The Third Week of Advent

When God
chooses Mary as the instrument,
when God wants to enter this world
in the manger of Bethlehem,
this is not an idyllic family occasion,
but rather the beginning
of a complete reversal,
a new ordering of all things on this earth.
---Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christ of the cosmos,
Living Word,
come to heal and save...
Incognito, in our streets,
beneath the concrete,
between the cracks,
behind the curtains,
within the dreams,
in ageing memories,
in childhood wonder,
in secret ponds,
in broken hearts,

in Bethlehem stable,
still small voice,
Word of God, amongst us.
-- Iona Community
Simplicity: a Christmas Pledge

Believing in the beauty and simplicity of Christmas,
I commit myself :
To remember those people who truly need my gifts;
To express my love for family and friends
in more direct ways than presents;
To rededicate myself to my own spiritual growth
and to the growth of my family;
To examine my holiday activities
in the light of the true spirit of Christmas;
To initiate one act of peacemaking within my circle of family & friends.

I myself am very glad that the divine child was born in a stable, because my soul is very much like a stable, filled with strange unsatisfied longings, with guilt and animal-like impulses, tormented by anxiety, inadequacy and pain. If the Holy One could be born in such a place, that One can be born in me also. I am not excluded. --Morton Kelsey