Welcome to Advent week three,
Waiting on peace.
These meditations are an opportunity for us to stay connected to the Advent season all week,
Not just Sundays.
And think about Advent in the context of our everyday lives.
My name is Jess and I have engaged Advent in everything from strict adherence to a tradition that waits for the joy of the season until Christmas morning,
To not engaging Advent much at all in a way that would look different from the American holiday.
So these times are meant to take the focus off the busyness of the season and any religious duty you may feel,
But engaging the season as a time for spiritual growth and renewal.
To start,
Let's take five big breaths together.
The science behind mindfulness practices is really quite amazing.
As we slow down and do this,
We dampen the activity in a part of our brain called the amygdala and increase the connections with the prefrontal cortex.
This connection helps us to be less reactive to stressors and to recover better from stress when we experience it.
It sharpens focus and over time it can make us more compassionate,
Have positive impact on relationships and mental health.
We are training our minds to be more attentive to life and prayer.
So let's just take one minute to feel your body breathe.
Try to be particularly mindful to feel your body as you breathe.
Be your own company for just one minute.
Goodell called for this connection to us.
That was literally 60 seconds.
If your mind went to other places just now,
Or that happens throughout this time,
It's okay.
It's natural.
We're still here,
So let's move on.
We'll take one moment to identify where God has been today.
Just think about the last 24 hours.
In a season that is about waiting on the coming hope,
Where are you seeing the divine show up in large or small ways?
In week three,
Our focus is waiting on peace.
Many Christian traditions use different combinations of four concepts in this season.
So if you are following Advent with faith community,
They may have a different focus than the ones we are using for these meditations.
That's okay.
You can use both and let inspiration fall where it may.
Peace is not the absence of conflict,
But the presence of justice.
Many people from privileged backgrounds like myself see peace as a sort of nebulous inner lack of anxiety.
We chase a feeling of psychological comfort and call it peace.
That is not the way the Hebrew scriptures and Christian New Testament talk about peace.
Peace is the presence of Shalom,
A society made right by its systems and judged by how the most vulnerable flourish.
This is the peace that has a prince that we celebrate this season born in an animal stable.
What peace have you longed for that the world has yet to experience?
What peace have you prayed for to a savior born into vulnerability?
So if you're able,
Extend your arms out and turn your palms up or rest your palms on your lap.
We do this in a posture of release to the creator.
Let's take a moment to reflect on the peace you are longing for.
Imagine you wrote these longings on the palms of your hands as they are turned up towards God.
Take a minute and imagine yourself writing about the peace you want on your hands.
Let's take a moment to reflect on the peace you are longing for.
God,
We give to you the peace we desire so much.
We give to you this unpeaceful world and our place within it.
We desire the shalom of all of God's people yet see this broken world and we place it into your hands.
Make us people in active pursuit of justice as we wait for peace.
We pray for peace by confessing greed and hoping for the welfare of all.
We pray for peace by confessing safety gained through force for the value of human life and the worth of all God's children in every corner of the planet.
We pray for peace by confessing our dependence upon material goods and pursue the good of the planet that you created for all of us and declared is good.
The great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition frame this season as an activity of spiritual imagination and challenge.
We are asked to venture back into the space in the scriptures when they were waiting on the fulfillment of God's promise.
So we spiritually engage this season identifying our own waiting.
As we count down the weeks until Christmas how do you want to plan outside of the traditions and routines to make this time more spiritually alive and engaging.
Amen.
And we welcome you back for another guided prayer during the final week of Advent.
Amen.
