2nd Sunday of Advent Reflection
Miracles of an Everyday God – Advent Sunday 2 – 2021 Year C – (Luke 3:1-6)
In an instant everything changes; birth, death, ageing, that moment when we first recognise the love of our lives, the birth of our child, the wild storm, or the glory of a sunrise. All the miracles that surround us if we but have the eyes of the heart to perceive.
These are the miracles of our every-day God working in our every-day lives. Although it does and will continue to happen to each one of us, we are not prepared. There is an intake of breath, the heart stops and time slows as though it wants each moment forever set in remembrance. In a single instant, all our carefully constructed manicured lives with their delusions and illusions crack and crumble and we stand in awe at a power totally beyond our understanding, or control.
Over and over again, Scripture affirms that God acts within these moments. God acts within creation and within our lives, suddenly and immediately; unexpectedly, in an instant. Over and over again Scripture affirms that God is a God of surprises. God surprises us; Jesus surprises us.
Yet the circle of forgetfulness continues to overtake us, finding us unprepared, preoccupied. Disease and death are no longer companions in our homes. These inconveniences have become distant and insulated in those carefully curated distant special places of ‘care’. And thus it comes about that ‘care’ and the practice of ‘care’ leaves our homes and our families; care leaves our hearts and we no longer have the eyes of the heart to perceive.
We become driven by the need for diversion. Being always on the move and never leaving ourselves without distraction, we avoid all those disturbing thoughts. Without the choice of our birth or death, our grand posturing is just an illusion that fills the pages of the book of life. This is the type of philosophy that leads us inexorably into the grey zone of ‘why bother’. This is a greyness that enfolds us all in the arms of despair at some time in our lives.
How can we find our way back to awe and amazement as we prepare the way for the little child Jesus coming to us in total innocence and dependence? This little child Jesus is the blueprint for all life and for every life. This is God coming to us and showing us who we are. If this child Jesus is holy, so also is the life of every child. This is the hope that stirs in our hearts as we gaze into the eyes of a little child. This is the same hope that raises from the ashes as we witness two young people committing the future to each other, ‘you and your life are important to me and I want to share my life with you’.
As we continue our preparations for Christmas and the New Year, let us challenge ourselves to eliminate these distractions. Don’t allow the stress of the Christmas season or the shopping frenzy of Black Friday, to distract us from what is really is important.
Let us endeavour to spend more time with the family and friends and less time at the shopping malls. Let us allow our hearts to break at injustice and loss, let us touch the suffering of our earth; to see with new eyes of compassion and forgiveness.
May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
- The Church Year and Advent - December 1, 2024
- Easter Sunday Reflection: The Way – Love Overcomes Violence & Death - March 29, 2024
- Palm Sunday Reflection: Re-Espousing And Anointing - March 22, 2024
