Blessing on the Way

This coming Sunday marks the beginning of a new year in our life as a Christian community. It is the first Sunday of Advent. This is, among other things, a season of preparation and anticipation. We hear again the stories of our faith that invite us to hear the promise that there is a better way and that we will know the reality of that way as we look to the birth of Love in our midst. We believe that this Love was revealed in the child Jesus and every year we celebrate and prepare for the light of the world to be born anew in us.

Part of preparing is making the soil ready for the seeds that will be planted. We must till the ground, spread the fertilizer, and make sure the land is watered. When all is ready the seed is planted and then we set out to tend it until it takes root and begins to grow. Likewise we prepare ourselves during this time by opening our hearts and minds and renewing our souls so that when the Love is born in us it takes root and begins to grow.

In preparing we set out on a road that will lead us to places we do not yet know and at the same time know very well. Where will our travelling take us this Advent season? When we make it there will the soil of our souls be ready for that amazing burst of light and growth? Will Love find a home among us?

Jan Richardson writes this blessing for the way:

Blessing the Way
With every step
you take
this blessing rises up
to meet you.
It has been waiting
long ages for you.
Look close
and you can see
the layers of it,
how it has been fashioned
by those who walked
this road before you
how it has been created
of nothing but
their determination
and their dreaming,
how it has taken
its form
from an ancient hope
that drew them forward
and made a way for them
when no way could be
seen.
Look closer
and you will see
this blessing
is not finished,
that you are part
of the path
it is preparing
that you are how
this blessing means
to be a voice
within the wilderness
and a welcome
for the way.

May your way be blessed and may you be a blessing on the way
Valerie