God Coming

God Coming

 “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately, he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:47-52.

         This has been my experience. God often comes to us in the early morning if we take time to get up, listen, read, or just look or sit outside. God comes when he sees us “straining at the oars against an adverse wind.” God comes in some miracle, almost as if he were walking on water. It may be a word, a letter, an email, or a call from someone I would least expect to hear God’s word.

“By chance,” we meet someone not on our agenda for the day. God may speak in the actual scripture reading. God may be the wind at our side, the sun bringing light to the chilly dawn, or the first bloom on a barren tree. We may perceive God as a ghost and not recognize the occurrence as a message from the one who cares so much for us. We may ignore it because it is not part of our busy plan for the day. We may even cry out. We may be terrified by what we hear or see.

Talking to spiritual friends helps us see God in these places where we were blind to God’s presence. Somehow, if we stay present in the moment and say our prayers, fear will leave us. Fear is afraid of prayer.

God literally gets into the boat where our life is sailing, and the storm in our minds and bodies ceases. We may be astonished. We do not realize why we are comforted, for our heart is still hardened. This happens daily. God does not give up on us and our hard hearts.

This is the message of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Mary and Joseph, Refugees

Mary and Joseph, Refugees

Kelly Latimore wood print. refugees la sagrade familia

“As I ponder what these last few days before the Nativity might have meant for Mary and Joseph, I can’t help but see the connection between their journey to Bethlehem and flight to Egypt with the travels of so many refugee families searching for a new, safe home…I know that Mary didn’t have a baby registry set up with Amazon, and likely no baby showers were providing all her newborn’s needs, but I can imagine that she was longing for a safe, warm, and clean bed and the local midwife’s attention when her time came.  As a carpenter, Joseph likely had little experience with women’s labor and delivery work.

And then, just when the new family might have felt a bit secure, God reveals the danger they face if they remain in Bethlehem, so off they flee to a new, safe home where they will be strangers, refugees in this new land.  In so many human ways, they were on their own in this endeavor, much like the refugees who are longing to come to a country of safety but where everything will be new to them—new languages, new customs, a whole new life.” — Judith Schellhammer, chair Resolution Review Committee, Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, December 22, 2016, Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. www.edomi.org. 

My heart goes out to the many refugees in our world who are simply seeking basic safety for their own lives and their families. I have mainly become acquainted with several DREAMERS, undocumented immigrants who came with their parents years ago and now seek education and status. Their situation is very tenuous. This is the country they know and grew up in. They have no connection to their country of origin. We would deport some of the hardest-working groups of people I have experienced, who already enrich and broaden our culture.

 I try to connect to them in some small way by remembering that ALL of our ancestors were refugees in this country unless we are Native American.

My heart also goes out to the many Afghan refugees who came to our country and started over without knowledge of the culture or language. Turning on the stove or washing machine is as foreign as our language. Yet, we also have much to learn from them. Endurance. Bravery. Trusting.

 I also see ourselves in our search for God as refugees, often deciding to leave a place or point of view of our origin, seeking more, a larger view of God, a new life, and continually learning a new language. We step out on roads less traveled. It also cannot be a straightforward journey, but it is a sacred adventure where guides can be helpful.

Advent is always a good starting point for this journey.

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

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Awaiting the Child

Guest Writer Isabel Anders

Anders: Advent, Awaiting the Child

“Isabel Anders wrote these Advent meditations while waiting for her first baby to be born. I read them in my husband’s hospital room, watching him die. Now, another Advent approaches, another time when birth and death draw close together, and it is not always possible to tell which is which.

As we move into Advent, we are called to listen, something we seldom take time to do in this frenetic world of overactivity. But waiting for birth, waiting for death—these are listening times when the usual distractions of life have lost their power to take us away from God’s call to center in Christ.”—Madeleine L’Engle.

John the Baptist represents the call to radical preparation of one’s whole life for the coming of the kingdom. His is an extreme message, and his story ends with an early death. Yet while he lived, he praised the Lord with his whole being, habits, reputation, and life—for all it was worth. He focused on the Old Testament prophets’ messages, like Isaiah, and validated the hope expressed so long ago. A way, a path to God, would be prepared. A voice cries, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a pathway for our God” (Is. 40:3).

The call to repentance must always precede praise. Acknowledging sin clears the way for the truth of God’s deliverance, for the Messiah to come into his own. And praise naturally follows the revelation of truth. John was the last of the forerunners of the Lord, a close earthly relation of Jesus. As a baby, he had leaped in his mother Elizabeth’s womb at the announcement that Christ would be born into the world, a foreshadowing of his prophetic mission to praise and acknowledge the Messiah with his whole being.

The connection between repentance and praise that the Baptist exemplifies is fitting in Advent, helping us hold the tension between joy-in-waiting and joy-set-loose. …

In Advent, we talk of preparing and waiting; therefore, it would be almost impossible to avoid mentioning what we are waiting for and why. Yet our emphasis on repentance, intermingled with praise, sometimes gives our songs a minor key. These days, we must consider our condition and dare to think, “What if he had not come?” Our redemption hangs in the balance, and “all lies in a passion of patience” as we wait.

We pray that he will come to our hearts, as he did in the lives of those faithful believers: Mary, John, Anna, Simeon, and Elizabeth. Acknowledging our unworthiness yet acceptance of the gift—two distinct actions—are inseparable in us as in those saints. Like their hope, our belief is part of the ongoing story of redemption. We are brought into line with the whole event through repentance and praise. —From Awaiting the Child: An Advent Journal by Isabel Anders (Cowley: 1987, 2005).

Isabel Anders

Joanna   joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/