Advent Word 2020, Day 22 ‘Rejoice’
#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’
Advent Word 2020, Day 21 ‘Turn’
#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’
Advent Word 2020, Day 20 ‘Bless’ 💃🕺
#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’ 💃🕺
Advent Word 2020, Day 19 ‘Learn’
#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’
Advent Word 2020, Day 18 ‘Pray’
#AdventWord #Pray “Do not quench the Spirit!” Paul says. The Spirit, ever present, ever mischievous, is constantly trying to catch our attention, using all those human moments – joy, nostalgia, boredom, exhaustion, wonder – to tap us on the shoulder and say, “pay attention to me!” Our response, whether it’s with excitement or annoyance, is called Prayer. Pay attention, we’re here! This is us, this is Taiwan! Pray for us, pray for Taiwan! Rev. Simon T. S. Tsou with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry @ St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei, February 21, 2020 Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 18 ‘Pray’
Advent Word 2020, Day 17 ‘Worship’
#AdventWord #Worship I read once that our worship must flow out of true selves and engage our spirit as we pursue truth, and yet so much about how we conduct worship often can feel as if we are putting on pretense – as if we are dressing up to play people who worship, instead of just being people who are worship-filled just as we are – messy, or tired; confused, or content. In a season that is ripe with dressing up, I wonder how we can bring our true selves and engage our spirits as we pursue the truth of … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 17 ‘Worship’
Advent Word 2020, Day 16 ‘Rest’
#AdventWord #Rest God has sent us to “bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.” Even Jesus suggested, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” What surrounds my rest? Am I tired, exhausted even, from the spirit of God being on me, from following and from being sent? Do I deserve this rest? This quiet place? Even here resting, am I anticipating waking to acting with compassion? Switching off for a few moments! 😴 One of our clergy takes a … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 16 ‘Rest’
Advent Word 2020, Day 15 ‘Go’
#AdventWord #Go The seven practices of the Way of Love are often interconnected. To practice go, we add words frequently. Go and preach. Go and serve. Go and listen. Go and praise. Go and pray. In our ways of faith following Jesus, we must find the courage to move beyond our communities and comfortable relationships to unknown places. Doing that work takes practice; I don’t know many people who flourish when pushed into unknown situations…. In the path of my heart this Advent, I’m crossing the barrier that says light and darkness are white and black. When God chose to … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 15 ‘Go’
Advent Word 2020, Day 14 ❤️ ‘Honey’ ❤️
#AdventWord #Honey The Promised Land flows with milk and honey – how sweet it is. Like Pooh Bear, I love “sweet” and “Sweet Jesus” appeals to me. But as I ponder this, things get sticky very fast. “Sweet Jesus” is not a popular term in many churches. “The sated appetite spurns honey, but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet”(Prov. 27:7). Want honey? Follow bees. Want Heaven? Follow Beatitudes. Fed-up people have little use for a Sweet Jesus, one who feeds hungry people merely because they are hungry and loved. Child-souls love Pooh and honey – and Jesus … Continue reading Advent Word 2020, Day 14 ❤️ ‘Honey’ ❤️
Catherine Lee 