Advent Song

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Sr. Dorcee, beloved's avatarWitnesses to Hope

Advent Song

Lady, what songs are bending
The tall grasses of your mind,
What secret music whispers down your veins,
What wax-leaf ponderings, O Virgin Mary,
Waken our little shouts of expectation?

Our thoughts have lumbered down a treeless highway,
Have sputtered their heavy loftiness, have wept
Their protest. Now we hear the distant birdcall
Oh, dimly! but the woods have heard it well.
The stars are singing in their stupefaction,
The giddy little hills are clapping hands.

But Lady, what songs sway
The supple grasses of your thoughts,
What secret music whispers down your veins?

Glorious things are said about this city
Where the small citizen Christ moves in the lanes
Of so-brief arteried comfort; but what songs
Drift through this templed alabaster town?

We see the windows lighted, Virgin Mary,
City of God, by every hymn we raise
With chipped and broken voices, and our feeble
Vision guesses…

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Hope means hoping when things are hopeless

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

Advent and the little girl, Hope

 Tod Worner | Dec 10, 2017

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.”

– G.K. Chesterton

It looked unquestionably bleak.

In a matter of two weeks, the Nazis had roared through Luxembourg, crushed the Netherlands, marauded through Belgium and blitzed deeply into France. The French Army and British Expeditionary Force found themselves pressed onto the beaches of Dunkirk with their backs to the unforgiving waters of the English Channel. The Americans across the Atlantic made it very clear that they wouldn’t send their boys to any foreign wars. And Great Britain looked increasingly alone.

But as the grim events inexorably unfolded, the bulldogish Prime Minister Winston Churchill made it clear to his Cabinet: There would be no surrender. In the darkness of those days – days which anticipated the Blitz of screaming bomber attacks on the cities of England – Churchill growled to his band of brothers.

The House [of Commons] should prepare itself for hard and heavy tidings. I have only to add that nothing which may happen in this battle can in any way relieve us of our duty to defend the world cause to which we have vowed ourselves; nor should it destroy our confidence in our power to make our way, as on former occasions in our history, through disaster and through grief to the ultimate defeat of our enemies.

And within days, Churchill further pronounced,

I am convinced that every one of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.

Hope.

That was the first and greatest weapon raised against the Nazi menace. Hope was the light that illuminated blood-stained rocks on embattled Pacific islands and cold corners of the blackest concentration camps. It fired the chilled soldiers in the wintry foxholes of Bastogne and it refreshed the dirt-coated liberators in North Africa. Hope wasn’t a component of victory; it was the key to it.

That is the essence of Advent.

In dark days of disease and loneliness, fear and guilt, sin and death, a dusty prophet declared to an enslaved nation,

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who lived in a land of gloom a light has shone. (Isaiah 9:1)

In a cultural backwater occupied by fearsome soldiers and short, unforgiving lives, a peasant girl was visited by a heavenly creature,

Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High – and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.  (Luke 1:28, 30-33)

An expectant mother and adoptive father, wise men traveling from afar, shepherds sensing a change in the chill wind on the edge of town – all were drawn by faith, but pushed by hope.

What is this strange thing, hope?

Perhaps the French poet, Charles Peguy, described it best in The Portal of the Mystery of Hope.

The faith that I love best, says God, is hope.
Faith doesn’t surprise me.
Its not surprising
I am so resplendent in my creation…

Charity says God, that doesn’t surprise me.
It’s not surprising.
These poor creatures are so miserable that unless they had a heart of stone, how could they not have love for one another.
How could they not love their brothers.
How could they not take the bread from their own mouth, their daily bread, in order to give it to the unhappy children who pass by…

What surprises me, says God, is hope.
And I can’t get over it.
This little hope who seems like nothing.
This little girl hope.
Immortal…

It’s she, the little one, who carries them all.
Because Faith sees only what is.
But she, she sees what will be.
Charity loves only what is.
But she, she loves what will be.

Yes, that’s it. Hope is a precious, vibrant, beaming little girl who loves not only what is, but what will be.

Oh, it is true. At times in our lives, things can look a little bleak.

But take courage.

The essence of Advent is a little girl, Hope.

Advent of that Mysterious Joy

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Originally posted on Beginning to Pray

Advent of that Mysterious Joy

Broods the cosmos in painful rending
Beyond infinity’s gentle bending
Over misery’s edge in galaxy far
A lost people on some forgotten star
Glory there with delicate care abides

Superintelligences cannot fathom
The hidden secret’s tender anthem
For they from above all time and space charge hastening
To the garden, to guard, to wield swords in chastening
Where envy’s deceit resides

Until heaven, song and peace bestowing
On lowly shepherds and sheep lowing,
Beheld revolving all hearts, and stars, and years, and land
Around what humble Godhead offers man,
And that mysterious joy besides.

                                                                   Anthony Lilles

Let God Find You

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

Let God Find You – As Seen in a Touching Christmas Commercial

 • December 8, 2017

It may seem odd to say, “Let God find you.” After all, God knows just where we are. But there is something very respectful about a God who, as Jesus says in the Book of Revelation, stands at the door and knocks. Even back in the Garden of Eden, as sinful Adam and Eve hid, God walked through the garden and called, “Where are you?”

Yes, God waits until we let Him find us, until we open the door of our heart where He knocks, or until we decide to come out of hiding.

But God does knock. He sends us prophets and speaks through creation and His Word to establish a connection with us. He seeks a connection. Let God find you. Open the gift of His offer.

Something of this dynamic occurred to me while watching the John Lewis Christmas commercial below. And while the roles seem reversed, the dynamic is the same. A little girl spies a lonely man on the moon and seeks to get his attention, to connect with him somehow. But the man seems lost in his loneliness. Through perseverance, she reaches him and the connection is opened.

Let God find you. Let Him connect with you this Christmas.

Be born, sweet Child

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Advent Summons

Come forth from the holy place,
Sweet Child,
Come from the quiet dark
Where virginal heartbeats
Tick your moments.

Come away from the red music
Of Mary’s veins.
Come out from the Tower of David
Sweet Child,
From the House of Gold.

Leave your lily-cloister,
Leave your holy mansion,
Quit your covenant ark.
O Child, be born!

Be born, sweet Child,
In our unholy hearts.

Come to our trembling,
Helpless Child.
Come to our littleness,
Little Child,
Be born unto us
Who have kept the faltering vigil.
Be given, be born,
Be ours again.

Come forth from your holy haven,
Come away from your perfect shrine,
Come to our wind-racked souls
From the flawless tent,
Sweet Child.

Be born, little Child,
In our unholy hearts.

~Mother Mary Francis

Learning to wait

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Advent is a time of waiting. Our whole life, however, is

Advent–that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate,

for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth,

when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels:

“On earth peace to those on whom God’s favor rests.”

Learn to wait, because he has promised to come.

“I stand at the door…”

We however call to him: “Yes, come soon,

Lord Jesus!”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom: the essential writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sam Wakes Up in Bed at The Field of Cormallen

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The joy that lies ahead . . .

stephencwinter's avatarWisdom from The Lord of the Rings

I have many favourite moments in The Lord of the Rings and two of the very best are when Frodo wakes up in bed in Rivendell after the flight to the Fords of Bruinen and this scene at The Field of Cormallen.

“When Sam awoke, he found that he was lying on some soft bed, but over him gently swayed wide beechen boughs, and through their young leaves sunlight glimmered, green and gold. All the air was full of a sweet mingled scent.”

Tolkien mixes some beautiful images, springtime after winter, light after darkness, rich verdant plenty after a wasteland and my own particular favourite, waking up in a comfortable bed after a hard journey.

As a young man I spent six years as a teacher in a secondary school (high school) in Africa. I loved to travel and soon learned that every journey was in itself an adventure to…

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“Desperate is Normal”

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Desperate Is Normal

A Field Manual for Overwhelming Anxiety

Author jon bloom.jpg?ts=1452019438&ixlib=rails 2.1

Article by

Jon Bloom

Staff writer, desiringGod.org

The normal Christian life is embattled. It’s full of strange and difficult conflicts with sin and weakness within, and strange and difficult conflicts with spiritual and human adversaries and a world subjected to futility and frail brokenness without.

These experiences typically feel anything but normal. Battles with our sin, our frailty, other people, demons, and a broken world infected with evil can, at times, feel surreal, making us feel desperate. They trigger emotions connected to our particular fears, past hurts, sinful pride, griefs, and hopes that are distracting and sometimes debilitating.

That means a crucial and significant part of the normal Christian life is learning the humble discipline of casting our anxieties on God, who deeply cares for us. Even, or especially, in the heat of battle and the fury of the storm, so that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (1 Peter 5:6–7; Philippians 4:6–7).

The Bible is a field manual for the normal, embattled, desperate Christian life. God has mercifully packed it not only with examples and teaching, but also with songs and prayers for our trials. And we need songs and prayers to provide us words for the chaos, when anxiety and confusion fragment our thoughts.

Psalm 27 is that kind of song. David states his confidence in God, but he also confesses his anxiety and bewilderment and desperation. It’s a song for the normal Christian life.

Your Source of Hope

David begins with the source of his hope:

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

“The Bible is a field manual for the normal, embattled, desperate Christian life.”

By “light,” David means the same thing written in Psalm 119:130: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” By “salvation,” David means God is his hope to rescue him from his greatest dangers (Psalm 34:6).

This is our song too. For God must be our hope, our light in a dark world, and our salvation from the most fearsome things.

Your Source of Courage

Next, David declares the source of his courage:

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. (Psalm 27:3)

David was under frequent threat from treacherous countrymen (Psalm 27:2), and from enemy nations. We too are under spiritual attack (Ephesians 6:12). And these attacks can be fierce — spiritual forces of wickedness are out to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8).

But if God is our hope, then these “adversaries and foes [will] stumble and fall” (Psalm 27:2). Singing or praying this truth when fear rises reminds us of why we have good reason to be encouraged and provides us words to quiet our fear and squash the intimidation.

Your Source of Delight

Then David describes the source of his delight:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

David’s deepest desire — his one thing — is not for safety, military dominance, or prosperity. David wants God — to be near God, to see and be satisfied with God’s glory, and to live by God’s wisdom and guidance.

In the embattled, desperate moments of the normal Christian life, when our felt needs can be focused on being delivered from particular troubles, it is helpful to have words ready to remind us of the only ultimately necessary thingwe need (Luke 10:42).

Your Source of Help

After David declares his confident hope and deepest delight in God, then he shifts the tone of the psalm to reflect the desperate moment he’s experiencing:

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! (Psalm 27:7)

“It is helpful to have words ready to remind us of the only ultimately necessary thing we need.”

Even though God is his source of hope, courage, and delight, at that moment, David is feeling some fear-induced perception that God doesn’t want to answer him, perhaps is even angry at him (Psalm 27:9–10). His needs feel very urgent and he’s pleading with God for help and comfort.

This is exactly how we feel in embattled, desperate moments. Our emotions are not in sync with our beliefs about God, and it’s okay to tell him. David’s words give us a prayer to One who understands exactly what we’re experiencing and invites us to come to him for help (Hebrews 4:15–16).

Your Source of Understanding

David’s confusion and desperation make him aware of his ignorance, and so he then turns to God as the source of understanding:

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. (Psalm 27:11)

David didn’t know the plots of his enemies, which made him feel vulnerable. But he knew that God knew. And he knew that if he walked in the obedience of faith with God, it would be the safest place.

We don’t need to understand all the complexities of our trials. Neither do we necessarily need to deep dive into our psychological labyrinths to figure out all our fears (though in certain cases this is necessary). What we need to know most is God’s way, and then we must follow it.

Your Source of Certainty

Lastly, David applies his strong confidence to his weak desperation in a firm exhortation to his soul:

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:13-14)

David is declaring the source of his certainty while living in an uncertain world. And it is a beautiful, strengthening way to end his psalm.

This is also a healthy climax to the song of the normal Christian life. Regardless of the way things appear or feel, we will know the goodness of God in the land of the eternal living! We do not need to panic; we need to be strong. And we need to tell ourselves: Soul, don’t cow to intimidation, don’t wallow in hopelessness, and don’t cave in to fear. Wait for the Lord and let your heart take courage.

Fourteen Verses to Memorize

Your normal Christian life doesn’t always feel normal. It is frequently hard, embattled, and desperate. But the Bible teaches us that this is, in fact, normal. And the Bible not only teaches us about these trials, but also equips us with songs and prayers to help us keep our heads and find our bearings.

Psalm 27 is one of God’s precious equipping gifts to us. And, at only 14 verses, it’s worth memorizing, because, in the heat of the fight for faith, it can be brought out quickly as both a “sword of the Spirit” and as a shield from “the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16–17).

Let it be a short song for your normal Christian life.

 

Shared from www.desiringgod.org