Food for the Soul | December 10th, 2020

12/10/2020 

Dear Friends,  

Advent is a little like Lent. It is a time to prepare, to wait, to pray, to fast, to love, to let go; a time to go deep into yourselves, and yet also out of yourselves; a time for silence, to listen and respond to that deep inner voice. In our scriptures this was indicated by time spent in the desert. The abbas and ammas (monks and nuns) of the third and fourth centuries were experts at living and thriving in the desert in this spirit. They went to the deserts of Egypt to separate themselves from materialism and all the frills of life, to see and desire and listen to God alone.

PRAYER 

May we become bearers of joy,

We who are invited to share

In the Cosmic Dance!

…May we walk in faith

All the days of our life –

Confident in your Divine Presence,

Even in times of trouble,

And with assurance for what is

And all that is to be,

May we have faith in the

Unfolding of our lives,

And radical trust in the universe!     

-       Excerpted from Psalm 106,

Nan Merrill, Psalms for Praying

PRACTICE

Let us too, find our own desert where we can find solitude, quiet, and emptiness. It could be a space in your home or in nature, or even in your car. It could be a way of being alone in a crowd. Your desert space may be within music or dance or art. In your desert space this week, spend ten minutes a day in silence, being attentive to what draws or lures you. What do you find alluring? Reflect on ways to be more open and free in heeding God’s invitation to enter your wilderness, your desert spaces.

POEM

The Journey

-       Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice –

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”

each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do –

determined to save

the only life you could save.