To everyone who feels like a stranger to themselves this season -
to everyone who isn’t sure how to celebrate Advent, and are worried they don’t know how to celebrate Christmas anymore, either;
to the ones who don’t like going to church anymore, but miss Jesus;
to the ones who don’t like talking to Jesus anymore, but miss church;
to the ones who want to feel their soul leap up again at that song, at that verse, in that sacred moment, but are worried those pieces of themselves are dormant and they don’t know how to wake them up;
to the ones who don’t just want a secular Christmas season but aren’t sure where the sacred feels safe anymore;
to the ones who don’t want a sacred or a secular Christmas because they’re just so tired or overwhelmed and want to skip right to January 2nd;
Gracious God -
You know.
You know us.
You know our restless minds.
You know how tired we are.
You know the ways that the church has betrayed us.
You know how we’ve betrayed ourselves.
You know our big aches and our griefs and all the ways we’re so sad,
or the ways we can’t see You right now.
And You look at us so gently,
with so much love.
God, in this season, we can be so hard on ourselves. The voices in our heads that tell us we’re doing it wrong, or we’re behind, or we’re lost, can be so loud.
Help us hear Your voice instead, which is so gentle, inviting us to safety and to rest.
Bring us home, God - curled up and protected from these inner voices and outer storms, to the safest space in You where our name is always, always, simply - Beloved.
Amen.
The Advent Word this evening is #Beloved.