Advent word - Listen

As Christian's we're sometimes more inclined to talk than listen - we have something wonderful to share, something we think everyone should know - yet it's more important to listen. Listen to our communities, listen to the people in our parishes. Find out people's stories, find out their needs. If all the church does is talk then what good are we? Our faith should move us into action.

On the cross, exposed and vulnerable, Jesus draws the whole world in a loving embrace. Everything hangs, everyone is the  held here. Jesus holds the people of Charlestown and Ferguson and Baltimore and all around the globe. Jesus listens to the grieving and grappling, the terrorized and troubled, the frightened and crying. Jesus listens to all the heartache, all the questions. On the cross Jesus bears the weight, the weight of the world, holding us all in his wounded hands.

-Br. Luke Ditewig

Advent word - renew

Today's photo was taken on our date day- going to see Fantastic Beasts.
Annual events which are often in many ways unchanging, like the Christmas traditions we enjoy, can shine a spotlight on what has changed for better and for worse over the previous year. There's been quite a lot of change in my marriage in the last 12 months- change of jobs, change of roles, ordination and at times it's been a difficult year.
One complaint you hear a lot in relationships is about change; one partner feels the other has changed and aren't the person they fell in love with. My viewpoint is that change is inevitable and healthy. My husband and I are 38 and 43, we were 17 and 21 when we started dating- how unhealthy would it be for us to still be the same people we were 21 years ago? We've been shaped by relationship, children, joys, disappointments and bereavements.
Change will happen, and it can be scary, but it can also be a renewal, something which breathes new life; something which transforms.

Christ is all in all. He is here symbolically in a stone altar He is here sacramentally in bread and wine. He is here spiritually in hearts lifted up and returned to us renewed, transformed, consecrated.

-Br. Mark Brown

Advent word - Love

Tim Booth sings "love can mean anything", Johnny Bramwell's take is "to be loved is to be divine". If we're honest we probably take a lot of what we think about love from the lyrics of the songs we listen too, in the same way much of our theology is formed by hymns.
My stance is probably somewhere between Booth and Bramwell; love, which can take many forms, does indeed give us a glimpse of what God is like. Most of the metaphors we have are inadequate to explain or understand divine love. Jesus works with the parent/child metaphor, which comes the closest to helping our understanding but which we will still never fully understand.

Falling in love is one of the most profoundly spiritual experiences a person can have. By falling in love we discover our capacity for selflessness. We experience what it means to entrust ourselves, our souls and bodies, to another. When we fall in love as God does, we too will ultimately “stretch out [our] arms of love on the hard wood of the cross,” just as Jesus did.

-Br. James Koester

Advent word - Shine

It's that time of year again so I'm going to attempt daily blogging through Advent, this year following the Society of St John The Evangelist's (SSJE) Advent Word. Each day they give you a word and image, encouraging people to respond with their own image.
The image I've used today is my bedside light. I've been working night shifts so this is mostly what I've seen when I've been at home.
Each day there's a really short reflection which goes with the image and word:

Rather than experiencing the sorrows of our world as a source of desolation, hear the news as a clarion call, as motivation and clarification for what we are to be about as followers of Jesus Christ: to bear the beams of God’s love and light and life, especially to those who wouldn’t otherwise know it.
-Br. Curtis Almquist

The word "shine" in terms of faith always reminds me of the baptism liturgy; after we give a lighted candle we all pray together "shine as a light in the world, to the glory of God the father". This is our prayer for the child, that they will shine in the world and in doing so reflect something of God.
These are uncertain times, maybe if more of us try to "shine" and bring light to others it will bring the comfort that comes when a light is shone in a dark place.