But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. the path we make Posted in Advent, art, blessings, Book of Isaiah, Gospel of John, lectionary, sacred time | 6 Comments », Image: Crossing the Threshold © Jan Richardson, Lectionary readings for Advent 1, Year B: —Isaiah 9.2. God sends the Spirit to him. The role includes responsibility for local delivery of academic programmes and ministry training, working with partner dioceses, as well as teaching and assessment of students, and vital pastoral and formational work. You don’t want your readers coming late because they ran home to grab the copy they forgot. In the reading for the first Saturday of Advent, Babylon, the symbol of sin and idolatry, has fallen. Isaiah's prophecy foretells the coming of Christ, and of His triumph over sin. But it is not without light, or astounding grace. How it accompanies us even when we cannot see it. Posted in art, blessings, Book of Isaiah, Christmas, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, lectionary, sacred time | 6 Comments », Image: Testify to the Light © Jan Richardson, Lectionary readings for Advent 3, Year B: by Gertrud Mueller Nelson. Psalm 83:1, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. Do NOT be quick. Keeping Watch in the Season
I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me” (2 Samuel 7:12b,14). gives way. As we listen to Isaiah call Israel to conversion, we should think about those things that we know we need to cease doing and resolve to remove them from our lives this Advent, to prepare our souls for the coming of Christ. I have gathered up these Christmas Eve and Christmas Day reflections here for you. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Advent Door possible. When Jesus warns us to keep awake and be on the watch, it could seem as though he were recommending hypervigilance. Advent is a season of joyful anticipation, and Isaiah invites us to look forward to the coming of the Messiah, to prepare the way of the Lord. John pares away the Christmas story to its essence: Every valley shall be filled, Entering a Contemplative
for shining forth But the Old Testament people of Israel also represents the New Testament Church, so the call to repentance applies to us as well. The story of Christmas began long before the birth of Christ. As we move through Advent this year, I’ll gather up an armload of gifts from the library for you. In this Christmas Eve reflection, I wrote about wanting to know the sense of arrival that Isaiah evokes in this passage. Join us for an online Advent retreat in association with Canterbury Press. During Advent, formal readings are taken from Jeremiah, Baruch, Zephaniah, and Micah, but it is Isaiah’s voice that rings out over all the others. Provide readers with a full script, printed out as well as emailed. Each week I’ll share links to previous reflections for the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday, along with reflections from other years that relate to that week’s readings. Everything else about faith depends on it. Isaiah 63 of dreaming. undefined The Vineyard of the Lord. how beneath the wind, Sun and moon are cast-aside creations: “The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21.23). How then can we be saved? To subscribe, enter your address in the “Subscribe by Email” box near the top of the right sidebar at The Advent Door, and click the “Subscribe” button below your email address. This marks ten years since we first opened The Advent Door. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. their singing Look how much easier it is for scammers who have found out the name and identity details of their target. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions. Rejoicing is what happens when, in the midst of the darkness that attends us, we open our hearts to the Christ who comes to us still. A luminous day. This week, John the Baptist, along with his predecessor Isaiah, has been calling me to remember what it means to prepare to encounter another: in this case, of course, to come into the presence of one who is not just created in the image of God but who is God. It is often said that knowing a name gives you power over that person. In our keenest sorrow, in our deepest darkness, Christ entered as joy enfleshed. This is what Christ came to show us, to embody in our midst. —Isaiah 35.1, Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, Advent 3: Isaiah 35.1-10. And in the alternate reading from Luke 1—well, one can hardly find a more eloquent testimony than the words Mary sings about the God who lifts up the lowly and fills the hungry with good things. It felt like I was making and living inside my own Advent calendar. fragile but How about you? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. But, like the servants, we take on that vigilance as a community. about rock faces It matters that we bear witness to the Light that holds us all, In describing what the Baptist has come to do, Luke evokes the potent words of Isaiah, words that are full of an ancient hope for one who will come to restore and redeem: The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Justice shall be the band around his waist” (Isaiah 11:1,2a,4a,5a). Being afraid of anger is like being afraid of pain. Celebration is what happens when we allow sorrow to have its say but refuse to let it have the final word. Blessings. If you’re not already a subscriber to The Advent Door, you can sign up to receive these blog posts in your email inbox during Advent and Christmas. Every week there’s something new on this website, so keep popping back in to check. Using Jan’s words Yet there are glimpses and glimmers, hints and signs. and how it sounds These luminous moments also invite me to remember that the season of Advent isn’t simply about waiting for the light to show up. Posted in Advent, art, blessings, Book of Isaiah, Gospel of Mark, lectionary, Psalms | 5 Comments », Image: The Desert in Advent © Jan Richardson, The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, The reading from the end of Isaiah reveals the Advent experience as one of contrasts and mysteries. It has been—well, shall we say illuminating?—to me to retrace the path of that light as I’ve gathered together the reflections I have offered here for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day over the past decade. By the time Christmas Eve and Christmas Day arrive, it all comes down to this: God has come to us, has taken flesh in this world, has arrived as the light for which we have longed. He showed us that celebration is not a someday thing, a state of joyous completion that we cannot attain until life gets better. In the passage of Daniel (7.13-14) which underpins Mark’s account, the Son of Man ascends before the throne of the Ancient of Days.