Advent Reflections and Resources
27 November 2016
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A teenager with magenta hair,
pierced eyebrows,
jean jacket over
the tilt of shoulder...
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Over the years, I have visited deep wells, holy wells throughout Wales and Ireland and Scotland. In these places clear water springs forth from within the earth. This is the water of salvation, of healing, of cleansing, of baptism, of memory, of hope.
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This is the importance of the virgin birth - not that it exalts virginity over sexual activity but that it allows Mary the space to respond to herself.
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the Christmas infant bonny, undemanding,
and serene – advertising's dream; nothing like
the firebrand we felt compelled to quench
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ripples on the mere
patterns in the sand
circles in the grain
cloister in the heart
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To be a mother of God - a calling for men as much as for women - is to allow ourselves to be open to the life-changing grace of God finding a home in us.
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A birth confounding will to power:
Innocent hope as ever sought...
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tonight there's a moon
with advent appeal
it has a
wondrous roundness
and a pale golden feel...
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Herod the Great excelled at grand designs. He built monuments to himself and to stroke the ego of the Emporer...
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Elsewhere a king is fed grapes,
fat as globes, wondering how
it would feel to swallow
the world in a single gulp.
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This time she set out
at dusk, wondering how
every tree seemed to have fallen
across her path.
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We fear terrorism, injustice, war,
and global warming,
guns in the hands of the unstable,
and we correctly fear angels who invite us
to choose to make a difference.
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“I’m just can’t drum up any enthusiasm for Christmas,” the nurse at the doctor’s surgery said, as did the Warehouse shop assistant. “Me too,” the
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Advent invites us to prepare for the birth of Earth's child...
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Notice what is happening in your own heart; is it numb? Unable to feel? Gripped with fear or moved with compassion?
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Running along the marine parade
Riding into the wind to work
And later
Holding wine cupped in the hand
In late sun...
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Beauty blossoms the landscape
of the bare heart
warming it like the breath of creatures...
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My host-mother handed on a recipe
so I would learn kitchen-words
by heart.
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as his silence sunk deeper
but his loving grew tender...
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Evasive snoozing
within my duvet cocoon...
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Last year I was diagnosed with a tumour affecting the balance centre of my left ear. It gives me no symptoms at the moment, except that it presses on the nerves that control my hearing. As a result I have a constant noise in my head, reminding me of the cicadas of Vaughan Park.
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...the most challenging invitation of this season is twofold: to live in the present and to embrace change. That is, to drink from the sources of deep ancient wisdom able to transform us more and more into the likeness of Christ, into the likeness of God.
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Our lives are all about waiting.
These times invite us into patience.
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This poem celebrates the perseverance and patience of Joseph - carpenter, husband of Mary and guardian of Jesus. With persistent obedience and care he takes on each tricky task in fulfilling his role
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