Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear Friend,

During Advent do you have an Advent Wreath or an Advent Calendar? Maybe you mark the days by reading from a devotional, by putting another ornament up, or by writing Christmas cards. It could be a flurry of a stroll toward Christmas for you, but the signs around us, the things we do together that mark the season, build up to the great Feast of the Nativity, prepare us for the coming of Christ. The plethora of options for marking the time can be cluttering rather than edifying, but I appreciate the global Advent Calendar that is on Facebook and Instagram, called Advent Word (https://www.adventword.org/). It invites reflection on one word a day, words like light, wild, alert, journey, focus. There is also one online (and printable) based on the Way of Love Rule of Life, with some practical and seasonal ways to live out the callings in the Way of Love Rule of Life (https://www.episcopalchurch.org/files/documents/wol_advent_calendar_2018.pdf).
The cardboard one that I've had for a few years at home (the glitter is still holding on, thank goodness) has very short verses of scripture under each flap, verses like Isaiah 9:2 - The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. These verses walk us toward the coming, the advent of Jesus, and when we hold onto them throughout the day you never know how they might become enfleshed.

These practices have the shared goal of preparing the way, as John the Baptism declares, prepare the way of the Lord. Perhaps one of the invitations of as we prepare to receive the Light of the World, is to honor the child-like wonder that takes time enough to see twinkling lights turn hazy after a moment too long on the couch, to remember the origins of ornaments and ends of ribbon. Perhaps we are invited to have our hearts opened by one verse of scripture memorized, one word reflected on, that we might be able to hear the one Word born as one of us.


In Christ,
Mtr. Taylor