Saturday in the Second Week of Advent, Year B
12 December 2020
Words of Comfort
Reading: Isaiah 40: 1-11
Scripture: “Comfort, comfort my people says your God.”(Isaiah 40:1)
Reflection: We have journeyed together this week, meandering through many and varied paths, coming full circle, back where we began, with the prophet Isaiah. We have contemplated his call to prepare a way in the desert, a call mirrored in the Gospels and, as such, continues to teach us in our day about readiness…being prepared, no matter the time or season, for God to show up, as only God can.
This is the season of Advent in which mirth and melancholy are somehow inseparable. It calls us to prepare for the joys of Christmastide even as it beckons us contemplate that Second Advent, when the Christ-child will be king and judge. All this within a context this week that focussed on Peace, amidst the turmoil and turbulence of an ongoing pandemic.
Peace seems like a pipe dream these days and yet, as we have seen from our readings and reflections this week, achieving it is altogether possible, if we understand that its advent is not about receiving something but rather someone! Peace is God’s gift of Himself, experienced in the fire of His all-consuming power, and, as such, it transcends human powers of intellect and reason. (See Philippians 4:7)
I hope that as you journeyed, you were able to pick up a number of spiritual mementos… keepsakes that will help you to remember, as you move forward, that whatever happens of good or seeming evil, there are certain absolutes that will never change. These include the reality of a loving God whose Word can be trusted.
In the middle of their despairing despondency, when the prophet Isaiah declared God’s words of comfort, to His people, he knew that although evidence to the contrary surrounded them, God’s Word…God Himself, could be relied upon to act! His was a history with His people, of being a very present help in time of need (cf. Psalm 46:11).
Today, as you move through what seems like waste places, the desert experiences that have made 2020 seem like a year in exile, hear again God’s words of comfort and believe. No matter what it seems like on the outside, immersed in the relationship of love that Jesus offers, you can…you will experience peace that nothing or anyone will be able to take away.
So…be comforted; put your trust in the Prince of Peace. He is waiting just for you…
Meditation: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…” (Psalm 23:4)
Prayer: O Come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight. Cause us, in the exile and desert of this time, to rejoice in You, O Emmanuel, and grant us Your peace. Amen.
St. Jude’s Church
Stony Hill
Daily Reflections for Advent and Christmas 2020
by The St. Jude’s Writers