Look about and see,
they are all gathering and coming to you.
As I live, says the Lord,
you shall be arrayed with them all, as with adornments,
like a bride you shall fasten them on you.
Though you were waste and desolate,
a land of ruins,
Now you shall be too small for your inhabitants,
while those who swallowed you up will be far away.
The children whom you had lost
shall yet say to you,
“This place is too small for me,
make room for me to live in.”
You shall ask yourself:
“Who has borne me these?
I was bereft and barren
exiled and repudiated;
who has reared them?
I was left all alone;
where then do these come from?“
(from Office of Readings, December 22nd, ISAIAH 49:14-50:1)
They are coming! Everything and everyone is coming towards you, towards me, towards us. And how do we take all of this in, all that is going on in the world, all that is going on in our cities, our communities, all that is going on in our lives, all that is going on INSIDE? This is the Advent!
For better or worse, we take “them” in, but rather than ‘arraying them as adornments,’ we treat them as ornaments, possessions of identity and judgment that reinforce the images that we have of others and ourselves. We try to engage, perhaps thinking that we are integrating, truth-telling and even helping, but much if not most of the time, we only keep these things, events and people at a distance. A fastidious sparkle on a tree that we place in our house, but that does not necessarily glimmer within.
The journey of Advent for me now is not one I can take alone. I do sometimes fall prey to the temptations to that blind spiritual cynicism that secretly believes that my work is alone and what I do is something I give for the betterment of the world and others. The real wakeup call is when I ask those questions about the source and potential giftedness of what seems to come toward me:
Who has borne me these…Who has reared them…where then do these come from? — these ‘children’ that I have lost?
I seek to remind myself not to answer these questions too quickly, to let them inhabit my body, mind and heart and do whatever work there needs to be done. Some silence perhaps, some response hopefully without reaction, if I can see it happening. I seek to cooperate and participate without letting myself get in the way too much. Seemingly simple, radically difficult, but therein is also and perhaps finally – Hope!
I wonder if Advent is really about space? We hear much about the lights dimming and growing and the luminosity that characterizes this beautiful season. However, sometimes the beautiful images can obscure the simple challenges that we face every day.
Light and darkness cannot exist without space. We need space to see and allow, to give and receive the light and the dark. Space is where something entirely new can grow and happen. Where questions become seeds that sometimes force the space to really break open!
“Now you shall be too small for your inhabitants…
This place is too small for me,
make room for me to live in”
Thanks for this excellent reflection, Thomas. It has really opened things up for us as these days of the Advent season are waning. I am particularly drawn to your closing statements:
“We need space to see and allow, to give and receive the light and the dark. Space is where something entirely new can grow and happen. Where questions become seeds that sometimes force the space to really break open!”
We need the space to allow ourselves to courageously ask the questions and the space to allow the seeds to germinate.
Have a blessed Christmas season. Deep peace to you.
I was drawn to the same statement Bradley was drawn to. My attraction to the statement is probably rooted in my insane addiction to questioning things. If “questions become seeds that sometimes force the space to really break open” I wonder how PRACTICE fits into the “seeing and allowing” for those who don’t question? You and I have been exploring “practice” as it relates to enneagram and Wisdom School teachings, and I’m not quite sure what seed germination would look like when it doesn’t seem to affect change in said behaviors related to enneagram type determinations. For example, I’m an 8 (challenger). Questioning is a given, which lends itself to full affection for the romance of allowing myself “to courageously ask the questions” to inspire space to allow the seeds to germinate. You, I understand, are a 9. 9’s tend to be peacemakers, accepting, optimistic, adaptive in their behavior, and have been judged to avoid conflict. Given those traits, I struggle with being able to identify practices that outwardly support allowing the “space” questioning might manifest. Recall my inquiry as to how your practice influences space allowance/change/behavior attentiveness in a way that seeds may germinate in spaces that may be self-manifested as dark or so small that expansion efforts are abandoned? How would you address that inquiry and how, practically, do you see yourself courageously asking questions in spaces that allow seeds to germinate? Of course, you don’t have to respond in writing, but I am looking forward to see you so we can discuss this further. Consider this your “heads-up” 🙂 Don’t panic. I’ll play nice. Maybe? Love conquers all and you are amazing Thomas. No lie.
questions make space; answers make walls, boxes, cells. thank you Thomas for bringing me here.