Watch, Wait, and Wonder: A Midweek Series for Advent

Watch, Wait, and Wonder: A Midweek Series for Advent

It is now time for you to wake from sleep;

the night is far spent; the light draws near.

Hymn - Ready My Heart by Steve Bell

        Listen Here

Let us pray.

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come.

As darkness falls, may we watch for your light.

Keep us awake and alert to your coming

and strengthen us to the end,

that we may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Readings

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

    Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

    to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

    Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,

    so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

    and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

    more than those who watch for the morning,

    more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!

    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

    and with him is great power to redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel

    from all its iniquities.

God of compassion, you sent your Word into the world to announce the dawn of salvation. Do not leave us in the depths of our sins, but give to us the fullness of your redeeming grace; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. 

A reading from the Gospel according to Mark (13:33-37)

    Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Reflection

From Steve Bell's Pilgrim Year Series "Advent", Chapter 2

    Several years ago, just prior to the beginning of Advent, I felt a sense of dread billowing within my spirit. I didn't have the energy to head back into another Christmas season, with its relentless pressures and obligations. nor did I have the fortitude to stomach the superficial religious platitudes, and consequent secular defenses, associated with the culture wars surrounding the meaning of the season. Equally, knowing my lack of discipline and restraint, I was already feeling bloated with excess before the season even started: too much food, too much drink, too mucn visiting, and too many gifts.

    Something in me wanted desperately to distance myself from the excesses, but another part of me was still wanting something...longing for something...waiting for something.

    What is it we are waiting for? What is this "inconsolable longing" that dogs our days?

    My father, a prison chaplain for most of his life, did a lot of work in addictions counselling. He and his colleagues came to understand that the drive behind most addictions was an acute longing for transcendence - for a profound and intimate connection to the Holy One who is wholly other - in short, for god. all of our strivings, appetite, and desires, all of our ambitions, rituals, and even friendships are, in some recessed way, fueled by an innate longing to return to the One who comes to us, and who meets us in Christ.

    Nothing is wrong with our natural drives themselves, any more than there is something wrong with our thirst for water or our hunger for food. In fact, the very existence of hunger and thirst is the first reliable indicator that there may well be something like food and water to meet these needs. So, too, with the myriad emotional and spiritual hungers that rob us of peace and leave us restless and agitated. The problem comes when we medicate those drives with false consolations that only increase the appetite and leave us unfulfilled.

    I am learning, or trying to learn, what Saint John of the Cross stated so succinctly regarding that which ultimately satisfies our souls:

        "Not the goods of the earth nor the goods of heaven,

            but only the honour and glory of God."

    It seems almost too good to be true that one could come to be so utterly enraptured by the honour and glory of God enough to banish all other hungers, all other desire. And yet, anyone who has ever been in love knows the intensity of romantic love and how blissfully myopic a love can be. Perhaps those sorts of romances, short-lived as they often are, are still, like the taste of bread and wine on the tongue, foretastes of the kingdom of love: a heaven unequalled by any other bliss.

    Advent begins with focused attention to the agony of our most profound longings. The task is to let the truth behind those longings rise to the surface before suppressing them with lesser fare, because the longings themselves may be the first indicators of the coming One who is our true fulfillment, satiation, and joy.

Hymn - Keening for the Dawn by Steve Bell

        Listen Here

Prayers

In peace, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the church of God,

and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise,

let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the health of the creation, for abundant harvests that all may share,

and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For public servants, the government, and those who protect us;

for those who work to bring peace, justice, healing, and protection

in this and every place, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For those who travel, for those who are sick and suffering,

and for those who are in captivity, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For deliverance in the time of affliction, wrath, danger, and need,

let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For all servants of the church, for this assembly,

and for all people who await from the Lord great and abundant mercy,

let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

Guide us waking, O Lord,

and guard us sleeping;

that awake we may watch with Christ

and asleep we may rest in peace.

Amen.

Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

forever and ever. Amen.

Blessing

Even as we wait, watch, and wonder,

God is with us.