Reflections on Advent

I'm a member of a Women's Group at my church that meets roughly every two weeks. I haven't been able to go for a couple of months due to various and sundry illnesses plaguing our house, but I was finally able to go last night for some reflections on this Advent season. I always find it rejuvenating being able to talk with this group about the wonders, the mysteries, the comfort, and, yes, even the ever-present questions (e.g., Why is this happening, Lord?) of the Holy Trinity in our lives. I feel more spiritually centered after each meeting, and that is such a blessing. I mean, I may go around for a couple of weeks, getting caught up in all the activity that goes on every day, getting stressed out about various things, and then I go to a Women's Group, and it really helps to put things in perspective; I get to slow down for a few hours and just really think about the realities of what is truly important. Going to church can do that for me, too, but church is usually such a rushed affair sometimes, and it's complicated even further when you're having to mind a very active and talkative three-and-a-half-year-old during the service, that the true purpose of being there sometimes gets lost.

Anyway, last night's discussion was wonderful. We talked about Advent and what an exciting time it is. It's a season of anticipation, of preparation, of knowing that something wonderful is coming. We talked about Mary and the anticipation she must have felt. Being a mother myself, I can imagine the joy and wonder she must have felt, and likely how much greater her joy and wonder must have been knowing that she was carrying the most precious of babies. I also wonder, however, how much greater her fear must have been at knowing that she was also responsible for caring for and rearing this most precious of babies? I know my own fear at knowing that I'm responsible for Jonah. It's a joy, to be sure, watching him grow and mature, but it's also a little frightening at times, especially at times when he gets sick or gets hurt or when I wonder if I'm doing some irreparable psychological damage when I have to exert discipline with him :) ! Imagine having to do all that for God's son! Talk about responsibility!

One of the things that really struck me last night was an excerpt from a reading that says that's it's okay, even desirable, to have questions regarding our faith. We spend so much of our lives looking for answers, and sometimes that searching drives us crazy. But what if we could take those questions and simply use them for reflection and a time to listen? The passage we read was this: "A novice master once responded when asked about a life lived in Christian authenticity, said that to be a Christian was not to know the answers but to begin to live in the part of the self where the question is born....He was speaking of an attitude of listening, of awareness of presence, of an openness to mystery."

What great food for thought! Happy Advent!

December Doings (So Far)

Jonah's school (St. Clement Episcopal School) celebrated the Feast of St. Clement last week. St. Clement apparently lived during Roman times, so the kids dressed up in togas and ate a lunch of pita, hummus, clementines, grapes, and anachronistic chicken nuggets while sitting on the floor! It was very cute!

Jonah saw Santa this past Sunday at the Freeman House in Vienna. He'd seen Santa last year at school, but we'd never taken him to a mall or anything to see him. Having seen Santa as a kid myself at a busy, crowded, noisy mall, I really prefer the set-up they had at the Freeman House. Santa was seated in a room where only one family at a time was permitted to enter (the next family was allowed to peek in from the doorway so the children could watch the children ahead of them interact with the jolly old elf, and I thought that was nice - it allowed the kids to watch and so not be as scared as they might otherwise have been). Each child had some private time with Santa and could just chit-chat with him rather than having to rush through with a wish list. It was really nice, and by the end of our turn, Jonah was chatting happily with Santa!