It’s Sunday morning, Dec. 4 and I sit at a coffee shop thinking about practicing Advent this year. I glance around and see a few dressed for church (one parent shushing her loud kids, “You’re in your church clothes!”) and many more dressed down for their own version of Sabbath.
I feel anxious for some reason. I always hope for some infusion of unearthly peace during special seasons like Advent and want it to infuse me from Day 1. Well, it’s Day 1 and I stumble about looking for peace and trying to practice Advent.
I think, for me, I’m tired of stumbling about. I want to know that everything I do, every moment of my precious time I take to be centered on God will pay off immediately and obviously. Okay, I’m practicing Advent; I want peace now, thank you! I’m such an American.
So, I’m stumbling about as you can tell. But even as I write something begins to loosen in my soul. I think it simply feels good to begin. And, it feels good to write something down and send it off to someone else. I need some version of conversation in order for most anything to be real to me. Writing you has that quality for me. So does our Wednesday Soul gatherings. It helps center me.
I opened our Urban Skye Advent Guide and began to think about the questions we created and the directions we set. I’ve included the first week’s text as an attachment if you need it (or you can get to it in all its beauty from our web page, www.urbanskye.org. )
Our theme is “God outside the Camp” and our story begins with the Magi. We’ll talk more about them Wednesday. What captured us when creating the guide was that the Magi saw. In their passionate search of the stars, God unveiled his star and they saw it and recognized it as a revelation from God.
The question posed is, “Recall one place from your past where God made something of Himself known to you.”
That was part of my journaling this morning. I don’t have a defining “God moment” where all the stars aligned (so to speak). What I found were a few impressions, some places where I tasted transcendence. I choose to believe these tastes to be God unveiling Himself to me in some way.
I first thought about my home. I knew only one address growing up and it is still in the family. We stayed in the house my dad built just last weekend. What struck me was that I do not remember God making Himself known to me in my house! Conversations that had that sense of transcendence, for example, didn’t happen in my house. When I began reading my Bible in high school I can’t picture myself doing it in my house. (This “aha” thought was not lost on me as I left home this morning for an hour to journal and write to you!)
Here are two memories that helped me “see” God. As you can see, they are somewhat vague but it is where I went when I prayed and begin searching for responses to our question:
I was walking around the most beautiful lake with a friend. There were cliffs on one side and the lake on the other. It was fall, my favorite time of year, and we were doing what all boys do – throwing rocks. I don’t remember the conversation or the destination; I just remember never wanting it to end. It still tastes of heaven.
I remember a day in high school. It was a weekend and I spent the whole day with three other friends. It was a simple day: we drove and walked around my little town, ate a bunch of ice cream at Baskin Robbins. We also volunteered for a couple hours on a service project. Throughout, I remember talking about God off and on throughout the day. This wasn’t normal. I remember feeling like God was not just the topic but somehow a part of the conversation. I remember falling asleep feeling “holy”. That’s the best word for it.
These are vague, but I plan on continuing to think more on these this week. It does the soul good to consider places, days or conversations of transcendence that we never wanted to end. We’ll talk about what you remember on Wednesday night.
I’ve got to get home now (as I glance at the time) and I have a few more things to tell you about Soul this week but I’ll do that tomorrow.
Blessings upon you as you dare to believe God makes Himself known to all His creation.
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