December 2020 flashed past in a whirl of activities, but when I read last year’s blog post of Advent & Christmas 2019, this year seems so quiet in comparison. December 2019 was jam-packed full! This year things were quieter, partly … Continue reading Advent & Christmas 2020 🎄🕯️🎅🦌🎁⛄🌟⛪🔔🤶🎶👼
#AdventWord #Proclaim “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” This Advent season is a good moment to pause and listen to Mary’s proclamation. Do we sometimes think we are insignificant? Listen to Mary’s affirmation that God is deeply interested in us. Do we wonder what we should be doing with our lives? Listen to Mary’s words as she explains what God wants to do with this world of ours. Then we need to be ready to proclaim this good news to others. Although Christmas can be a moment of joy, many people are missing someone they love, struggling to … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 26 ‘Proclaim’
#AdventWord #Holy My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. Mary sang in praise of God:And holy is his Name.Gracious God, what is our song,Now in this time of weeping?In our night of pain and grief,Faithful voices rise toward starry skies:In you, O Holy One, we put our trust.Can we find once more your promise of mercy?A new light shines in the darkness –Together, we wait and rejoice. The Nativity Scene here at Advent Church, Tamsui, Taipei Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 25 ‘Holy’
#AdventWord #Wisdom The wisest path is to surrender to the will of the “only wise God” when it is revealed to us. Mary was confused by her encounter with the angel Gabriel but wisely said, “Here am I” nevertheless. Indeed, having wisdom does not mean having all of the answers. Wisdom resides in actively waiting for the word of God to come to us at the appointed time. It involves trusting enough in God’s provision that we can say “yes” to God’s call. Full of wisdom, compassion, energy and fun ~ this is our very lovable Herbert, now at the … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 24 ‘Wisdom’
#AdventWord #Mystery “Listen,” the Apostle Paul whispers, “I will tell you a mystery. We will not all die, but we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye…” (1 Cor 15:51-52 para). I look into the night sky. I find a star gazing back at me, and I let it be the star over Bethlehem that instantaneously called humanity’s attention to the unveiling of God’s love for all people… made known through the birth of Jesus. The mystery remains true: collapses and risings fill the patterns of our common life, still, we yearn for God’s love-filled light in the … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 23 ‘Mystery’
#AdventWord #Rejoice The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers two definitions for the word ‘rejoice’. We mostly live in the first one: to feel joy or great delight. But it also offers another definition for rejoice that we don’t often consider. Rejoice can also mean to give joy to, to gladden. In this use, it’s a transitive verb. What that means is that the verb has a direct object. It seems to me that this is the definition Jesus embodies. He comes to be among us, born in a lowly stable, to give joy to us. To gladden our hearts. To be love … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 22 ‘Rejoice’
#AdventWord #Turn Imagine a flat plane holding all of creation, and at the center of all things, the radiance of God, alighting on all things, beholding all things, knowing all things. We, too, are on the plane, working to keep our eyes fixed on this center, drawing closer to the Source and each other with every step. But so often – all the time! – we take our eyes from God; we become distracted, we fall back, we get bored and settle for selfish desires, innumerable idolatries, and participation in systems that draw us further from God and each other. … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 21 ‘Turn’
#AdventWord #Bless To BLESS is the act of honoring the divine in the other. Sometimes it is as simple as yielding our place in line to someone at the grocery store. Other times it takes a more sacramental approach. When blessing others, in the everyday or in the sacramental, the blessing is sacrificial and unconditional. During trying times, we must not lose sight of what it means to give ourselves a blessing. When blessing ourselves we practice self-compassion and self-forgiveness, and we find the imago dei within our own identity. For this is what fills the cups that we use … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 20 ‘Bless’ 💃🕺
#AdventWord #Learn Love comes easy at Christmas, in the story of the birth of a vulnerable baby Jesus. It’s a good place to start, with Jesus, but there is more to know. The Jesus of the Gospels often challenges, standing in defiance of a world which refused to know him. And Jesus also challenges us today. As his disciples, we learn all we can, keeping our hearts open to the Jesus we find in scripture but also open to the Jesus who calls us to learn to love as he did. The “Way of Love” is to LEARN to love … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 19 ‘Learn’
Catherine Lee 