December 3rd, 2017
The First Sunday of Advent
I rummage around in a box of old candles
which we have accumulated lo, these many years, -
and I find the stub of a little purple
wax wonder.
I put it in a small brass cup passed down
from my grandmother's house
first putting a bit of wax in the bottom
to make it stand true and sturdy.
Then I set it alight in the middle of the table,
and left it glowing while I breakfasted
and contemplated Advent.
There is Lent
and then there is Advent
and somehow Advent
has always been for me
the time of soul searching...
busy as it is, with glitter and greenery,
it has always meant for me a time of
small quiet minutes in the midst of baking
or wrapping, or writing cards of love and greeting....
a time of wonder at the reality of our life,
here on earth,
and what it is meant to be.
" Emanuel
You come in silence
to my world of crooked noisy places,
places rough with agendas
that leave me bruised,
spirit light low,
a bare glowing ember.
Emmanuel
I will give you quiet moments,
bits of silence stolen
in the clamor of the streets.
Let my silence straighten
a way for you
to smooth my rough spots,
to heal my bruised spirit,
to fan my faith's faint flame,
to prepare in me a vessel
for your incarnation."
A poem by Lisa Wells Isenhower
for which I have much empathy.
and I am reminded too of Mary Oliver's lovely poem
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good,
you do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
When the children were growing up
Sunday dinner in the Advent season always included
an Advent Wreath
which the children took turns lighting.
There was also a little box of names to draw from,
and to be kept secret throughout the week,
but with the understanding
(and expectation)
that you would do something kind for that person
each day.
I hope this is a memory they have.....
and that it was an opportunity for them
to widen their thoughts beyond
Santa Claus
and the Christmas Pageant.
Post Script
I think that I was rather a naive mother...
as a matter of fact, the older I get and the more they confide
(or reveal)
the more I realize that this was surely the case.....
