advent 2024

GOING DEEPER @ METRO -- ADVENT Week I

It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be raised above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall decide for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:2-4

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust,
    let me not be put to shame;
    let not my enemies exult over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait for you be put to shame;
    let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long.
Psalm 25:1-5

For Reflection and Discussion

In tens of thousands of churches around the world, Sundays are measured by the church Calendar. For centuries this calendar has been a guide to the church seasons, and a way of working through the Scripture and all the major feast days of the Church month by month. It becomes a method of memory, and of walking through the Scripture narrative completely, with nothing left out. Advent is the season preceding Christmas, and it’s a season of preparation and of waiting.

The first Sunday of Advent the theme is HOPE. In her book of reflections on Advent Wendy Wright says that

“of all the types of waiting,
the waiting of pregnancy -
is most like the waiting that we do during Advent.”

What do you find hard about waiting? Is it easier to wait when someone waits with you?

Waiting implies a transition – something old is left behind and something new is coming. When God arrived in a baby, Israel had waited nearly four hundred years. Four - hundred - years! Imagine waiting for deliverance for that long!

When we wait with hope, something is gradually born inside us. We are enlarged in the waiting.

In church tradition, we focus on three comings of Christ in this season.  

• His arrival in history as a baby born to Mary and Joseph

• His return in fearsome glory at the end of time

• His entrance and presence in our lives

This sonnet by Malcolm Guite is a prayer for Jesus advent in each of us. In biblical tradition Jesus IS the wisdom constantly referenced in the Wisdom Literature in the Old Testament.

O Sapientia

I cannot think unless I have been thought,
Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken.
I cannot teach except as I am taught,
Or break the bread except as I am broken.
O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light by which I see,
O Word beneath the words with which I speak,
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,
O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me,
O Memory of time, reminding me,
My Ground of Being, always grounding me,
My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me,
Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,
Come to me now, disguised as everything.

In terms of Christian experience, what makes Advent a powerful season is that it’s a season that gives us TWO special permissions: 
    Advent invites us to both sing -- and to groan.

It invites us to walk in faith, but also - to acknowledge our doubt, our human limits. How does that work? 

Advent invites us to wait for a glory yet to be revealed.
      We wait - We aren’t there yet.
And so we are always somewhere on this line between promise and fulfillment; between celebration -- and longing.

How do you express that experience of fulfilment in your walk with Jesus?
How do you express the longing?

*****

Listen to Malcolm Guite reading from his sonnet series. Steve Bell sings “Epiphany on the Jordan.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODrtd8pkyRs 

GOING DEEPER @ METRO -- ADVENT Week II

His father Zechariah was filled with the

Holy Spirit and prophesied:

 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David

(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),

salvation from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us—

to show mercy to our ancestors

and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,

and to enable us to serve him without fear

in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

to give his people the knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Luke 1:68-79

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before

that great and dreadful day of the LORD

comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to

their children, and the hearts of the children to

their parents; or else I will come and strike the

land with total destruction.”
Malachi 3:5-6

For Reflection and Discussion

On the second Sunday of Advent the theme is Peace. Luke 1 is full of contrasts, and in John’s case the story echoes a much older story told in Genesis 21. Abraham had taken Sarah as his wife and he is 100 years old. When he fathers a son Sarah calls him Isaac, which means ‘laughter.’ In John the Baptists story, Zechariah is laughing too, but in disbelief. ‘Like that will happen! Good joke God!’

So in answer to a Promise, and in spite of unbelief, the baby is born. And why? Because of the tender mercy of God. God sees the mess we are in, and he is working out his plan to deliver us. We have been living in darkness, and God is turning on the lights. And all of this to ‘guide our feet into shalom.’ And that is a big KINGDOM word that means health, and rest, and fulness, and joy and right relationships. God’s kingdom is about to be revealed in Jesus the Messiah!

    Can you remember a time when you had a broken relationship and God
    restored it? What was the experience like for you?

     Can you think of a time when you felt lost, and God put you on the right path?

The passage from Malachi reveals a larger picture. Fragmented families and broken communities impact us deeply, even when they are not our own personal family. Without the personal connection to God, we can be unsure that we really have value; we are truly lost. And that pain causes all sorts of problems. But God has a plan for restoration, and it started with the birth of a baby in a small, dark land on the edge of a dark Empire.

    Have you personally experienced the love of God? How did it change your
    heart? Your family? Your friendships?

St John the Baptist

Midsummer night, and bonfires on the hill
Burn for the man who makes way for the Light:
‘He must increase and I diminish still,
Until his sun illuminates my night.’
So John the Baptist pioneers our path,
Unfolds the essence of the life of prayer,
Unlatches the last doorway into faith,
And makes one inner space an everywhere.
Least of the new and greatest of the old,
Orpheus on the threshold with his lyre,
He sets himself aside, and cries “Behold
The One who stands amongst you comes with fire!”
So keep his fires burning through this night,
Beacons and gateways for the child of light.

Malcolm Guite

To know what may be had by loss of having
To see what loss of time will make of seed
In earth or womb, dark come to light, the saving
Of what was lost in what will come – repaid
In the invisible patter that will mark
Whatever of the passing light is made.

W. Berry, A Timbered Choir, XI

GOING DEEPER @ METRO -- ADVENT Week III

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.
The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
as on a day of festival." I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.

I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the LORD.

Zephaniah 3:16-20

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid, for the LORD is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation."
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
And you will say on that day: "Give thanks to the LORD; call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Isa. 12:2-6

For Reflection and Discussion

The third Sunday of Advent the theme is JOY. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.”

Do you think he is right?

We live in what someone has called an addictive culture. We get addicted to entertainment; food; shopping; substances; self. Isaiah writes,

 You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
    Isa 55:12

The coming of the Messiah is the arrival of salvation; our deliverance from all the things that oppress us. Our deliverance from ourselves.

Many things can block joy in our lives. Fear. Formalism. Deism. Legalism. Or just darkness. During the Christmas season Canadians will spend 60 billion on gifts. Are we trying to purchase joy? What would it be like to receive joy as a gift?

The joy Isaiah describes comes even to the outcast, the ones who don’t measure up. God takes away their shame. Many of us have had that experience of shame that turned to honor and joy. This year may you experience the joy of God’s presence and blessing.

Christmas Poem

from spiralling ecstatically this
proud nowhere of earth’s most prodigious night
blossoms a newborn babe: around him, eyes
— gifted with ever keener appetite
than mere unmiracle can quite appease —
humbly in their imagined bodies kneel
(over time space doom dream while floats the whole
perhapsless mystery of paradise) 

mind without soul may blast some universe
to might have been, and stop ten thousand stars
but not one heartbeat of this child; nor shall
even prevail a million questionings
against the silence of his mother’s smile 

— whose only secret all creation sings

ee cummings

***  ***

Listen to Steve Bell “Peace Prayer”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MzyAp1NIR4

GOING DEEPER @ METRO -- ADVENT Week IV

"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his child Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever." 

Luke 1:46b-55

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages

but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be the glory forever! Amen. 

Ro. 16:25-27

For Reflection and Discussion

This song of Mary’s is a strange bit of poetry. It has HUGE contrasts: Bethlehem a tiny village carries a big promise; Mary, a poor girl from nowhere will father a great king; this baby will be newborn yet he’s from ancient days. This is like a popular fantasy novel -- what is really going on here? It's a tale of two kingdoms.

It’s not easy to capture the moment. It was filled with emotion and with supernatural visits. Angels, miracles, and divine speeches and danger too, soldiers riding into town in the night to kill young children. We get dropped into the middle of a divine drama. And Luke uses Mary’s song as a call to us to wake up!

Luke 1 works best if you read the whole chapter, because there are 3 stories told. All three stories revolve around birth, and the setting – the BIG picture – is the clash of Empires. There is Caesar in one corner – and Yahweh in the other. Rome – with its massive army in one corner, and a Jewish baby in the other. Uh – this is not going to be a fair fight. Except there are these little clues – angels, and divine words. And a Promise from ancient days of a great ruler and a NEW kind of world. And THAT is why even Rome starts to worry. Because in the words of Isaiah, 

He will bind up the broken-hearted,
He will proclaim freedom to the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.
He will proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
and comfort all who mourn.
The walls of Jerusalem will be called Salvation -
and her gates, Praise.  (Isa. 61)

When Jesus was born Augustus had been ruling a quarter century, and his title was Caesar Augustus, King of Kings. And now a peasant girl is singing a different kind of song, one that threatens his rule. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the humble.” But notice the tense here... she sings her song AS IF THE FUTURE IS NOW. Why do you think she frames it this way? Can you think of a similar frame in the letters of Paul?

How about this –

 “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.”
1 Cor. 1

This really is Gospel – good news – to the poor and the outcast. It was good news to Mary and her family in the first century, and it’s good news now. God cares about us, and God cares about justice. And in the coming of Jesus he begins putting the world to rights. No wonder Mary breaks into song! As Madeleine l’Engle put it,

This is the irrational season

when love blooms - bright and wild.

Had Mary been filled with reason

There'd have been no room for the child.   

It’s all out of control., so Rome is worried. But control as a way of life isn’t as useful as we think. Most of the time it’s an illusion; we never know what is around the corner. But in a right-brain, rationalist world the technicians seem to have the advantage. Except when it comes to faith. Mary’s way is not control, but surrender, because her confidence is in God. And God’s kingdom arrives in Jesus.

*** ***

Steve Bell Mary’s Song – the Magnificat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAuoSXWjogM

Pentatonix: Mary Did you Know?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifCWN5pJGIE