Reach into fear and reach God

Artist: Constant Dutilleux
Image from Wikimedia Commons

I am bringing you this single paragraph from an Advent sermon I found specifically because of the last sentence. C.S. Lewis once said that fear should not be seen as a sin but rather as an affliction. I agree. And here is a remedy - or at least a way of accepting and managing that affliction with the help of God:

[Last Sunday's gospel reading] challenges us, during this Advent season, to live as people who expect God to be near, and that God is doing something new in our lives. In this Advent season of preparation, the time of Christ's coming into the world, we are to live as if we expect just that. Christ's coming. What does that mean to our daily lives? That means we are to see the worries in our lives as possibilities. We are to look anew on the people and situations that trouble us as signs of God's near and living presence. That we can look at the dark skies and the dark places as moments of waiting and anticipating God's nearness. This means that we don't have to be bound by our fear, by we can reach into fear and reach God.

-- from a sermon by The Rev. Carol J. Gallagher

Gestation

"Hoarfrost" by Camille Pissarro

Image from Wikimedia Commons

A reminder here. We all know it, of course. And we need to hear it again and again:

Just as babies are not born without a period of gestation in the darkness of the womb, and just as spring bulbs do not blossom without a waiting period in the dark soil, so we do not bloom and flourish without times of quiet and rest. The season of Advent is one of those times, a time of dark and quiet and preparation. Take advantage of this gift of time — don’t let all your time in the next couple of weeks be totally caught up in the frantic holiday craziness.

-- from a sermon by the Rev. Kathleen L. Wakefield

Very soothing version of "Sleepers Wake"

St. Andrew the Apostle

Rublev icon of St. Andrew

Image from Wikimedia Commons

A few bits of information you may not already know:

Just as Andrew was the first of the Apostles, so his feast is taken in the West to be the beginning of the Church Year. (Eastern Christians begin their Church Year on 1 September.) The First Sunday of Advent is defined to be the Sunday on or nearest his feast (although it could equivalently be defined as the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day).

Several centuries after the death of Andrew, some of his relics were brought by a missionary named Rule to Scotland, to a place then known as Fife, but now known as St. Andrew's, and best known as the site of a world-famous golf course and club. For this reason, Andrew is the patron of Scotland.

-- James Kiefer

First Sunday of Advent

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Then [Jesus] told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

-- from Luke 21

Here's something I found about the above passage:

Barbara Brown Taylor gets to the heart of the matter, when she concentrates on that fig tree. Perhaps the people "have not done that for awhile. They may have been focused on abstract things, like judgment or salvation, or on dramatic things, like earthquakes and plagues. By directing their attention to a sprouting tree, Jesus let them know that they did not have to work so hard, that God was speaking to them in the most ordinary events of their lives." Taylor wonders about the way we use the time we have (it's really all we have, she says) while we're waiting for Jesus to return. Be alert, yes, she writes, but "[n]ot so you will know when to grab your crash helmet and head for the basement, but so you will know when the kingdom is near. So you will not miss God when God comes"

It's from a reflection called Sign of Things to Come by Kate Huey.

In anticipation of tomorrow

What a lovely instrument here. Nice tempo. PERFECT ornamentation!

Oh, and now I just really must give you this one too:

It's the opening movement to Bach's Cantata BWV 140: Sleepers Wake! And what a magnificent performance this is, too.

About those troubles

Artist: Vincent van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes it's very difficult to counteract the false message of the "prosperity gospel" that is being so widely preached today. As a result, many people "lose their faith" when they are beset by difficulties. I really like the following:

God has not promised to take away our trials, but to help us to change our attitudes toward them. That is what holiness really is. In this life, happiness is rooted in our basic attitude toward reality.

-- Thomas Keating