Waitin' on a Sunny Day . . . by Elisabeth Aurand

Is Christmas just another pain-killer to soothe us, to distract us from our troubling fears? Or can it be a time to go deeper, to look inside ourselves… and ask God to come in, too?

In my lifetime, I've treasured the season of Advent, a season some Christians celebrate the four weeks before Christmas. Advent helps me get ready for Christ's coming. The joys of God's coming to us in Jesus are wonderfully apparent! But we can also take seriously the darker side of life, knowing that God's light is shining there, too.

This Sunday, in many churches that celebrate Advent, there will be two readings from the Bible that bring to life both the light-filled joy and the deep darkness of the season...

There’s “comfort and joy” proclaimed undiluted and unadulterated in Isaiah 35:1-10 .  It breaks upon us like warm sunshine as we hear “The desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly.” That speaks of the joy that the ancient Israelites had when they left servitude in Babylon and returned home to Israel: they found the burning sand, thirsty ground and the haunt of jackals now becoming a pool, and a swamp of grass.

But there’s also sternness from the second text, from Matthew 11:2-11, the story of John the Baptist. He is in jail and hears about the miraculous and healing deeds of his, cousin, Jesus. Nothing joyful happens to John – for example, he is not freed from jail. Yet he has been shown hope through the news of good things happening in Jesus’ ministry that he can hold onto; this allows for his own “patience in suffering.”

From these witnesses you hear what it means to live as a believer, stated well by Evelyn Underhill in Advent devotions, edited by Christopher Webber: The spiritual life is a stern choice. It is not a consoling retreat from the difficulties of existence; but an invitation to enter fully into that difficult existence, and there apply the Charity of God and bear the cost.

The voices witness to the “good bones” of the faith life wherein Christians both honor real life existence with its lonely, dark, cold times and wait upon the joyful work of God. (This work is truly joyful, too — sending the warm sunshine that allows a field of crocus to come up out of the snow and bloom opulently in the spring.) The Advent decoration of choice at Washington National Cathedral  – bare pine or fir trees standing sparely in the nave – strikes the balance in the Spirit, with its fresh and fragrant green of life with promise and yet a lack of adornment, like an adult’s sober path through life.

Many folks, including those who are “churched”, don’t seem to know the way of both let-loose joy and focused resolve. I read one church group writing about its leadership as discouraged, worried and “losing its way” as a result of clergy misconduct, and this sounded like an “anti-text” to Isaiah’s words that no one will “go astray” on God’s Holy Way. Leaders hoped for “renewal” yet also cited “questions of relevance” affecting “church attendance across our country” just as if they were a desert that could not rejoice and blossom or the dry land that would never become glad.

But Isaiah writes in chapter 35, verse 8, of a holy way where it’s practically impossible to go astray and a way “home,” insured by God’s love and care. “Home” did not mean perfection, as Paul Duke writes. Yet, he continues, the prophet (Isaiah) declares that desolation, disability, grief and sighing for home will all be swept away, overtaken by luxuriance, liberation, health, strength, safety and multitudes, fools included, singing their way home –and God will send us flowers on the way!

Do we sense we’re on a Holy Way? Do we understand that God’s direction on this way means we will not lose our bearings? Do we find that the things of hope bring enough resolve to endure whatever life throws along the path? I find that many folks (including Christians) at this time of year are mainly given to giddiness, frenzy and "irrational exuberance") –that is, unstable joy and no true sense of “home” in all the frantic Christmas preparations.

The faith life announces seasonal joy, yet wraps it in the conviction of “home” and the assurance that God provides and continues to provide the sunshine no matter what or when the storm. We open our arms.. ready for the sunshine. As Bruce Springsteen sings it, “I’m waitin’, waitin' on a sunny day , gonna chase the clouds away, waitin’ on a sunny day….

Please feel free to join in the conversation, by leaving your comments and looking out for the comments of others. You can also join in an audio skype conversation Thursday at 7pm (EST), Dec. 9. You need to have downloaded the program from skype.com and have a microphone with your computer (as most laptops do). Then add "bythewaycommunity" to your contacts list on skype, and call in on Thursday.

When home searches for us

To take a walk through this past week’s “Bread for your Journey” experience, imagine stepping into a room buzzing with voices. There are a few more people here than usual… so there are introductions going on, and some are seeing old friends they haven’t seen in a while. It’s quite an exciting mix…

What you see when you step into this room at the Crowne Plaza is a circle of about 20 chairs with a small table in the middle decorated with candles and surrounded by woody vines. Though the vines are bare, there’s a kind of stark beauty there. Another table is part of the circle, and it holds a pottery cup and a colorfully tiled tray with a large loaf of hearty-looking bread… and the inviting aroma of this loaf fills the room.

When all have settled into their seats, some words of welcome are spoken and the central candle is lit. We cross the boundary from our many busy lives into this time and place with some centering prayer… thanking God for this gift of time, for the bread and wine, for all the ways we sense God’s presence.

Next we have a series of three readings which draw us into the theme of searching for home. Feel free to light your own candle after each reading, as we did in our gathering, and then join in the words of prayer which follow.The first reading is a quote from Sharing Silence by poet/author Gunilla Norris:

"Silent spaces invite us to go to the inner room—the room inside ourselves. By making room for silence, we resist the forces of the world which tell us to live an advertised life of surface appearances, instead of a discovered life—a life lived in contact with our senses, our feelings, our deepest thoughts and values. "

God, you welcome us to come inside ourselves, to find room for silence, room to be who we are and explore who we might be becoming. Come and make yourself at home in our hearts… and in this circle of people, this community gathered here. In your name we pray… amen.

The second reading is from the Bible, from John’s book about Jesus, chapter 15, verses 9 – 17. It’s from a discussion Jesus had with his followers soon before he was taken from them. (Click on the following link.)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015:9-17;&version=65;

Teacher Jesus, your words are warm and inviting, home-coming words… and they are challenging as well. Move within us that we might truly make ourselves at home in your love... and that that love would extend outward through us to love your people… to give our lives for your people, just as you have given your life to us. In your name we pray… amen.

The third reading is taken from a poem/song by Shirley Erena Murray:

Loving Spirit, loving spirit, you have chosen me to be--
you have drawn me to your wonder, you have set your sign on me.

Like a mother you enfold me, hold my life within your own,
feed me with your very body, form me of your flesh and bone.

Like a father you protect me, teach me the discerning eye,
hoist me up upon your shoulder, let me see the world from high.

Friend and lover, in your closeness, I am known and held and blessed:
in your promise is my comfort, in your presence I may rest.

Loving Spirit, swirling around and within us, we see you in so many images of love and care. We thank you for mothering us and fathering us, for befriending us and holding us close to you. Help us to explore more fully what your love means to us, that we might become those who invite others into the home of your love. In your name we pray… amen.

The reflection/discussion time that followed the readings on Thursday is hard to capture, because the wonderful insights everyone had to share took us in so many directions! Here are some of the highlights:

What does it mean to be “at home”? (can’t assume it’s where you live)
~ to come to a place where I belong, de-stress, can be who I really am, feel energized and loved by the people who are there (or when I’m by myself)
~ to be challenged to grow and give myself, to be responsible and feel I’m needed there, to be connected to something larger than myself
~ it’s like going to your “home page”, a place where you want to check in and launch from there

The virtual world has a way of separating us into our own comfort zones, but it can also be a powerful connecting force… like in this video, where one person’s dream of connecting others through music becomes a force for peace:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

How do you see God at work in such a project? In other such projects which help us see the whole earth as our home, and people across the world as our family? How is God our home, home for everyone?
~ Having God as our home can be very personal, like feeling held in comforting/challenging love
~ But it can also be very broad, energizing us to reach out beyond ourselves

In those times when we seem to be dis-connected from God, we find other “homes”
~ some “homes” are healthy: with friends and/or family who deeply care, or with causes that give us a sense of purpose
~ some are not so healthy: addictions that take the place of God, relationships that are abusive, etc.
~ How does God stay connected to us even when we feel cut off from God?

When Jesus spoke the words of our 2nd reading (John), he was talking about being connected no matter what happens next. He was talking to his dearest friends knowing that they were all about to enter into a time of immense stress, when Jesus would be taken away from them, arrested, executed.
~ So he knows they’re going to need some stronger-than-ever teaching to hold onto, so he gives them this incredible image of how he’s the Vine and we’re the branches (see earlier in John, chapter 15)
~ Then he talks about this organic relationship between Jesus and God and us:
I have loved you, even as the Father has loved me;
make yourself at home in my love.
~ Make yourself at home, where you can breathe deeply and know you belong, where you can be drawn in and be energized and sent back out… AND where you have some responsibilities: to love so deeply you’d give your life… to love so deeply that you’d feel a joy so complete that you need no other joy.

Besides giving us wonderful images of home and vine, Jesus also gave his followers (and gives us) something even more tangible to hold onto, to touch and taste and smell…

Jesus gave us bread — his own body going into our bodies — as God’s own being making a home in us. And Jesus gave us wine, to be his lifeblood flowing in us, his power of connecting forgiveness holding us in God, and energizing us to go out and bring the rest of God’s children home.

We passed the bread and the wine around, taking Jesus’ life into our bodies, reflecting on the beauty of searching for God and searching for home… that it’s not a one-way street search… it’s a dynamic energy stream, with God doing the consistent searching, and we… sometimes responding just as dynamically, other times relying on God to hold up both ends of the deal.

Peace be yours as you explore your search for home, and how God might be searching for you. If you have your own reflections to add, I’d love to hear them, either here on the blog or over a cup of coffee sometime.

~ Kari