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FOR FRIDAY, ADVENT I
“Where or how have you seen God in your waiting?” by the Rev. Dr. Mary Jayne Ledgerwood, Trinity, Mobile
After the long, long, almost six-month Season after the Day of Pentecost, we enter the beginning of the Church liturgical year with Advent, then Christmastide, then Epiphany, all in a matter of a mere six weeks. This time of year is what I dub the beginning of the revolving door seasons. We step in, and if we’re not ready that whirling door spins us
right out before we’ve had time to wait!
Part of the not-ready comes from the frenetic Western culture in which we live.
Christmas songs—really, mostly winter favorites—repeat on the radio and elevators,
cheesy memes circulate the internet, retail stores decorate for the holiday even before
Thanksgiving, not to mention the push to buy gifts online, in line, and out of line.
Waiting in Advent … faithfully anticipating, lovingly expecting, prayerfully hoping … is
truly a spiritual discipline. Best of all, we are invited into this waiting, and we already
have everything we need to enter the revolving door. We need only take one intentional
step. Then we breathe deeply, slowly, until we begin to feel the Holy Spirit guiding us
into a more meaningful Advent. God is choosing to come once again to be among us as
a vulnerable baby. Wait for it!
Reading for the week: Psalm 13
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain[a] in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Collect for the week:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Join us this Advent as we explore what it’s like to wait! We will be offering a collection of daily questions and reflections inviting us to consider what we experience and learn in our waiting, and how we find God - and God finds us - in our waiting.
Each Sunday a brief video will be shared on Facebook and Instagram to introduce us to a focus and reflection for the week. Each day a question will be posted for us to ponder. You are invited to share your own reflections by replying to these posts or reposting on your personal social media. Please follow and use #diocgcwaits. Be sure to follow our diocesan social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram; search: DioCGC.