Advent Prayer
In our secret yearnings
we wait for your coming,
and in our grinding despair
we doubt that you will.
And in this privileged place
we are surrounded by witnesses who yearn more than do we
and by those who despair more deeply than do we.
Look upon your church and its pastors
in this season of hope
which runs so quickly to fatigue
and in this season of yearning
which becomes so easily quarrelsome.
Give us the grace and the impatience
to wait for your coming to the bottom of our toes,
to the edges of our fingertips.
We do not want our several worlds to end.
Come in your power
and come in your weakness
in any case
and make all things new.
Amen.
Walter Brueggemann
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Advent leads up to a birth day. At Christmas we celebrate him who said he came to free the oppressed and the imprisoned, to heal suffering hearts, and to stand by the forgotten: Jesus Christ. He showed us that God is not somewhere far off, but close to us, like a person who has come to dwell with us. Like a brother who lives and suffers with us. Like someone who loves us.
This someone is coming toward us—and toward you too. He will walk with you, no matter how difficult your path, no matter how dark or long. He will show you your destination—a great, beautiful one. And when you reach it, you will be able to say: now all is well; everything had its reason.
Remember this, even when everyone around you says that things are only getting worse; that the catastrophes coming toward us cannot be avoided. To this you can reply: No, they are not the final reality. Because of grace, we have a future before us that cannot be manipulated and is not dependent on human folly.
For us, every new day is a door through which we can go, expectant, confident, and patient. The God we have come to know through Jesus Christ is coming to meet us, and our path toward him leads into the light.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
As Christians we do not believe in walls,
but that life lies open before us;
that the gate can always be unbarred;
that there is no final abandonment or desertion.
We do not believe that it can ever be “too late.”
We believe that the world is full of doors that can be opened. Between us and others.
Between the people around us.
Between today and tomorrow.
Our own inner person can be unlocked too:
even within our own selves,
there are doors that need to be opened.
If we open them and enter,
we can unlock ourselves, too,
and so await whatever is coming to free us and make us whole.
~ Jörg Zink from “Doors to the Feast”
Take the path that leads inward through the days of Advent. Set aside for yourself, if it is possible, time to breathe in; time to stop feeling that you’re on the run or under stress. Allow something to happen inside you. Turn your thoughts and hopes to the things that count.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
I love the season of Advent, Lord...
I love the muted colors:
shades of violet, rose and purple;
I love the plaintive ancient song:
O Come, Emmanuel...
I love this month-long refuge
from the hustle and the bustle
and your blessing on my waiting
for the promise of your coming...
But let me not forget, Lord,
it's Advent everywhere...
It's Advent in the darkness
where the hues of joy have faded...
It's Advent in Ukraine,
where bombing mutes the carols...
It's Advent for the migrants
seeking safety and asylum...
It's Advent for the lonely,
the abandoned and rejected...
It's Advent for the poor
who can't afford what Christmas costs...
It's Advent for the ones who wait
for blessings they've been promised...
It's Advent where the people long
for justice and for freedom...
It's Advent where your coming
is the peace for which we long;
it's Advent where your peace, Lord,
is the gift we need to share...
As Advent wraps its arms around
my heart, my soul, my prayer
let me not forget or doubt, Lord,
that Advent's everywhere...
Amen.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
God comes to us in light and in shadow. Aflame in a bush calling out to Moses, brilliant in the star that led wise men to a savior in a manger, and radiant in Christ transfigured on a mountain top. But as poet Rainer Marie Rilke noted, God can also be found deep in the darkness. A billowing cloud led Israel through the desert, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary so that she might bear the Messiah, a voice from a cloud spoke of a beloved Son. As we await the celebration of the birth of the Light of the World, we enter into the darker days of Advent for reflection on this God of light and shadow.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
All of us live in exile in a real way. As St. Paul puts it, we see as “through a glass, darkly”, separated always partially from God and each other. We experience some love, some community, some restfulness, but never these in their fullness. Karl Rahner once said, “in the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable, we learn that here, in this life, there is no finished symphony.”
Advent will begin on Sunday November 30. We exiles await the full realization of the Kingdom of God, when the arc of the moral universe will bend toward full justice and equality for all people. And the love of God will inevitably prevail over all. Thanks be to God.
Let us wait together this Advent season-
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
In these hard times, sometimes looking up and fixing our eyes on the One who never breaks his gaze on us is enough.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Perhaps like me, you have increasingly frequent moments when you wish you could do something about all that's going on in our nation and in the world. Most of us don't have the power or authority to make sweeping changes but each of us has power and authority over the integrity of our own lives.
These verses from Romans 20 give us two dozen answers to the question, "What can I do?"
Let your love be sincere:
hate what is evil,
hold on to what is good...
Love one another with mutual affection
and anticipate one another in showing honor...
Do not grow slack in zeal
but be fervent in spirit
and serve the Lord...
Rejoice in hope,
endure in affliction,
and persevere in prayer...
Contribute to the needs of God's people,
offering hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you
- bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice
and weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with one another;
do not be haughty but associate with the lowly
and do not be wise in your own estimation.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.
If possible, insofar as it depends on you,
live at peace with all...
Do not be conquered by evil
but conquer evil with good...
Amen.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
In light of the last few weeks of sermons about developing deeper roots, being aware of our stories and lenses that affect our current lives and experience of God and each other, these questions from Pastor Rich Villodas are timely and helpful:
5 questions that help me gauge my spiritual health:
Am I giving myself to intentional times of prayer and Scripture?
Am I committed to interior examination?
Am I joining my life to the poor and marginalized?
Am I connected to others in ways that foster vulnerability?
Am I growing in love?
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
The Way Through
If we’re going to be honest,
it’s hard to see a pathway out of this.
Empathy might not be dead,
but discord and division have so overgrown
the field, it’s hard to imagine
a way to harvest peace. Of course,
there’s always counting on a miracle.
It works in the movies, although
the truth is clearly that miracles,
by their very nature, are not to
be relied on. Except, of course, that the
caterpillar carries beneath its green skin
tiny fragments of what will become
the monarch butterfly’s wings.
The azure dragonflies you see at play
by any pond or lake or stream
are an echo from 300 million years ago,
when their giant ancestors stormed the skies.
The minerals in your bones aren’t different
than the limestone where those fossils
are found. I’m not saying it’s all
going to be joy and delight.
I’m saying that life
is long, and complicated, and we
belong to a family that has found
a million ways to thrive.
Lynn Ungar
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation