Today’s action:
Make a place in your home
where you will think about Advent
& make it specialhttps://t.co/LPLXCF9YOx pic.twitter.com/4eKrhNk812— LoveLifeLiveAdvent (@LiveAdvent) December 1, 2016
Is this not what Advent is about? God is coming to reside in the intimate particularity of our everyday lives.
Standing on the porch at home, my mind went to other settings: the bitter lot of Syrian refugees””they were under this moon. I thought of those at the homeless shelter in Cleveland where I work, having one last cigarette outside before lights off. Moonlight was touching their foreheads in a tender way. Beyond them were empty warehouses, the moon defining the scarred rooftops of the city before reaching the expanse of Lake Erie and shining brilliantly on waves.
My entire family went back for the 11 p.m. service. We were a tiny cluster leaving the church, walking to our car and driving home with moonlight enveloping us. After everyone had gone to bed, I stood out in the backyard. No wind, not a sound””except something like the sound of the ground absorbing moisture. This was not an empty silence but the quiet being of rocks, ferns, moss, the roots of trees.