A Yoga of Trust Advent 2, Year B
And, O Lord, here comes John the Baptist, telling us the news again,
“Repent and be saved.” Of…
Telling us news of a time about to begin, of the change in hearts and minds that needs to take place. Yet in his retro Elijah-style hair robe, with his wild eyes, wild honey and wild words, to our distinguished modern eyes, he almost seems like a street-corner preacher.[1]
Surely the Salvation-Army man outclasses him, with his jolly ringing bell, and we are pulled once more into the season as we pass green tree lots and those red ribbons tied into bows around downtown.
We see fantasies of childhood all around us, as if all we were expecting was a baby, just that.
But no, not a baby only, this time, or the last, but a call to change our lives.[2] Because Jesus wasn’t just a gentle and meek child, but he was a change agent, the breaking in of God into the universe, the person who changed everything, forever. And all of the tinsel does shine towards the Christ light. All of John’s calls are echoed ever so slightly in the silver bells of the season. Because this season there is a call. A call to see where it is that God is beckoning us to “turn around.” To call us out of whatever our captivity is: is it the exile of Isaiah? Is it the foreign occupation of the Roman Empire in first century Palestine?[3]
Is it whatever holds us today—be it commercialism or the yearning to succeed in a certain way, or unjust laws?
As a parish, this may look like whatever keeps us from an honest look at our history and identity. Or individually, is it simply a schedule that leaves us so harried we cannot possibly hear the still small voice of comfort and repentance?
Because God gives us both comfort and repentance. God knows that we have been through some hard times, whether it is as a church going through much transition and turnover, or whether you have lost someone close to you, God speaks comfort to you across history even as we hear the comfort to the exiles in Isaiah. God is preparing the way, wherever we are going, God is already there, just as God has already been with us.
Wherever All Saints’ is going next, God is already there, one step ahead, guiding us.
There is comfort in that companionship, even when we don’t understand why and how things happen. God is making the paths straight and preparing a way, gathering us in. No matter that we are weak of flesh, God has enough heart to collect us all.
But all that gathering may not mean a lot to us if we are unable to turn our heads enough to look at God. We must turn back, the meaning of repentance. We must not just snuggle into God’s arms, lulled to sleep by Christmas Carols, saying “wake me up when there’s that new heaven and new earth!” But we must gradually turn, turn to God in our lives and our ways.
This may mean taking care of the earth until the new heaven and earth appear, or this may mean another call on your life. Maybe this is about trusting that the Lord is preparing the way, even though we don’t see it yet.
That’s a pretty hard job. But somehow or other, breathing into the posture of turning toward and trusting God makes it a bit easier every time. God has a new future for All Saints and for you personally, but you have to breathe into trusting God on that one. Sometimes both the relaxation and work of trusting can be strenuous, but they are the work of a Christian.
Because if you have ever done yoga, you know that it can take years of putting yourself in a certain position to be able to twist just so, till that position finally feels right. And I think it’s a lot like that with our faith lives. Just like with yoga, each religious stretch is a combination of breathing and resting and turning towards growth.
If every time we see a reminder of Christ’s coming, or a carol, we can twist further into alignment with God, that might be an Advent miracle.
What if all those signs we see around us, be they Christmas bows or lit trees or particularly garish Christmas light decorations, were able to remind you that as a Christian your life is always about renewal, repentance, and the comfort only God gives? Maybe working into the pose of rest and work that is the comfort and repentance of God, we would begin to see just the shadow of God’s face, and we will be able to trust that God is here with us, comforting us, chiding us, and loving us all the way.
What Yoga Pose of Trust, of both repose and work, is God calling you into today? Where do you see God calling you into as a parish? May God guide us as we breathe into the future prepared by the Spirit!
[1] Martin B. Copenhaver, “Homiletical Perspective: Mark 1:1-8,” FOTW, Year B, Vol. 1.
[2] John van de Laar, “The Change Within and the Change Without,” www.sacredise.com for Advent 2B, 4 December 2011.
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