1st Sunday of Advent
First Sunday of Advent
November 30, 2014
“Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways!” Isaiah 64:4
Advent is one of my favorite seasons of the church year. In the midst of the consumer-crazy culture that is racing around us during the month of December I am grateful for the reminder to slow down and pay attention to what God is doing. We are bombarded with messages to buy MORE: If you really love your kids, partner, friends, family you will buy them the biggest and the best! The Christmas season is turned into a competition as we rush at all hours of the day and night to get the best deal before someone else does. It’s hard to avoid getting sucked into this. Marketers and advertisers are very good at their jobs.
Our tradition and scripture offer us another way during this season. As we enter quiet, dark churches our senses get a reprieve from all the flashing lights, glitter, and razzle-dazzle of stores competing for our attention and business. There is something in the depth of my soul that breathes deep and sighs “ahhh” when I enter the quiet darkness. There is a longing for stillness in me. It’s easier to pay attention to the still, small voice of the Holy within. The flicker of the Advent candle reminds me to be attentive to hope…peace…joy…love. How are each of those gifts living in me? Am I offering those gifts to the world during this season?
I am drawn to the line from Isaiah in today’s first reading, “Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways!” What does it mean to be mindful of God in ALL the moments of the day? How would our world be if all of us were more mindful of God in our every word and deed? In my 2nd grade classroom we talk a lot about acting with kindness and remembering how Jesus told us to treat others. When you are seven feelings get hurt very easily and impulsive reactions are hard to control. I feel like I spend just as much time facilitating conflict resolution as I do teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Many times each day I find myself asking a student, “Did you show kindness when you…called her a name, made a mean face, pushed him?” or “How would Jesus want you to react to that person…even though ‘they did it first’?” Kids are very smart and very compassionate. They know the way of kindness even when impulses get the best of them.
I also have to ask myself if I am truly being mindful of God in each encounter of the day. Do my words and actions show kindness and model how Jesus treated people? More often than I care to admit I am not being mindful of the Holy within. I need reminders throughout the day that call me to be my best self. With the wisdom of my spiritual director, at different times in my life, ordinary objects have become spiritually symbolic reminders. The tree outside my classroom window has reminded me to be grounded and rooted in God. The heart on my lunch bag has been a reminder to stop and notice God’s face in each of the seven-year-olds looking at me longing for words of affirmation and love.
In her book Field of Compassion, Judy Cannato reminds us of the great power our daily, ordinary actions can hold, “There is no insignificant thought, word, or action…No matter what we do, we are always affecting the energy around us, in either a negative or positive way. Why should we not then become aware of our power and choose consciously rather than unconsciously how we will shape our world?”
So as we begin the Advent season may we generously give blessings of gratitude like the one Paul gives the Corinthians in the second reading so that our hearts may be filled with the love of God. May we also receive the blessing to be open to the grace of God so that we may be enriched in every way and trust God will give us the spiritual gifts we need to do the work to which we are called.
In the Gospel Jesus urges his disciples to “Be Watchful! Be Alert!” May we too be alert to the presence of God in each ordinary act of our day. May we be mindful of our words and use our power to create ripples of hope, peace, joy, and love that start with the person standing before us and flow out into the many places around the globe that most need them.
