Advent II 12/10/23
The Still Point
A Time of Meditation and Reflection
The Second Sunday of Advent
... At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance...
T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton
Peace on each one who comes in need;
Peace on each one who comes in joy.
Peace on each one who offers prayers;
Peace on each one who offers song.
Peace of the Maker, Peace of the Son,
Peace of the Spirit, the Triune One.
Opening Prayer
Come, O come Emmanuel, you are the way, the truth and the life; Come, living Savior, come to your world which waits for you. Hear this prayer for your love’s sake. Amen.
The Gospel Mark 13:24-37
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Poem: “John” by Lucille Clifton (b. 1936)
somebody coming in blackness
like a star
and the world be a great bush
on his head
and his eyes be fire
in the city
and his mouth be true as time
he be calling the people brother
even in the prison
even in the jail
i'm just only a baptist preacher
somebody bigger than me coming
in blackness like a star
Meditation
"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness" has become synonymous with expressing an unpopular opinion. In the face of so much unconscionable violence and wasteful death as wars howl around our hurting world, and even in the face of growing animosity and rancor in our own nation, working for peace and loving one another are coming to seem more and more like "unpopular opinions"” It calls to mind Bob Dylan's plaintive lament: "How many times can a man look up before he sees the sky? How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. The answer is blowin' in the wind."
It may feel lonely and hopeless to be the only voice (or one of the few) crying out in the wilderness. But when we feel lonely or hopeless in our own wilderness and cry for justice and peace, we can take courage from how Mark's Gospel begins. It begins not by describing a voice crying out in vain; rather, John the Baptist appears in the wilderness to foretell the "good tidings"” the coming of the power that will level uneven ground, the coming of the one who will comfort and feed. When John the Baptist proclaims this truth, he is not proclaiming what will happen in some distant future. Jesus the Christ, the Emmanuel, God-with-us, is alive with him, in the same time and place, in the same here and now, feeding, comforting, and testifying to the truth that is boundless unconditional love.
When we cry our own wilderness cries for justice and peace to reign over all of creation, we do not proclaim a lonely far-off future. The future we long for, when no one will make war anymore, is already in our midst, already becoming real, always true. This moment asks us to proclaim that truth ceaselessly, following the example of our prophet John, to persist in naming the holy name of God - the name that is LOVE - without stopping to allow the roaring death-silence of violence to overtake its light. This good future is ours, it is already becoming, and it arrives more each day when we cry its holy name in the dark wilderness of war. "A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5)
Questions for Reflection
Consider the wilderness. What does that word evoke for you? A peaceful, tranquil immersion in nature? A cold relentless assault of the elements? What does "wilderness" mean for you spiritually? Is a spiritual wilderness a place of quiet where the still, small voice speaks? Is a spiritual wilderness an experience of feeling unmoored, unsheltered, and isolated?
What are the wildernesses we traverse in our lives? What are the wildernesses our community, our nation, our world navigates?
If you could cry one sentence of your deepest longing into the vastness of the wilderness, what would be your cry today? For yourself? For our community? For our world?
When has a wilderness cry felt like loneliness in your life? When has a wilderness cry felt like preparing the way for the glory of the Lord to be revealed in you?
Prayers
We bring before God someone whom we have met or remembered today
We bring to God someone who is hurting tonight and needs our prayer
We bring to God a troubled situation in our world
We bring to God, silently, someone whom we find hard to forgive or trust
We bring ourselves to God that we might grow in generosity of spirit, clarity of mind, and warmth of affection
We offer our thanks to God for the blessings in our lives
We name before God those who have died.
Gracious God, you hear all our prayers: those we speak aloud, those we hold in our hearts, and those prayers for which we have no words. Hear the prayers of your people, and grant them as may be best for us, for the sake of your holy name. Amen.
Accept our thanks for all you have done, O God. Our hands were empty, and you filled them.
May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us every step of the way and be our guide as our road changes and turns, and the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Giver of life be among us now and remain with us forever. Amen.
Reflections this Month, offered by Katie Schmidt
Cover art this Week: Kehinde Wiley St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness, 2013
