The Calm of Darkness: Praying Advent
At this time of year, we get all kinds of imagery in the scriptures that are speaking about the end times. When conflated with popular literature, we might begin to understand the readings as readings that are filled with doom and gloom, and we might begin to wonder why these rather gloomy readings are appointed not only for the end of the church year but also for the start of the new church year on Advent 1. We might begin to think of dark and light as opposed to one another versus being able to see both of them as invitations deeper into the divine life.
In the season of Advent, we get plenty of images about darkness. And of course, it is easy for us to think of darkness as something to be feared. Instead of understanding the quiet of the darkness to be an invitation to draw closer to God, we get consumed with fear. I wonder what it might be like for us to welcome the darkness as another form of blessing and invitation for us to draw closer to God? Perhaps, it is something that we do already without really recognizing that the shades of night are just as important to our experience of Advent as the light of Christmas morning is to our experience of Christmas Day.
In Advent, we are invited to sit in the darkness and to reflect on how God is inviting us even deeper into God. The season is one that invites us to welcome the darkness as a place of quiet and of reflection. We are invited to know the darkness of the pre-dawn sky and to use that time to be in conversation with God as we move closer and closer to the advent of the Christ child on Christmas. It is a season that is inviting us to know the glory of God precisely because we welcome the clam of the night. It is in the wee hours of the morning or in the quiet of the night just before sleep that we are able to experience the blessing of moments of peace and of prayer with God. In the hustle and bustle of our days, it is rather challenging for us to carve out time for conversation with God. Beyond the “please let the lights be green” prayer as we hurry between meetings, intentional time with God in the middle of the day is often left to the side of our agendas for the day. Instead, we tend to connect with God more intentionally when we are shrouded in the darkness of the early morning or the late evening.
In the coming Advent season, I invite you enter into practices of prayer throughout your day. If you need a meditation booklet, we still have plenty of the Promise & Praise books from Forward Movement for this Advent season. Take one with you during your day. When you reach mid-morning, turn back to the daily reflection and the word offered for the day. How has that word popped up in your day? How might you spend 10-15 minutes in prayer with God as you reflect on the day so far?
As you move through the day, continue to carve out small increments of time to spend with God. Invite God into the busy-ness of life. I wonder how you will be changed by that more intentional relationship you develop with God, and I wonder how your experience of Christmas morning will be even more meaningful thanks to the time you spent with God during the season of Advent.
We are invited to welcome the darkness of the Advent season as a blessing and as a time for us to draw closer to God as God draws closer to us with the advent of Christ.
In Christ,
Hunter+
