A brother went to see Abba Moses in his hermitage at Scetis and begged him for a word. And the old man said: “Go and sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”

What is right in front of us we see least. We take the plants in the room for granted. We pay no attention to the coming of night. We miss the look of invitation on a neighbor’s face.

We see only ourselves in action and miss the cocoon around us. As a result, we run the risk of coming out of every situation with no more than when we went into it.

Learning to notice the obvious, the colors that touch our psyches, the shapes that vie for our attention, the looks on the faces of those who stand before us blurred by familiarity, blank with anonymity— the context in which we find our distracted selves—is the beginning of contemplation.

i have been very mindful this week of feeling like a tapestry. a project of God’s. a deep-seated gratitude for all the places and people i’ve been. a calm appreciation and anticipation as the new unfolds.

byron katie calls it “loving what is.”

i call it that. and, trusting.

Enjoy with me this beautiful poem from the newsletter of Benetvision.

Imago Dei

Come, oh come,
but not this time as a babe
raised up in the image of a man.

Come in beautiful strength,
in loving connection.
Come upon the world flourishing in boldness,
bearing branches in full flower.

Come, oh come
not bending to obedience
or sacrificing for our guilt.

Come weaving every color,
singing every tongue,
nourishing us,
dancing usinto a world of peace.

Come, oh come
flashing brilliance
courage never waning,
compassion, companion.
Redeem your long forgotten self,
your ancient image.
Come, WOMANSPIRITwholly one,
Come, oh come.

Sr. Ellen Porter, OSB From her poem, “Some Small Flower of Honesty“

From Brian D. McLaren (see his Facebook note)…

The religion that was ostensibly founded by a nonviolent man of peace had now embraced the very violence he prohibited. The religion that grew in response to a man who was tortured and killed by the Roman Empire was now torturing and killing others in league with that empire. Dynamic faith that moves mountains was out; static belief that burns or banishes heretics was in. Catalytic faith as an agent of social transformation was out; codified belief as a tool of social control was in. And that kind of belief has stayed “in” ever since. (12)

From “A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith” (available February 9, 2010)

This is a quote from Nevada Barr’s book Enlightenment – Hat by Hat (which I know nothing about it). It’s quoted by Nancy Boyle in her article in the Lumunos newsletter.

“As long as I thought of God as a cross between Superman and Santa Claus with cell phone and myself as a lobbyist for my own needs, I was doomed to atheism, confusion and resentment… The sea change has been in my internal vision of God…”

What is the character of your God? Of your conversations with God?

An Advent Reflection
from Kirkridge Retreat Center
December 6, 2009

A reflection for the second week of advent by Peter Pearson

Advent is my favorite season! That may sound odd but it’s true. For me Advent, my prayerful experience of Advent, is richer and deeper than any other season of the church year. Could it be that I just like the music or the readings from the prophets or the sense of wonder in the waiting or the glow of the sunsets that happen at this time of year?

Maybe it’s all of these and more. It’s tied to my memories of a child’s anticipation before Christmas and that same child’s terror of the readings that are offered this time of year which sound like pages from science fiction. It makes me remember the time when the kids on my block were sitting around one summer’s day singing all the songs we could think of and that “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” was one of our favorites. It helps me return to the time of the young seminarian whose community prepared for an evening of carols and lessons in the cathedral in mid-December and the prayerful calm of that night or of all the other Advent nights spent praying with the monks at the monastery that once was my home and of the rose incense we burned only at this time of year. It brings me to times, more recent and the prayers and the song and the silence and the waiting. And above all, the profound sense of wonder.

There is also the memory, or should I say the memories of icons of the Virgin and Child wrapped in a tender embrace before which a small candle burns. Sweetly intimate and yet filled with transcendent power, often this image is the only visible thing in a church or chapel or cell in the darkness of these nights. It is a gentle glow illuminating a gentle image. Soft, warm, inviting.

Somewhere in the midst of this embrace is expressed one of the foundational truths of our faith: God is not distant, God is with us. Advent is a time that is rich in experience for all of my senses. It anticipates the fullness of the incarnation that we will celebrate in just a little while. It is the longing of the human heart for more even as it already tastes what it hungers for. God is with us and has entered into the material world, sanctifying it and giving it the ability to point to the One who first created.

Take the time this Advent to listen to the silence,
to smell the echoes of heaven,
to see the invitation all around you,
to laugh at the playful paradox,
to immerse yourself in the richness
of this barren time of joyful anticipation.
Just as things seem darkest and most hopeless,
a light dawns among us.
How marvelous!

Peter Pearson

Many thanks to Peter Pearson for this week’s advent message!

Peter will lead an icon painting retreat at Kirkridge Jan. 28-31, 2010.

Program: A Brush with God: Icon Painting Retreat
During this retreat experience we will paint, pray and study together the ancient art of Byzantine Iconography but using the medium of acrylic paints. There is no artistic ability or prior experience required and each participant will go home with their own icon that will be created during this retreat following step by step instructions.

Friday 6:30 dinner thru Sunday lunch
Cost: $540

Peter Pearson has been painting icons for forty years and teaching for twenty. He is the rector of Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church in New Hope, PA, a member of an ecumenical monastic community (Community of Solitude), and the author of the popular text on icon painting, A Brush with God.

My friends at beliefnet.com remind me of the constant anxiety preoccupations to which we are vulnerable in the birthing processes of our lives. Check out Therese Borchard’s thoughts about managing anxiety this holiday season.

… and join me in welcoming the stories of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, magi and an infant Jesus into your soul. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who join us with understanding, encouragement and transcendence.

This advent… I return to this space for journaling, reflecting, connection. Pondering much in my heart today. This weekend’s forgiveness workshop, oriented around this powerful passage, was richly rewarding. I cling today to Emmanuel, the promise that God-with-us is so true, so unshakeable, so vastly beyond our understanding. When we accept this as Reality, all manner of obstacles to Life will be dissolved within and between us. Forgiveness will bring an experience of the salvation wrought with such grace (It is finished!). Our work is to dismantle the judgments, the prejudices, the circumstances which block our Divine knowing of this Good News.

Let us, with John the Baptist, commence with “preparing the way…”

Zechariah’s Prophecy

Luke 1:67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: 68‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. 69He has raised up a mighty saviour for us in the house of his servant David, 70as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. 72Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, 73the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us 74that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,might serve him without fear, 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. 78By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, 79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

“The essential of happiness,” Allan K. Chalmers wrote, “is having something to do, something to love and something to hope for.”

At the very outset of the liturgical year, the church presents a model of them all: a Child who lives only to do the will of God, who opens His arms to love the entire world, who lives in hope of the coming of the reign of God by giving His life to bring it. At the very outset of the year, we are given the model of how to be happy.

–from The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister (Thomas Nelson)

I loved this song which we sang at Lake Street Church on the first Sunday of advent. The tune “put me in the mood.” The words in verses 2 and 3 especially moved me: reminders that there is a work of God in “giving up our strength” or in ceasing/guarding the nest. Any poetic metaphors which help us to take seriously the demands of discipleship WHILE AT THE SAME TIME reminding us of necessary seasons of cessation, waiting, preparing, entrusting God to be God… well, those “put me in the advent mood” too. I pray, actually, to live this way all year.

People, Look East

Words and Music: Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), 1928 MIDI / Noteworthy Composer

1. People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.

2. Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.

3. Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.

4. Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.

5. Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.

“People, Look East” was written by Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) and was first published as “Carol of Advent” in Part 3 of “Modern Texts Written for or Adapted to Traditional Tunes” in The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928. Farjeon, a native of London, was a devout Catholic who viewed her faith as “a progression toward which her spiritual life moved rather than a conversion experience.” (The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, p. 323) She achieved acclaim as an author of children’s nursery rhymes and singing games, and is best remembered for her poem “Morning Has Broken.” BESANÇON, an ancient carol, first appeared in Christmas Carols New and Old, 1871, as the setting for “Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep,” and was titled CHANTONS, BARGIÉS, NOUÉ, NOUÉ.