November 27, 2011, I picked Rich up at the airport; he was visibly shaken. His flight from Seoul was long. Do you know that feeling? You have hours of air travel, and all you want is to be home. You watch the inflight map checking the time—the time to and the time at Destination. But, you can’t wait, you think of your loved ones, you think about your bed, and if you are like me after traveling internationally, you think about Mexican food.
This trip for Rich was the beginning of our family’s unwanted pilgrimage through midwifing my husband’s son (my stepson) through all the diagnoses and treatments of sarcoma cancer. Ben had been diagnosed just weeks before Rich’s trip. Rich and his son went to be with Ben for surgery to remove the tumor, and now all we could do was wait. Wait for test results, wait to see what treatment would be next, wait to see if the cancer spread, wait, wait, wait, and while we waited, we held on to hope as tight as you would hold your breath swimming underwater knowing you will reach the other end of the pool. Only we did not know when or how we would all get to the other side of this.
Tomorrow is the beginning of the Church’s liturgical calendar. It is the first day of Advent. Advent (from Latin adventus, “coming”) is the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas and also of preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. We enter a time of practicing expectant waiting. The season of Advent is filled with symbolism (advent wreaths, candles, calendars), and the four Sundays before Christmas tell the story of how God became like us. The Apostle Paul says it like this:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
Every year at this time, I reflect on how I am expecting Jesus to come into my world. How will Jesus come:
Jesus told us how he would come in Matthew 5. I hope you can read these words and find solace. He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
These words of blessedness give me hope to stay in a heart posture of expectant waiting through this Advent season. Will you join me in a daily practice?
Pick a time each day to sit with these words of blessedness. Meditate on each line, maybe one each day. Do one a day and then start over. As you meditate, for instance, on “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” you can ask the Spirit to bring to mind people to pray for. You may want to write prayers as people come to mind, or you might just want to hold them before the Lord, asking God to come to them in whatever way is needed. Go through each line of blessedness prayerfully, waiting to see what will come. Expectant waiting is when we attune ourselves to the reality around us, when we acknowledge, all is not yet right, and join the ongoing redemptive Story of Creator, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen
Today is All Saints’ Day
Recently we were with our daughter and her kiddos. Our grandchildren attend a Catholic school, and our granddaughter has a project coming up. She has to pick three Saints, submit the names to her teacher, choose one for her to study, and give a report. After talking about different Saints, she decided on Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, and Joan of Arc.
All Saints’ Day is observed in the Roman Catholic, some Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Communion. It is a Christian feast day of the highest honor celebrating all of the saints of the Church, whether they are known or unknown.
As we were talking through which saints she might be interested in studying, I told her when I was confirmed (I was raised Roman Catholic), I took the name of Teresa of Avila as my confirmation saint. I was fascinated by her story. Teresa was a Spanish Carmelite nun who lived in the 1500s. She was a mystic, a teacher of prayer, and the first female recognized as a Doctor of the Church. (Doctor is Latin for “teacher.”) She was a reformer; Teresa’s life was dedicated to restoring contemplative prayer and a life of discipline to fall more deeply in love with and gain unity with Christ. She used metaphors to describe her relationship with God. Prayer and various practices grounded her in such a way that she wrote, “The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives move fruit.” And on another occasion, she wrote:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands; yours are the feet; yours are the eyes; you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
And another:
“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”
In times of shaking, rupture and upheaval, where do you find anchors? The conversation with my granddaughter reminded me, no, revealed to me my anchors in faith. As a 12-year-old, taking the confirmation name of Teresa, there was no way to know where my life would take me. Here I am today. I have my doctorate in ministry, and I have a passion for cultivating practices that ground myself and others in the love of God, and I am living in a time of Church reform.
More than any time in my life, anything that can be shaken is being shaken. I am grateful my grandchildren are being formed in the Way of Love. Through baptism, eucharist, and the remembering of the Saints who have gone before us, they are being firmly established in faith that has preceded them by generations. Just a few months I had the privilege of baptizing these beautiful grandchildren into the great faith of the Church.
