I am sitting here in our little hermitage-like cabin in the
woods.
This small 256 square foot abode is not our weekend or
holiday retreat. It is our full-time home and has been for over two years – a
huge downsize from our previous home on the edge of a thriving small city.
Getting here took a lot of work over the course of five years. Getting here has
greatly simplified our lives.
Simplicity solves a lot of life’s problems.
I am alone.
Today is the third day of being by myself. Shirli is away
visiting family in another state.
It is quiet.
Very quiet. So quiet that my
cell phone startles me when it rings.
Today is also Advent Eve.
Though I do not get too excited over secular Christmas – it
really goes against my grain to see Christmas decorations and hoopla filling
the stores in the middle of October – I do look forward to the Season of Advent
and the celebration of the coming of God’s gift to us in the form of Christ.
Secular Christmas comes and goes each year with little, if any, lasting meaning. I have always found it interesting, sadly interesting, that alcohol sales are higher during Christmas than they are during Thanksgiving. Christmas, for a lot of people, is not a happy or merry season. God’s gift to us, the one we anticipate during Advent, does not come and go like shiny paper. Christ is with us always, even to the close of the age.[1] There is no sorrow in his promise.
Advent has often been thought of as Little Lent – a season
of reflection and heart preparation to receive afresh the Infant born in a manger
in Bethlehem. Fasting during Advent has been greatly reduced in the Western
Church while the Eastern Church maintains a vigorous emphasis on fasting during
this season.
Historically, in Benedictine monasteries around the globe,
monks were called to Vespers on this night with the words,
“BRETHREN: It is
high time to wake from sleep:
For now is our
salvation nearer than when we first believed.
And the monks
responded,
Thanks be to God.
The choirs of
monks then raised the words of the hymn in song,
Creator of the
stars of night,
Thy people’s
everlasting light,
Jesu, Redeemer,
save us all,
And hear thy
servants when they call.
Thou, grieving
that the ancient curse
Should doom to
death a universe,
Hast found the
medicine,
Full of grace,
To save and heal a
ruined race.
Thou camest, the
Bridegroom of the Bride,
As drew the world
to evening tide,
Proceeding from a
virgin shrine,
The spotless
Victim all divine.
At whose dread
Name,
Majestic now,
All knees must
bend, all hearts must bow;
All things
celestial thee shall own,
And things
terrestrial, Lord alone.
O thou whose
coming is with dread,
To judge and doom
the quick and dead,
Preserve us, while
we dwell below,
From every insult
of the foe.
To God the Father,
God the Son,
And God the Spirit,
Three in One,
Laud, honor,
might, and glory be
From age to age
eternally. Amen.
V. Drop down, ye
heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.
R. Let the earth
open, and let them bring forth salvation.”[2]
As we join in and lift our voices echoing the words of
those who have faithfully proclaimed Christ to the world throughout the ages,
may God, Three in One, be well
pleased with our offering of praise.
And may each of
you have a blessed Advent Season.
We look for the coming of our Lord. Sometimes it’s hard to discern the times. The violence can’t seem to get any worse, yet it does.
ReplyDeleteThe other day I was sitting in the car waiting for Vicki and imagining the sky being split in two with light from the east to the west and wondering if I would stand erect or hide. But the anticipation of who accompanied that light, who we would see, and how he would change us as fast as that light appeared, was changed to excitement. Jesus! Yeshua! The salvation of YHVH! The one who is the indwelling, the earnest of our inheritance is coming! And He will take us to Himself!
I can relate to what you have said, Brother Peter. It is a beautiful thing the be accepted in the Beloved. Pax
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