I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Psalm 130: 5-6 from a Song of Ascents
Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.
— Henri Nouwen from Bread For The Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith
To wait is hard when we know the value of the gift that awaits us. We know exactly what is in the package since we have watched it being carefully chosen, wrapped and presented to us to open.
Not yet though, not quite yet. So we wait.
Even more so, we wait and hope for what we do not see but know is coming, like a groaning in the labor of childbirth.
The waiting is never easy; it is painful to be patient, staying alert to possibility and hope when we are exhausted, barely able to function. Others won’t understand why we wait, nor do they comprehend what we could possibly be waiting for when it remains unseen.
Yet we persevere together, with patience, watching and hoping, like Mary and Joseph, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, like the shepherds, like the Magi of the east, like Simeon and Anna in the temple.
This is the meaning of Advent:
we are a community groaning together in sweet anticipation and expectation of the gift of Morning to come.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:24-25
We are waiting, we are trusting
We are longing for Your blessings,
Lord And our faith is firmly anchored
On Your never-changing Word
Spirit fall down, fill our souls now
Lord, we gather in Your name
Your power
All Your promises we claim
Together bind us with grace
The body of Christ
All for Your presence we wait
We are waiting we are trusting
We are longing,
Lord descend
Let a flame of love be kindled
While before Your throne we bend
Spirit fall down, fill our souls now
Lord, we gather in Your name Your power
All Your promises we claim
Together bind us with grace
The body of Christ
All for Your presence we wait
We are waiting, we are trusting
We are longing,
Lord revive
Death is fading, hope is rising
In Your Spirit we’re alive
Lord, we gather in Your name Your power
All Your promises we claim
Together bind us with grace
The body of Christ
All for Your presence we wait
Lord, we gather in Your name Your power
All Your promises we claim
Together bind us with grace
The body of Christ
All for Your presence we wait
All for Your presence we wait
All for Your presence we wait
~All Sons & Daughters
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
THIS IS SO-O-O-O GOOD!!!
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I had to read this twice. Maybe, a third time is necessary. The images, as always, are thoughtful and stunning. The words…oh so timely. Woooow. I echo Jonathan’s comment.
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So good!! Thank you!
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Advent Prayer
How we long for the moon or even a star
when the journey we’re on is dark, cold and far,
when the mountains are high and the valleys are low,
and the places are rough through which we must go.
May we trust in the prophets’ promise to all
that our God, moved by love and judgment, will call
each of us to repent of all we’ve defiled
in creation; and trust the way of the Child
who was born in the darkness, bearing God’s light,
to embrace human weakness rather than might.
As we journey through Advent, scanning the sky
for the light of our Christ, may we each heed the cry
of our neighbors in need, and thus become one
with the moon and the star, reflecting God’s Son.
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Reblogged this on Witnesses to Hope.
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