Jerusalem: 4000 Years in 5 Minutes

Prepare the Way!

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, 

               make straight in the desert a highway for our God.     Isaiah 40:3

This is one of the Daily Office readings appointed for today in this second week in Advent. 

On a trip to the Holy Land last year, I was aghast at the vastness of the Judean Wilderness.  Yet it was from near this very place that Isaiah wrote, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  

It is hard work to make straight paths in the desert. The land is inhospitable. The day I took this photograph, it was 114 degrees outside – and very dry. Construction crews are not willing to work out here. The single road is ancient, the same one Isaiah would have used. It curves and winds through paths of least resistance.

Advent invites us to this work. If we look at the parched desert as a metaphor for our lives, we are called to prepare a way for the Lord, to prepare a place for God to reside in the midst of our lives, as parched and cluttered and messy as they may be. Advent begs us to make a hospitable place in our lives for God.

How can we create an oasis for God in our lives? Prepare a way! 

Thomas Merton December 10th

                                                                               

“Peace Amidst Chaos” by Timothy Mietty

Today, the church remembers Thomas Merton, a contemplative Trappist monk and prolific writer. Notably, Merton is remembered for his ability to remain fully engaged in the world even though he lived in a cloistered monastery.  

At Advent, we are called to similar work.  We are called by the secular world to jump into the fray of Christmas preparations, of frenetic shopping and over-indulgence, and yet, we are called to be contemplative too. How do we find peace amidst chaos?

Advent invites us to consider our lives and how we live them.  Advent invites us to consider how being followers of Jesus Christ affects our lives and our place in the world.

Merton put it this way:

             “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.” 

How do we find peace amidst chaos? 

How can people of faith remind the world that peace is available and accessible?

Advent Reflections: Wonder

They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.  Psalm 78:11     

In Advent we are called to wonder about what has been and what is yet to come.  We remember and the birth of our Lord and Savior and we remember that he promised to come again. Advent calls us to pause and wonder. 

God sent his precious Son into the world FOR THE LOVE OF US! 

In spite of our often lukewarm response, the fact that God sent his only Son into the world FOR US is a constant source of wonder to me. As we anticipate His coming again, Advent also begs these questions:

How do we respond? How will we respond?

Take time this week to wonder. 

Clement of Alexandria - December 5th

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”      1 Kings 19: 11-13

Clement was  Greek philosopher from the 2^nd century. He lived at a confusing time where philosophy, science, and religion were all competing with each other. It was also the time of gnosticism, the belief that salvation was only available to a few lucky folks who had the right knowledge, or secret, of “getting into heaven.”  Among all these competing “voices” Clement believed Truth could be found.

We live in similar times.  There are the neo-atheists who believe that God simply “isn’t.” There are some religious folk who don’t believe in dinosaurs or evolution.  There are scientists hoping to find a man behind a curtain who calls himself “God.” And, yes, there are those Christians who believe that one simple, specific prayer is the key to “getting saved.”

Clement studied philosophy religion, science, and he was a Christian.  Somehow, in the midst of all the competing voices, Clement heard that “still small voice” that is God.  For us, Clement becomes a role model because he reminds us that in all the competing voices of the season, there is only one for whom we should listen:  that still, small voice that comes to us in the silence. 

As we enter the season of Advent, be aware of the cacophony: the advertisements that exhort us to shop early, the neighbors who remind us to decorate mightily, and our children whose lists grow ever longer.  
Then pause. Breathe. Listen. For that is the work of Advent.

Advent Reflections - Francis Xavier (1506 - 1552)

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; 
for those living in the land of deep darkness, a light as dawned.     Isaiah 9:2                                           

Today, December 3^rd, the church remembers Francis Xavier, a Spaniard of noble birth born in 1506. At the age of twenty, Francis traveled to Paris to study. There, he because friends with another young Spanish nobleman, Ignatius of Loyola, and together the two young men founded the Society of Jesus, also known as The Jesuits.

One of the themes of Advent is the theme of waiting in darkness, and Francis is a fine example of one who knew how to do that. Francis became the first Jesuit missionary and traveled around the world to India, Indonesia, Japan and China. Not knowing the languages, the cultures, or the religions of those he met, Francis spent the rest of his life making the Gospel of Christ known to people in far off places. He never returned home.   

• ·        Imagine taking a voyage around the world with no directions, no airplanes, no Internet. 
• ·        Imagine leaving all that you know and find familiar.
• ·        Imagine the darkness you might feel.  

How would you get there? How would you manage? What would you hold onto? 

As we travel through the season of Advent together, consider darkness – and consider the coming of the Light of Jesus Christ. 

Hope

When you think about hope, it is not very hard to think of many different sources for hope. We can find hope in our work or the work of others to make the world a better place. We can discover hope in the inspirational words of leaders, teachers, and preachers. 

But there is something unique about the hope that comes from Christ. In Christ we find that God does not stay far away from humanity, but becomes a part of us. This hope assures us that in the midst of our lives and world, God will be near to us. In Advent we wait in this hope and discover anew how God has been, is, and will be near to us.

Sometimes when I attend church on Sunday morning, I wonder where God is. I mean, here are all these people who showed up to worship God, yet I sometimes don’t think God is any more present there than anywhere else. But then I get those Sunday mornings where things are just different. It usually has little to do with the sermon, the music, or even the people around me. But something is different, because I leave knowing I have had an experience of God. I do not know if you have ever experienced that feeling, but I think it has something to do with my own willingness to discover God. May we each be open to the sudden arrival of the presence of God.

Look for hope today. Look for hope on the faces of the people you meet.

Look for hope in the midst of pain. Give hope to those you meet and be Christ in the world.

God, help me to be open to your movement in the world and in my life. May I be seeking you and, when you appear, feel your presence in my life. Amen.

Prayer

If you live in or near Chicago, most of you know the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this week. Triumph! Champions! Prayers answered!

 

But were they?
Certainly there were a lot of faithful Boston fans praying that their Bruins would beat our Blackhawks.
So…… were our prayers better?
Does God prefer Chicago over Boston?
Are we more faithful than the Boston people are?

The question this week becomes: Why pray?
Why pray when our aging parents are dying?
Do our prayers give them one more moment of life?

This idea of "effective prayer" has been a stumbling block for faithful folks for centuries. Like Job's friends, some of us may succumb to judging others when we see their prayers falling on deaf ears. Some of us might lose our faith when we perceive that our own prayers are just evaporating into the stratosphere. And worst of all, some of us might even begin to censure our prayers, fearful that God can't or won't do for us what's on our list.

The "sticky wicket" of prayer is that we get hung up on the outcomes. Instead, let us look at prayer from an entirely different perspective. Let us consider prayer as simply a deep conversation between us and One who loves us. In the very act of having that conversation, we are transformed. We begin to realize that God is God and we are not. We begin to recognize God's actions in the world and become more aware of God with us. And, finally (God willing) we will begin to recognize God's invitation to us to participate in God's world. God's invitation to us to participate in God's world.

Forgiven

"Your sins are forgiven." Luke 7:48

Some things are so good it's hard to believe they're true.
Sunday's gospel, about the woman who enters the house of a Pharisee and begins to weep and anoint Jesus' feet with precious ointment, caused quite a stir. The dinner was for insiders only……and yet, this woman, a sinner, crashes the party.
The story is about forgiveness, and the gratitude we experience when we realize we have been forgiven. Forgiveness allows for restoration of relationships. It allows us to hope in a future. 
But this story is also about judgment and hardness of heart. There are those who feel forgiveness is so precious that it should be meted out sparingly or with strings attached.
This week, ask yourself how you feel about that.             Should forgiveness be rationed?             Do you believe your sins are forgiven?             Do you live as though you have a clean slate?
In the economy of grace, forgiveness is freely offered, freely given.  How do we respond?

Visitation

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.       Luke 1:42

On Friday, we observe The Feast of the Visitation.

Mary, a young, unmarried teen, discovers that she is pregnant. She flees to the village of Ein Karem, a nine day walk from Nazareth, to visit her cousin Elizabeth. The very fact that Mary fled tells us that she must have had conflicting feelings about this pregnancy. What would Joseph think? How would she explain herself to her parents and to the townspeople? Scared and unsure, Mary must have been astonished by Elizabeth's welcome:

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" (Luke 1:39-40)

Those words of welcome, of hospitality, filled Mary with the courage she needed to willingly accept God's call. Fear, questioning, and timidity disappeared as Mary felt the welcoming embrace of a distant cousin.

Are you available? God has put people all around us who need an encouraging word - a listening ear.      
Who is in need of your love and acceptance right now?

Wind

Last Sunday, the people of Moore, Oklahoma and the people of St. Charles, IL gathered together in their respective faith communities to celebrate the Day of Pentecost. Chances are, we all listened to the same reading.

"And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
and it filled the entire house where they were sitting." (Acts 2:2)

I wonder whether the people of Moore have considered the irony of that reading in the wake of the tornado that decimated their town on Monday afternoon. The fact is: life is short. The fact is: we do not know the day or the hour. The fact is: life sometimes stinks.

This week, let us continue our prayers for those in Moore, and for all who suffer and grieve, and especially for those who have lost hope. And as we do, we recall Paul's promise to the people of Rome that we will hear this Sunday: that our faith assures us that we will find peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

May it be so.

Pentecost

Come alive in the Spirit!