(Unsplash/Greg Rakozy)
This Advent season will be different from all the others we've experienced. Those familiar Advent themes of longing for God and waiting in hope take on a special meaning for us in the midst of the storm that surrounds us. As always, God is perhaps giving us a special opportunity this year to grow deeper in hope and stronger in the embrace of God's love.
As St. Paul says, we've each been given a gift to share with the people of God. And each gift is important to the building up of the body of Christ. So, I offer you the gift of these Advent reflections as a way of inviting you to practice hope during this time when hope is being challenged. There's one prayer reflection of each week of Advent, and a final one for Christmas. Let us together enter this season and wait in hope for how our God might reveal the length and breath, the height and depth of divine love for us.
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Beyond the moon and stars
This first week of Advent is the beginning of our journey into discovering God once again, this year, this time. And the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth has taught us is that our God has entered into the very heart of creation, waiting to be discovered in the most unexpected places. God uses our very humanity to reveal divinity. It's in the middle of our deepest hunger, our longing for companionship, our needing to belong, our sadness and loss, and our greatest disappointments, that God will be revealed to us. Let us watch and wait together.
