than we could say so. In my experience, everything we call “God” comes to us quietly, elusive and vague. Our confidence, if it ever comes at all, comes later. Just like there has to be room to breathe, there is always room for doubt.
For readers who identify as non-Christians, it is worth remembering that Jesus does not claim to have passed the final verdict. He called himself the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is given freely, never under compulsion, and will be told to anyone who wants to listen.
This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new year for the church, and the countdown to Christmas. advent derived from Latin Adventus“coming” or “arrival” refers to both the birth of Jesus Christ and the promise of his second coming, when God’s love is consummated.
Advent comes suddenly after Thanksgiving and disappears just as quickly in the midst of short days, deadlines, travel, and the stress of a season that can wear down even the calmest among us. As soon as you remember how it started, it ends.
When Advent is noticed at all, it’s often through what’s called the “Hallmark Channel industrial complex”: fireside carols, gentle snowfalls, and mistletoe kisses. Being sentimental is a welcome relief from cynicism. It has little to do with the harsh gentleness of Christ. Hope can look like a polite refusal to accept a world that scares us half to death.
The voice I trust is Trappist monk and social commentator Thomas Merton. He writes that our mission is to “seek and find Christ in our world as he is, not as he is,” because Christ already exists and his purpose “has not been frustrated or changed.” Advent, he said, is the season to name this hope. What is uncertain is not that Christ will come, but whether we are ready to meet Him.
Christ’s presence in this world is not sectarian. It includes solidarity with all those who do not belong to the Church or society, and all those who are marginalized. He comes into this world with Israelis and Palestinians, Ukrainians and Sudanese, Ethiopians and Afghans, and many others caught up in war and displacement. LGBTQ+ people still face exclusion and violence. Refugees, immigrants, and undocumented families seeking safety. Together with all those who live forgotten or in fear. Christ stands where the world looks away.
Novelist Frederick Buechner wrote about faith and fiction, saying that fiction “shapes, fashions, and pretends,” and that faith does the same. You create faith from the raw materials of your life: what has happened and what you can’t help but expect. And learn to reveal the shapes that are already there, rather than imposing them, Buchner added. Please listen. You give true freedom to what emerges.
Annie Dillard wrote that a line of words reveals its path only when written. The same is true of faith, which only takes shape when we stop forcing it.
Let us let life speak for itself, including our own, as Jesus did in parables. He did not preach abstract concepts of poverty, injustice, alienation, and alienation. He told stories from everyday life, such as the Good Samaritan, the Vineyard Worker, and the Prodigal Son.
When his disciples asked him why he spoke this way, Jesus said, “He who has ears, let him hear.” The first irony is that the question came from people who weren’t listening. The second is that the line applies exactly to us even when we think it doesn’t.
And it still is. Jesus didn’t say He was the answer. He said he was the way. He didn’t ask us to succeed, he asked us to be faithful. He did not promise that our beliefs would prove to be true. He has promised to be with us until the end of the world and beyond. Advent says, “Lord Jesus, come.”
Walking song excerpt from lord of the rings Let me say it clearly:
“The road goes on forever
Down through the door where it started.
The road is now far ahead;
And if I can, I must follow,
Chasing it with tired feet,
Until it leads to something bigger
A place where many roads and errands intersect.
So where?
I can’t say. ”
That’s fine.
notes and reading
clown in the bell tower—Frederick Buechner (1992). and A room called memories (1992). Buechner was an acclaimed novelist and Presbyterian minister, and the author of 10 novels and 10 books of nonfiction, as well as a memoir. sacred journey and now and then.
Thomas Merton: Essential Writing (2000). Father Merton was a Trappist meditator whose writings reshaped modern spirituality and was one of the 20th century’s most luminous voices on prayer and peace.
Annie Dillard “Writing Life” (1989), she realized that lines of words reveal their path only in the act of writing. Dillard is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and naturally notable essayist.
“The road continues” J.R.R. Tolkien’s Walking Song, written as a fictional piece by Bilbo Baggins. The poem is sung on various occasions. hobbit adventure and lord of the ringsthen the music is set as part of the song cycle of that title.
God is in the manger: Thoughts on Advent and Christmas—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2012). Bonhoeffer was a pastor and theologian who was martyred for resisting Hitler. His testimony against Nazism remains a moral landmark.
Thanksgiving anyway
democratic ritual
About 2+2=5
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
