Sacred journeys
If you have been in the church for a while you have probably heard many times that Advent is a time of preparation. The “preparing” we talk about in church is about being open to the birth of sacred possibilities in our lives, as we journey towards the birth of the baby Jesus.
Despite knowing this, the word preparation makes me feel apprehensive because when we prepare for a journey there is so much to do. Jan Richardson, in her Advent blog, reflects on this and wonders if “all the rigmarole I often subject myself to before a trip”; is really worth it.
Jan offers us another way to engage in this advent season. How might it be if we simply set out on this advent journey to Christmas, trusting that our needs will be met along the way? This would mean setting aside our to-do lists and the expectations we have of ourselves and becoming a pilgrim. When you are a pilgrim on a journey, there is timeto look around at the landscape, to enter into it and to leave space for surprises. We are now on a sacred journey, that moves us inward as well as outward.
How are you travelling these days? We all have things we need to prepare for but are there things that we might let go of, so that we can travel a little more lightly? This might allow for a greater openness to how God might show up on the way.
Jan Richardson acknowledges that none of us knows what lies ahead when we say “Yes!” to God and so she offers these prayerful words
God of new creating,
who beckons us to the dance of birthing
and sustains us in our laboring;
hear our prayer.
May it be so. Blessings, Karen
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