Advent, Week 2

The meditations for Advent in the book God With Us are beautiful. However, as happens every year, I get somewhat behind in the readings, so I doubled up and finished week one while also reading week two. This just meant I doubled the good words, I read some of Richard John Neuhaus and some Scott Cairns. The Bible readings were mostly in Isaiah and Matthew.

I wrote these two poems while meditating on the words in God With Us and also on several pages in Isaiah:

Isaiah 35:1

 A fir tree’s fresh scent—

a hint that one day streams of

living water will

flow through the wilderness and

the deserts will blossom bright. 

Isaiah 41:19

“We should have a land of trees”

            -Langston Hughes

 When the banquet is 

set high on God’s mountain, I

hope my view is the 

trees—the cedars and cypress

planted by springs of water.

from Richard John Neuhaus on the first Thursday in Advent:

“To be anxious is to be human. The question is what we do with our anxieties. The decision is between hanging onto them or handing them over. After listening to the angel, Mary handed over herself, includng her anxieties. “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” That is Mary’s great fiat—”let it be.” It is not fatalism, but faith. Fatlaism is resigning ourselves to the inevitable, fatalism is entrusting ourselves to the inevitable; faith is entrusting ourselves to the One who is eternally trustworthy, who is worthy of trust.” and “Faith is not blind faith, but trust with eyes wide open. Faith doesn't deny the reason for anxiety but rejects the rule of anxiety.” and “In the “our Father,” Jesus teaches us to pray, “you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Slowly, and not without difficulty, we learn to prefer God’s will to our own; we learn to want God’s will to be done, knowing the he knows us and loves us immeasurably better than we know and love ourselves.”

from Scott Cairns on the second Monday of Advent:

“In the middle of his prophecy announcing the regeneration of the earth, the holy prophet Isaiah announces that “the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.” This image is one of substantial resurrection; that is, the very stuff of a desiccated earth awakens, quickens, blossoms in new life.”

These passages in Isaiah have been very meaningful to meditate on:

Isaiah 25:6-10 (Holmans)

The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast
for all the peoples on this mountain[a]—
a feast of aged wine, choice meat,[b] finely aged wine.
7 On this mountain
He will destroy the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;
8 He will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face
and remove His people’s disgrace
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

9 On that day it will be said,
“Look, this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
10 For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.

Isaiah 35 all of it, but particularly verses 1-4 (NIV)

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 

2 it will burst into bloom;
    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
    the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
    the splendor of our God.

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.”

Isaiah 41:17-20

The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights,
and springs in the middle of the plains.
I will turn the desert into a pool of water
and dry land into springs of water.
19 I will plant cedars in the desert,
acacias, myrtles, and olive trees.
I will put juniper trees in the desert,
elms and cypress trees together,
20 so that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

These two photos were taken by me at the magical Frey’s Greenhouse.