- Death Cafe is Friday December 13th at 4pm
- Christmas Eve Service are at 7pm
- We are open for Quiet Prayer on Christmas Morning from 9-10am
- Advent at Home with Owen and Charlotte has begun for each week
- Enjoy the Recorded Reflection HERE
We’ve survived Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. Now that we’re broke and the trees are lit, we head into a time of Peace.
One of my favorite reminders is that Stress is Resistance to What Is. It’s pretty much the root of the spiritual concept that painful things are inevitable, but suffering is not required. I think it’s one of the gifts of spirit and faith that we can trust and surrender, even when things are painful. We spent a week (or more) in the inevitable no time, must do, buy more stuff, spend-spend-spend, chaos and busy time–especially if we weren’t paying attention and it suddenly was before us without us preparing for it.
It’s one of the those annual transition times and transitions are almost always hard, even “good” transitions are hard. This one is a quick shift from one season to another. From fall to Advent and Christmas (and all the other Holy Seasons that arrive in this wintery time). Sometimes, there’s that resistance to it. It can’t be Thanksgiving. It can’t be time to shop. It can’t be snowing! It can’t be Christmas-time!
There was a week, or so, of a really messy transition and in the middle of that messy, we lit up the candle of Hope. The Hope candle reminds us of our faith, our spirit, and to hold on to what matters most in the darkness.
Next, as the transition more fully becomes the something new, there’s a settling in. There’s an acceptance acknowledged as we light the candle after Hope: Peace. A still point. A rest note. A pause.
We’ve cleaned up the feast and put up the lights. The dust settles a bit. The stuff is bought. The lights are sparkling. The snow is falling. We’re here, right now. Present in this moment in time that gets quieter and darker.
Hope and chaos lead us toward prayer and peace. Hope leads us into the practices of Advent. Go to a secret place (a quiet place; a peaceful place) and pray. This is one of the ways we are taught by Jesus to pray. Don’t pray or give alms to show off for others, but close the doors and pray in quiet…in peace.
When we do this, we find that we might be alone…but not lonely. In the emptiness, we can feel alone, but contemplative prayer (presence prayers) reminds us that we are never alone. Hope was one single candle in the dark. That’s scary.
Peace lights up the second candle and it’s not quite so scary. There’s a settling down with peace. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t things unraveling or messy or painful or uncertain, but there is a sense of acceptance. And within acceptance is a sense of peace. Remember stress is resistance to what is and stress can lead to overwhelm, which are two different things. I love how Brene Brown puts it: stress is barely managing the Whac-A-Mole game at the carnival, and overwhelm is leaving the carnival in tears. And, not being able to find the car.
The peace candle doesn’t make everything okay, but it does invite us to settle in, hunker down, and trust. It invites us to be alone, but never alone. It invites us into solitude and quiet. It invites us to quiet the mind (and the stress) to listen. Listen to the Sacred Whisper. Because God (Universe-Spirit) speaks in whispers first and it’s usually not a good idea to wait for the kick out the front door.
I think of transition times in life as times of the first candle. The road is unclear, things are dark and scary, and sometimes we want to turn back to the more familiar and seemingly easier road. Often, it’s just easier because it’s known. Sometimes we’re so scared of the unknown that we can’t see clearly and we allow ourselves to be blinded. But there is, if we look and listen, a light of hope shining the way before us. There is a light at the edge of the deep chasm between one thing and the next. That is the light of Hope reminding us that a bridge will appear when we take the first steps. Hope is the carrier of faith and trust and surrender to that something bigger than ourselves.
We often fill the transition with more chaos and noise (stress and overwhelm) and never settle into the peacefulness that comes next. We don’t take that first step. In our fear and worry, we can’t see and hear, and we sit in the darkness longer than needs be. We wait for things to become obvious—waiting to see the whole bridge before we begin to walk. We let ourselves lose real hope and forget to listen to the still, small voice that leads to peace. We must trust that first step that is full of Hope and leads toward Peace. God (Universe-Spirit) will not let you fall.
We often forget to remember that sometimes the beacons and lanterns and lamps of life are often not light at all, but a still small voice…a Sacred Whisper. Sometimes spoken by God (Universe-Spirit) and sometimes spoken through life around us.
It’s not perfection, or even ease, we are seeking in the peace and quiet. We are seeking to trust on the journey of life even when there is only one candle flame against the darkness.
There’s a natural ebb and flow to life of dark times and darker times. Light times and lighter times. It is inevitable that we will have challenges and pain. It is not inevitable that we have to suffer in them. And it is God’s (Universe-Spirit) Love that is always there to hold and comfort us in the aloneness and grief. We simply must…trust.
In the story of Mary and Joseph so far we see hope and peace play out. They both are in the dark with big decisions to make. There’s no easy choice, but Mary chooses Yes. She doesn’t have to say yes. There is a whole conversation around if and how many women the angel visited before Mary said Yes? How many frightened people said No to the still, small voice that is the angel of God?
Just imagine, for a moment, what she is saying yes to. All of it from the very beginning to…the end. How easy it would be to say No and stay in the familiar and the safe. How many times do we say No when we know the whispers are saying: Say Yes?
Joseph’s first choice is to quietly set Mary aside. It’s the kindest decision with the information he has (remember his other options include public disgrace and stoning to death). He takes that first step into the unknown and learns something new that changes his choice. Sometimes we make a choice and learn more and that changes our course, but we have to take the first step to get there.
He agrees to stay with Mary through it all. They choose to cross the bridge together.
We might imagine the sleepless nights, the stress, and the overwhelm (perhaps) as the choices are waiting to be made. Joseph unable to sleep and dreaming restless dreams. Mary’s trembling. These are experiences that we are familiar with in our own lives.
It’s those transitions moments of “what do I do” that are often the hardest and perhaps one of the reasons we rush into rash decisions rather than pause to listen first. There’s a balance to not waiting forever to make the decision and also not making a rash decision without pausing to clear the mind and listen first. I once read that this first is like being so afraid of the unknown that we put up a lawn chair at the crossroads and stay forever stuck where we are…not willing to grow and change. The second might relieve us from the momentary stress of the unknown, but it often leads to far more messes that might have been unavoidable along the way. There’s a balance to choosing and choosing wisely.
After Mary and Joseph hope and pray, they make their decisions and there is a sense of peace. Acceptance…a yes. It doesn’t make things easy. But there is a peace in choosing. Choosing to take a deep centering breath and to trust enough to see it through. Choosing to light up another candle in the darkness; lighting up the candle of peace that sits quietly next to hope. One more step glowing on the bridge across the great chasms.
It is in the peaceful moments that the Sacred Whisper can most easily get through. The Sacred Whisper is rarely heard in times of stress and overwhelm. This is why our years are peppered with spaces of Quiet and Prayer. It is why we have these times of Peace, Quiet, and Stillness. It is why Jesus reminds us to go to a quiet place and pray.
This is the time of Peace to allow the Sacred Whisper to breathe over our lives.
Be still. Be at peace. Listen. And know.
May you go into this new week refreshes and renewed. May you hold close to Hope and Peace in the darkness. May you feel the light and warmth of Grace unfolding in your life.
Community Church of North Orange & Tully 