Last week in our meditation we remained awake and alert, ready to welcome the Lord's presence, even in the midst of dreary darkness. We welcomed unknowing and uncertainty. We allowed the nebulous darkness and waited in the stillness. In the second week of Advent, as we wait, what message may come to us?
Our New Testament reading this week comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3 verses 1-12. In this passage we receive a wake-up call from John the Baptist, the voice of the one who cried in the wilderness. His message did not appear to come from a place of unknowing, but instead from a very different place in the mind and heart, a place of intense zeal and passion!
There is talk of what we know, and what we think we know: "...do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.'" John the Baptist called for repentance from the conventional ways to which we've grown accustomed in all our comfortable knowledge of how the world works, and how the Kingdom of God works. He was speaking to the spiritual leaders and the devout people in his time and place in history, and if we want to extrapolate that message to our time and our people, what do we make of the call to repentance? It seems like an invitation to take a good look at what we think we know, and embrace a willingness to open up to a new worldview, to turn away from the familiar, and again, to be ready for something big about to happen! As Monty Python fans will appreciate, this announcement sounded a lot like the refrain, "And now for something completely different!"
Read the passage yourself and see if you get that sort of impression. Perhaps for you it will be something else, again, something completely different. Think about the theme for this week's worship, that of turning away from the past and the habitual. Then, prepare yourself for meditation.
Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Set a timer for the time that you have to meditate.
You are invited once more to the experience of open stillness. Without judgment, welcome what is happening for you here and now. Take a few moments to allow the quiet---allow inactivity---allow receptive consciousness. Embrace this silent, reflective time.
As this time draws to a close, behind your closed eyes, see this word, "Turn."
Sit with this word.
Here is a prayer for your contemplative meditation this week: Breathing in, I listen to your voice. Breathing out, I turn to receive your message. Breathing in, I listen. Breathing out, I turn. Come Lord.
Our New Testament reading this week comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3 verses 1-12. In this passage we receive a wake-up call from John the Baptist, the voice of the one who cried in the wilderness. His message did not appear to come from a place of unknowing, but instead from a very different place in the mind and heart, a place of intense zeal and passion!
There is talk of what we know, and what we think we know: "...do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.'" John the Baptist called for repentance from the conventional ways to which we've grown accustomed in all our comfortable knowledge of how the world works, and how the Kingdom of God works. He was speaking to the spiritual leaders and the devout people in his time and place in history, and if we want to extrapolate that message to our time and our people, what do we make of the call to repentance? It seems like an invitation to take a good look at what we think we know, and embrace a willingness to open up to a new worldview, to turn away from the familiar, and again, to be ready for something big about to happen! As Monty Python fans will appreciate, this announcement sounded a lot like the refrain, "And now for something completely different!"
Read the passage yourself and see if you get that sort of impression. Perhaps for you it will be something else, again, something completely different. Think about the theme for this week's worship, that of turning away from the past and the habitual. Then, prepare yourself for meditation.
Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Set a timer for the time that you have to meditate.
You are invited once more to the experience of open stillness. Without judgment, welcome what is happening for you here and now. Take a few moments to allow the quiet---allow inactivity---allow receptive consciousness. Embrace this silent, reflective time.
As this time draws to a close, behind your closed eyes, see this word, "Turn."
Sit with this word.
Here is a prayer for your contemplative meditation this week: Breathing in, I listen to your voice. Breathing out, I turn to receive your message. Breathing in, I listen. Breathing out, I turn. Come Lord.
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