from Beliefnet.com:
Advent Prayer, Day 21: Always On TimeSaturday December 19, 2009
Categories: Advent, Advent Prayer, Bible, Prayer
By Claudia Mair Burney
Saturday, the third week of Advent
"When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them." Matthew 11:2-5
It was John who baptized Jesus. He saw the Spirit descend on him in the bodily form of a dove, and he heard the voice from heaven. Yet when he was imprisoned, he grew discouraged. Maybe he, like so many others, expected a great and mighty king, to come and banish his enemies, but what he found was a Messiah far more interested in healing than in destroying; in raising up the sick and even the dead, instead of smiting the wicked. "Are you the one?" he asked. So do we, because let's face it, Jesus doesn't always do exactly what we think he will, but we can rejoice in his goodness. His compassion extends further than we can imagine. We can trust him to right the world through the vast, incomprehensible love that he is.
My Jesus,
You are indeed "the one." Why do I doubt you? The moment I stop trusting you, you send your Word to confirm that you are busy creating good in my life, and in the whole world. But I get discouraged sometimes. Help me to release my expectations. I can't see what you see. I am not God. I don't know what is best, even for myself. Help me remember who you are, and embrace whatever it is you are doing in my life, and in the lives of others. I rejoice in your love.
"Come, Lord Jesus."
Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/prayerplainandsimple/2009/12/advent-prayer-day-21-always-on-time.html#ixzz18WFLsY5U
Day Twenty-One:
Blooms in Winter
It came a flowret bright
Amid the cold of winter
Like many religions, Christianity has adapted ancient traditions that celebrate the plants and trees of wintertime. Many Christmas carols and legends draw comparisons between Jesus' birth and flowers or evergreens that flourish in the cold.
Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Advent/Advent-Day-21.aspx#ixzz18WFXnNBK
A Joyous Yet Solemn Birth
BY: Kathleen Norris
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Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:8—14; Luke 1:39—45
AN INDELIBLE IMAGE: two pregnant women, one of them just beginning to show, the other round and heavy, who is startled when her infant leaps in her womb. It's a joyful scene, both everyday and extraordinary. For Elizabeth's child, we are told, recognizes that Mary bears the Savior long promised to Israel. Mary is, as Elizabeth suddenly exclaims—no doubt after being kicked hard by John—the mother of the Lord. It usually takes a good kick for us to recognize that God is in our midst.
Yet for all its gentle comedy and joy, this scene strikes a solemn note. For we, the hearers of this story, know that these two, like all pregnant women, are destined to give birth to human beings who will one day die. This is the heroism of motherhood. We also know that their children are destined for martyrdom, and that Mary will witness her son's agonizing death on the cross. Like any one of us, Jesus is subject to pain and suffering. He will face his own mortality in the garden of Gethsemane.
In some churches, during Advent, pillars are decorated with wreaths that resemble a crown of thorns. I love the way this causes me to remember that, in this life, true joy is never perfect, but comes admixed with pain and suffering. Whatever God has brought us into this world to do, we cannot do it without sacrifice. The traditional Advent wreath, of course, is plump with greenery and promise. In
The Dance With God
, Gertrud Mueller Nelson wonders if its origins lie in the ancient European custom of marking the winter solstice by removing the wheels from farm carts and wagons. Stripped of all utility, the wheels were then brought indoors and decorated: color and candles to celebrate light in the dark of winter, and to remind the sun to return.
Today, as in all of Advent, we are asked to set mere use and purpose aside, and fathom the depths of existence. Dawn emerges out of night, and the first cry of life comes from the pain of childbirth. Only through the Cross is our new life revealed. Only out of the hard ground of winter can new life come.
Today, in the Song of Solomon, we hear the words of God's beloved, who would love us as well: "For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth." This is the voice that John responded to from inside his mother's womb, and the voice that calls to us, weak as we are, imperfect, and wracked with the pain of sin and death. Still, God calls to us, saying, "Let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely."
Prayer
O radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come, shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.
Reprinted from God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas/Edited by Greg Pennoyer & Greg Wolfe Copyright 2007 by Greg Pennoyer Used by permission of Paraclete Press
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