Well we didn't get to meditate tonihgt because we spent the evening chatting with Andrew Horton... local Faith Producer for The Beeb. What we were going to do... and will probably do next week... is explore the idea of 'Advent starting in the Desert'...
The words of St. Columba from Chadwick.
God counselled Abraham to leave his own country and go in pilgrimage into the land which God had shown him, to wit the 'Land of Promise' - Now the good counsel which God had enjoined here on the Father of the faithful is incumbant on all the faithfull, that is to leave their country and their land, thier wealth and their worldly delight for the sake of the Lord of the Elements, and go in perfect pilgrimage in imitation of Him.
Visualisation – picture a desert, we all have an image of desert; barren, red, harsh, bleak, empty, lifeless, brutal, dry, dead... place yourself in the desert; how do you feel? Hold your feelings; your fears, your anxieties, your grief for what you have left, the people who are not with you, your nightmares, your wories. Look around you; what is your immediate environment, is it a place you can sustain yourself, is it completely inhospitable, is it a place you expect to meet God?
1Kings 19 1-15
Elijah walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep. Then the word of GOD came to him: "So Elijah, what are you doing here?" "I've been working my heart out for the GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies," said Elijah. "The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me." Then he was told, "Go, stand on the mountain at attention before GOD. GOD will pass by." A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before GOD, but GOD wasn't to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but GOD wasn't in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but GOD wasn't in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
Isaiah 40 1-16
"Comfort, oh comfort my people," says your God. "Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear that she has served her sentence that her sin is taken care of--forgiven! She's been punished enough and more than enough, and now it's over and done with." Thunder in the desert! "Prepare for GOD's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then GOD's bright glory will shine and everyone will see it.
The journeys of our lives are never fully charted. There come to each of us deserts to cross -- barren stretches -- where the green edge on the horizon may be our destination, or an oasis on our way, or a mirage that beckons only to leave us lost.
When fear grips the heart, or despair bows the head, may we bend as heart and head lead us down to touch the ground beneath our feet. May we scoop some sand into our hands and receive what the sand would teach us:
It holds the warmth of the sun when the sun has left our sight, as it holds the cool of the night when the stars have faded. Hidden among its grains are tiny seeds, at rest and waiting, dormant yet undefeated.
A story of new birth in the Desert
Kibbutz Ketura, Israel -- It has five leaves, stands 14 inches high and is nicknamed Methuselah. It looks like an ordinary date palm seedling, but for UCLA- educated botanist Elaine Solowey, it is a piece of history brought back to life.Planted on Jan. 25, the seedling growing in the black pot in Solowey's nursery on this kibbutz in Israel's Arava desert is 2,000 years old -- more than twice as old as the 900-year-old biblical character who lent his name to the young tree. It is the oldest seed ever known to produce a viable young tree.
The seed that produced Methuselah was discovered during archaeological excavations at King Herod's palace on Mount Masada, near the Dead Sea. Its age has been confirmed by carbon dating. Scientists hope that the unique seedling will eventually yield vital clues to the medicinal properties of the fruit of the Judean date tree, which was long thought to be extinct.
The Judean date is chronicled in the Bible, Quran and ancient literature for its diverse powers -- from an aphrodisiac to a contraceptive -- and as a cure for a wide range of diseases including cancer, malaria and toothache.For Christians, the palm is a symbol of peace associated with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The ancient Hebrews called the date palm the "tree of life" because of the protein in its fruit and the shade given by its long leafy branches. The Arabs said there were as many uses for the date palm as there were days in the year.
Greek architects modeled their Ionic columns on the tree's tall, thin trunk and curling, bushy top. The Romans called it Phoenix dactylifera -- "the date-bearing phoenix" -- because it never died and appeared to be reborn in the desert where all other plant life perished.
Desert flowers. They endure. Moistened by our tears and by the rains which come to end even the longest drought, they send down roots and they bloom.
May we believe in those seeds, and in the seeds within us. May we remember in our dry seasons that we, too, are desert flowers.
In an empty desert the prophet John proclaimed: God is here, at your side. God has come to bring about a kingdom where injustice and suffering will be no more, where tears will be wiped away, and where those who reach out to God will feast at a banquet.
"look around God is standing at your side. Re form your lives, God's kingdom is at hand." In an empty desert John said these things.
Make me determined like John strong enough to believe even in a desert that you and your kingdom are no farther from me than my hand. Make my heart strong like his, not swayed by trials or snared by false pleasures. Give me courage to be faithful until your promises are fulfilled.
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