The First Sunday in Advent

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.....