Advent Thoughts for December 5th (2011)

The thin line of faith

Image by TheRevSteve via Flickr

Yesterday’s lesson for the senior adult Sunday School class I teach was about the returning of Hebrew exiles to Jerusalem as the result of Cyrus’, King of Persia, decision to build a new temple in Jerusalem. As I walked through the scripture passages, I was struck with the image of a thin line of people (many people!) and animals making their way to their homeland.

Then this morning I read from John Bailie’s wonderful prayer book Diary of Private Prayer these words, “I thank Thee that this Christian way whereon I walk is no untried or uncharted road, but a road beaten hard by the footsteps of saints, apostles, prophets, and martyrs.” And my mind painted a picture of a long thin line of people, of both sexes, of all colors, and all ages and from all ages, making their way to the New Jerusalem.

And as I read out of Matthew 1:17, “All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.” I see a thin line of men (and women) stretch across the centuries.

And all of this is reflected in the words of the late Henri Nouwen, who quotes Isaiah 11:1-2 “A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him . . .” and then says something that I can only say “Amen” to:

The small child of Bethlehem, the unknown young man of Nazareth, the rejected preacher, the naked man on the cross, he asks for my full attention. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream, and overwhelm us with its claims and promises. But the promise is hidden in the shoot that sprouts from the stump, a shoot that hardly anyone notices.  (via December 4, 2011 e-mail from the Henri Nouwen society and quoted from his book  iGracias!)

 

Advent Thoughts for December 4th (2011)

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more

Image via Wikipedia

People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

Paul Simon

Silence and holidays are two words that do not go together, do they?

Holidays, we think, are a time for family and friends to gather together in noisy celebration and fun.

But, there is a level; a kind of silence in our day and age that penetrates our hearts and souls.

It is a silence that is deafening at times because it keeps us from speaking from our hearts.

I think that the Bethlehem of that day was noisy because it was cramped with people who had come from other places

to register for the Roman census. But that was also a source of silence, an ‘elephant in the room” kind of silence, because of the feelings toward the

Roman government.

There were other sources of silence that day when Joseph and Mary showed up – domestic, financial, and the like.

But God spoke that day, the angels sang and proclaim.

And the long silence of history without the Messiah was broken!

What are the sounds of silence in your life this advent season? Are you listening for God in that silence?

Yet in they dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

Philips Brookes

 

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