Advent Reflection 3: Who Are We in the Cosmos?
Hi friends. This is the week of Advent 3, when we light the pink candle of joy in church and at home, and anticipate the joy that comes in the person of Jesus, and the fullness of joy when the reign of God comes in its completeness.
But not all of us are feeling joy, right now. I had coffee with a friend this morning who is living with a new medical diagnosis, as well as other distressing news, during this Advent season. For someone else, they are being reminded of a deep grief this season, which hurts all the more in the tinsel and cheer that is, sometimes, a more shallow anticipation of the birth of God into our world. And there are others, in your life and in my mine, who are living with serious illness. For some, for many, in our lives and our world, Advent this year is a time of truly waiting in the darkness for the coming of the light. As my friend said this morning, she knows that there will be light again, but right now, things are very dark.
Indeed. Advent is a deep waiting time that acknowledges that we are not all waiting with hope, peace, and joy on our hearts. Some of us are waiting with grief, fear, pain, or despair. And in that waiting, we live within a wider Earth community that is also living with grief, fear, pain, and despair. As the COP15 meeting continues in Montreal this week, raising the awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the ways in which the Earth community is suffering, we realize that we wait with an Earth that is grieving, an Earth that is lamenting, an Earth that is in pain.
We all wait. Advent is not meant to be (simply) a busy time of holiday parties and preparing for Christmas celebrations. It is, rather, a profound time of waiting in the darkness for the birth of something new. As we all wait, let us do so with the knowledge that we wait, with whatever we are experiencing this year, within a wider Earth community that waits with us, groans with us, and trusts, with us, that there will be light again.
The light shines in the darkness. AMEN.
Announcements
I will have another newsletter next week, and then will be taking time off to celebrate Christmas with my family. I will be picking things back up again after Epiphany, January 6.
BLOG POST: Finding Joy in Discipleship (and the Kitchen)
Find it here: https://jessicahetherington.ca/blog/
Advent Reflection
Advent 3: Who Are We in the Cosmos?
Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of prophets, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this. (1 Thessalonians 5:13b-24)
We have been following the story of the universe over the last couple of weeks of Advent. We have been learning about deep time and about deep waiting, holy waiting, within a cosmic context. The cosmos waits with us this Advent.
But who are we who wait? Who are we human beings, Earth creatures, “all [who] are from the dust, and all [who] turn to dust again” (Ecclesiastes 3:20)? What is our place within the cosmos, within God’s good creation?
The story of the universe, the story of its emergence from a single moment 13.8 years ago: this is our origin story. The story of who we are begins all the way back, to so long ago. We began in the world when time and space burst forth, moving outward into ever expanding creativity, complexity, life, and wonder. We began in deep time, when the elements that were needed to create the cosmic and planetary conditions for our life to emerge came into being.
This is our origin story. This is our creation story, universal for all of humanity, and unique to us as Christians, as we interpret it through the lens of God known in Jesus Christ.
This is what is universal: that we are part of evolution, of cosmic evolution from stardust and supernovas to planets and life on Earth. We are a living dimension of evolution. Since all is connected from that single point of the Big Bang (or Flaring Forth), then everything is a dimension of the universe itself. This is universal for all of life on Earth.
And what is universal to all humans, yet unique to us as human beings, is that we are the only species in the Earth community that has the capacity for self-reflective consciousness. That means that we humans, and humans alone, have the ability to reflect on who we are and what it all means. What that means, then, since everything single part of the universe is a dimension of the universe itself, is that we humans, in our capacity for self-reflective consciousness, are the universe reflecting upon itself. Through us, within us, as part of our very being, we are the universe reflecting about who it is, and what it all means. This is more than poetry or metaphor; this is cosmology! This is science. How incredible is that? This insight has the power to truly transform our worldviews, our ways of understanding who we are, what the world is, where we’ve been, and where we are going.
Who are we, then, as human beings, when we have this capacity for self-reflective consciousness? When we are the universe reflecting upon itself? When we are the universe looking into the tiny through microscopes, and into the far through telescopes? When we are reaching for words through poetry and prose, and seeking silence in meditation and prayer?
And who is Jesus, the one we are waiting to be born at Christmas? Who is Emmanuel, which means God-With-Us, when Jesus, too, is the universe reflecting upon itself? Jesus, the one given to us by God, born into the world through Mary, fully human and fully divine? What do we learn, about who Jesus is, as well as who we are, when we think about Jesus as the universe reflecting upon itself?
As we wait this Advent, we reflect. As we wait, we wait with and as part of the universe itself. As we reflect, we reflect with and as part of the universe itself. As you wait and reflect, I invite you to consider this question: What does it mean, for who we are as human beings, to have this self-reflective consciousness, in this time of Advent? What does it mean, when we wait for the birth of God into the world, in anticipation of when God will return again, in the fullness of the reign of God? Who are we in our waiting?
Discipleship in Action
The news about the ecological crisis, especially the climate crisis, can be overwhelming and discouraging; it is easy to feel that there is little we can do. This isn’t true! There is so much that we can do, concrete actions that we can take now, in response to God’s call upon us as people of faith. Here is one idea.
Alternative Gift Wrapping
I know that this is a common idea that goes around in the holiday season. We are reminded every year on social media to avoid buying commercial wrapping paper, plastic ribbon, bows and gift tags, and unnecessary packaging, when we wrap our gifts. But I will confess: I have been as guilty as the next person in wanting my gifts to look shiny and fancy. I have tried to justify it by recycling as much wrapping paper as I can, but did you know that the usual wrapping paper that you buy (with santas or penguins or other images on them) is not recyclable? Nor is any paper that is metallic in any way. (The recycling system itself is also problematic, but that is a different post for a different day).
I have decided, for myself, that enough is enough. And if you are like me, I invite you to say the same thing. Give up the wasteful gift wrap, bows and ribbons, and find other ways to wrap your gifts. They can be no less beautiful, and in fact more so, when they convey your love for the Earth as well as for the gift recipient. Here are a few alternative gift-wrapping ideas:
Cloth Christmas gift bags. I have a bunch of these in different sizes; they are often available at Christmas craft/art fairs. They are particularly good for wrapping those odd-shaped toys you bought for the kids!
Tea towels. You can find affordable tea towels at dollar stores or the thrift shop. Buy them either in Christmas colours, or in the colours of the recipient’s kitchen. Use kitchen string to tie it closed, or find wooden clothespins! Scarves also work beautifully.
Newspaper. The colour comics, or black-and-white sections. Use paper twine. You can get coloured paper twine at craft supply stores, I believe.
Craft paper. This can be bought in rolls or large sheets, in undyed beige, or in white. This paper is recyclable. You can also purchase stamps to decorate the paper. Or, if you have kids, make stamps out of potatoes, and use paint! I haven’t done that in years. Maybe this is the year! Here is a link: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-make-stamp-from-potato-2905343.
Reuse bows and ribbons from previous years. We do have a collection of bows bought years ago, and we are careful to save them once the gifts are opened. They won’t last forever and will land in the landfill eventually, but if you already have them (don’t go out and buy them!) then you can use them to decorate the tea towels, newspaper, and craft paper that are covering your gifts.
Instead of bows and ribbons, you can choose greenery from outside – pine or cedar branches, etc.
I am sure that you have other ideas, too. As you wrap your gifts in these planet-healthy choices, pray intentionally for the healing of the Earth. Wrapping gifts in this way can be discipleship in action!