Good Morning!!! It is the first day of Advent! Welcome back to the Advent daily devotional! If you are new to reading, each day I will look up part of the daily lectionary (scriptures used around the world to navigate the bible) and then reflect on a piece of scripture. I hope to have more guest bloggers this year and perhaps more poetry, pictures, etc. We will see where the spirit leads. If you know of more people that need to be on the email list, please let me know and I will add them or you can send people to pastorcourt.wordpress.com to read along.
1 O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6 when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Advent, a time of waiting. I look forward to this time of year for time to reflect, to anticipate, and to dwell in where there is darkness and where there is light. This morning, the Psalm seemed to connect to that deep yearning for more connection. There is a seeking in us that leads us back to this season to look for God over and over again.
Lately, I have been asking people, “What are you waiting for this season?” The responses this week have been pretty phenomenal. I have heard moving things such as….
“for a new granddaughter.”
“keys to a new house, new beginnings.”
“for light to return.”
“for a moment of peace and stillness.”
“for the world to change”
“for my two dads to get married”
“for God to show up as love this year”
“for community”
“for food to be provided to everyone”
“for singing”
“I am content and work for others in the world this season”
And the list goes on…what powerful responses! In just a few sentences, I get the sense that people are hungry for God to show up and change the world. This is just what we wait for in Advent. This is what we seek for, what we thirst for. I have used this quote many times but Frederick Beuchner defines Advent in this way and I think it is an appropriate reminder for today…
“The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart…The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.”
— Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark, pp. 2,3
Living in Violet 