Advent 2021 Reflection Series: Second Sunday Of Creation
We put these footage online, she says, as a result of we’re in search of friendship, love and that ambiguous factor known as ‘connection’. And like painters constantly retouching their work, we alter, update and tweak our on-line self-portraits, including important statistics, glimpses of bare flesh and other bits of information. In this Advent reflection, Shanna Bernier finds that even in instances of nice upheaval and change, deep moments of peace exist. The factor about real conversion or metanoia is that we will not plan it.
As you mild the second creation candle, might God’s spirit prepare your heart to obtain Jesus as your king. May God’s grace abound in your life in this season of holy anticipation. Advent reminds us clearly of the reality that we live in expectation of someone’s coming.
As we survey what went incorrect in our response to the pandemic, we can see that it’s half of a larger sample of powerful pursuits ignoring the cry of the poor and the Earth. We can see how we, too, are responsible of perpetuating this cycle. Our ingrained notions of black/white and darkness/light as inherently good and evil can guide how we deal with one another.
Today’s invitation is to convert to love and unfold hope on the earth beginning with our local communities. During the second week of Advent, the Jesse Tree and Advent Wreath, launched during the first week, each help educate the theological significance of the journey via the Advent season. Whereas the Scripture readings for Advent I communicate broadly about God’s promise to deliver Israel out of exile, the readings for Advent II focus more specifically on the Messiah and what his coming will look like. Replenished by the meals of spiritual nourishment, we humbly beseech you, O Lord, that, through our partaking on this mystery, you may train us to evaluate properly the things of earth and maintain agency to the things of heaven.
Instead we see him born in a manger, living in poverty with no place to lay his head, and getting into the city on a donkey as he makes his approach to the cross. Lighting the second Advent candle reminds us of Jesus’ life of love for us. In Advent, as we meditate on the images from the Prophet Isaiah of the whole Earth responding to the approaching jesus candle template of Christ, we will prayerfully discern methods of enacting our repentance of abuse of the Earth. A second image of what to do while waiting is obtainable to us by the first prophet we heard at present, Baruch. We hear him is providing hope and comfort to exiles and to a bereaved Jerusalem.