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FOR MONDAY, ADVENT I
“What is something you have joyfully waited for? Something unpleasant or painful you waited for?” by the Rev. Kenneth White-Spunner, St. John's, Monroeville
Psalm 13 is what is known as an individual psalm of lament. It is beautiful in that it mimics life in its truest, most authentic form. When I read this particular psalm, it reminds me that the human condition never changes. Life is full of ups and downs. When I reflect on something that I have joyfully waited for, I can’t help thinking about waiting for the day I would be ordained. I felt like a little boy waiting for Christmas morning. The excitement and joy were overflowing!
And when I reflect on something painful or unpleasant that I’ve waited on, I think back to waiting on a parent to go on to the next life. I was filled with anxiety and sadness, and it seemed too much to bear at times. Life is rarely purely joy or purely pain, it is usually a mixture of the two. But God is there with us, holding our hands and loving us. We can scream out in anguish one minute and sing songs of joy the next, and that’s ok, because we’re human, and that’s what life is like.
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.