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blessings, Christmas, compassion, Jesus, love, mercy, Philippians, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
According to the liturgical calendar, today is a “Christmas weekday.” Would you know it if I hadn’t told you? Are your presents still visible under your tree? Are you saying: “What tree?” I’m being facetious, of course – trying to make the point that sometimes we move from expectation (a long process) through experience (sometimes very brief) to let-down (“business as usual”) without savoring the event itself or being changed by it at all.
There are two sets of readings for today and in both St. Paul seems to be pleading for our attention to the effect of Jesus coming into the world. First, the Christmas weekday reading says this: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we are children of God…Beloved, we are God’s children NOW!” (1 JN 2) The second, from the Letter to the Philippians, urges an even deeper consciousness of who we must be in the name of Jesus. “Brothers and sisters,” Paul says, ” if there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind with the same love, united in heart…”
Can you feel it? Did you experience the love that Christmas calls us to? If not, is there still a chance you might manifest it today or work toward the recognition of which Paul speaks even in some small way? A “hello” or a kind word to a colleague? Even a smile would do for a start. You may be surprised to “see what love God has bestowed upon us.”
Blessings on you this day, children of God.
Today we have a strange confluence of Church events. This morning we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent when we normally prepare to wait a little longer for the celebration of the Incarnation. We have, however, by liturgical rules and the calendar, run out of days before December 24th – Christmas Eve – which ushers in what is never a moveable feast: Christmas Day! So perhaps we are brought up short in our spiritual preparation and need to step back to assess our readiness.
One might call the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” the theme song of Advent since it is sung throughout the season of Advent in almost any Christian Church. Perhaps not everyone knows all seven verses or that the lyrics come from these symbolic titles we have been considering for the past week. Today, however, we are in familiar territory. Many of us know that Emmanuel means “God with us.”
Plants are amazing metaphors, I think, for the seasons of our lives. I have only two green plants in my bedroom now and although I smile at them and greet them as I come and go, I am sometimes rather inattentive. Happily, I know they are both always willing to forgive me. One is a Christmas cactus that is not a great indicator of the coming feast as it tends to flower at Thanksgiving – or sometimes whenever the inclination to burst forth gets hold of it. This year, however, it seems to have heard the Advent cry of “Come!” and, although with only one bud, is right on schedule to flower around – if not on – the actual feast of Christmas. I am always surprised at the budding and never mind whether or not it skips a year or comes unexpectedly because it is strong and requires very little care. Steadfastness is its gift to me.
There’s a subtle shift for me today in the Advent theme. Perhaps it will only last until tomorrow but the message of anticipatory waiting is given an additional push from the gospel acclamation – in a rather unusual way. After the psalm I read: Alleluia, alleluia. The Lord will come; go out to meet him! He is the prince of peace. Alleluia, alleluia.
Three times in the readings for this second Sunday of Advent we hear the call to “Prepare the way of the Lord!” We are accustomed to this directive but I always question how it is that we are preparing. Is the rush to Christmas shopping the way? The thought of gift-giving is certainly part of the thinking about that activity but it has become such a frenzy in our culture that I wonder how many of us stop to think about the genesis of the custom. Here are some questions for us – me included – for today’s reflection about preparing.