Week of 1 Advent, Monday

"In every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak of it." - 1 Thess. 1:8

In the Collect for the Renewal of Life, we pray to God that "having done your will with cheerfulness during the day," we may "rejoice to give you thanks" (BCP 99).

I've often thought about the power of a cheerful, faithful person to affect the world they move through. There's a quiet confidence in some believers which is a winsome example, drawing others to them as if to say, "How can I gain that peace in my own life?"

There's a similar attraction to people who do their work with skill and care. We have engaged a man to do some woodwork in our home, and he demonstrates in every action that he knows what he is about, understands what we picture for our house better than we do, and will bring his best work to our (admittedly small) projects.

When the "authorities" question Jesus in the Temple, pressing him to justify his actions, they are on the wrong tack. Talking about the source of one's confidence does not come first; living in faith, like the new believers in Thessalonika, comes first. Cheerful faith draws widening circles of closer communion; concern about authority draws lines instead.

First Sunday of Advent

Woke up before sunrise this morning to the sound of a distant train whistle. Is there any other sound in the dark that better conveys vast distances and places far away?

Every year during Advent the Church begins again to reorient itself to the heavenly country which seems so far away. "Now in the time of this mortal life" we pray to the one who was, and is, and is to come. The distances stretch behind and before us.

But just like a newborn's cry, just like the train whistle which woke me this morning, the sound of that distant place is also right here, near at hand.

Listen with me.

Tools of my trade

The modern version of Mark 6:8-9:

BlackBerry Bold 9000

Garment sleeve with a change of clothes and a couple of books.

Briefcase containing Dell laptop, day planner, combination Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV), fountain pens, passport, checkbook, and all the power cords, product brochures, newspapers, business cards, safety pins, collar stays, loose change, and other jetsam that inevitably accumulates throughout the week.

That's it, unless the trip is going to last longer than four or five days. Then I substitute a rolling suitcase for the garment sleeve.

For those who will be following the Advent Project at home, the tools will include the service of Daily Morning Prayer: Rite Two, beginning on page 80 of the BCP, and the Psalms and New Testament lessons appointed in the Daily Office Lectionary for Year Two (BCP 937).

Off we go!

The return of the Advent Project

After a long hiatus, I am returning to Slantwise with the Advent Project 2009.

Beginning on the First Sunday of Advent, I will post a brief reflection each morning on the lessons appointed for Morning Prayer (or anything else I care to write about).

Hope you will find it helpful as you ponder the once and future coming of Christ into the world.

Peace,

Rodger