3rd Advent
1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24
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About time spans and right moments, dear brothers,
I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking
of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now
peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon
them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape
for them.
You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in
darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For
you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night
and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an
alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who
are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness
of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our
head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the
source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and
undivided being,
Spirit
Soul, and
Body
remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the
spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is
who also lets you reach the goal.
3rd Advent
December 15, 2013
1 Thessalonians 5, 1-8, 23, 24
The Advent prayers speak of the chariot of the sun, whose
path inscribes an arc in the heavens. The mention of a chariot implies a Being
that travels in it. In myth He is called Helios. He daily rises from the edge
of the world, dispelling the darkness. He sets into the darkness at the end of
the day, to rise again, moving time forward.
The prayers also speak of the bow of color, which also
inscribes an arc in the skies. In mythology she is called Iris, the messenger
of the gods. The interplay of light and darkness, of water and air, of Helios
and Earth, create Iris the many colored rainbow. Her message has always been a
promise; she brings hope.
Our deepest hope is that one day, Heaven and earth will
become one; that the wounds of worlds will be healed; that love and peace will
reign because Helios and Earth’s sons and daughters will hear Iris’s message. Her
message continuously calls us, invites us to work on the creation of the new
heaven and the new earth. All of creation is waiting for us. As the poet Mary
Oliver says in a poem called “The Fist”, in Thirst:
 |
| Sulamith Wulfing |
There are days
when the sun goes down
like a fist,
though of course
if you see anything
in the heavens this way
you had better get
your eyes checked
or, better still,
your diminished spirit.
The heavens
have no fist,
or wouldn't they have been
shaking it
for a thousand years now,
and even longer than that,
….
Instead: such patience!
Such willingness
to let us continue!
To hear,
little by little,
the voices -
only, so far, in
pockets of the world -
suggesting the possibilities
of peace?
Keep looking.
Behold, how the fist opens
with invitation.