TH Leadership Associate Position - Accepting Applications for '22-'23
Hear from our current Leadership Associate, Grace Medrano, about what it’s been like to be a Leadership Associate this past year.
What has been your favorite thing about your experience as TH’s Leadership Associate?
It has been such a joy to work alongside the TH staff team to serve students and the larger UVA community. I’ve loved getting to help plan and implement programs including Deeper Dialogues, Vintages Lunches, our 2022 Scoper Lecture series, and more. It’s so special to have the opportunity to provide a welcoming space for Christians and seekers to explore the intersections of faith, thought, and life.
I’ve also really enjoyed the many unique personal and professional growth opportunities that have been available to me through TH. This semester, I’ve been taking a seminary course called “The Mosaic of Christian Belief'' with renowned professor and theologian Roger Olson. This course has been such a valuable opportunity to learn more about the diversity of the Christian tradition. I also regularly meet with Christy, TH’s Associate Director, who has been an awesome mentor as I step into post-grad life. Additionally, I’ve gotten to attend Upper House’s Higher Pursuits Project Summit in Wisconsin and FTE’s Virtual DISCERN Retreat – both really special opportunities! Lastly, this spring I’m looking forward to continuing to strengthen my nonprofit administration skills by taking a workshop through the Center for Nonprofit Excellence. There is no shortage of personal and professional growth opportunities at TH!
What makes the Leadership Associate position unique?
As TH’s Leadership Associate, I’ve been able to witness firsthand and be a part of all the hard work that goes into running a nonprofit. In this role, I have gained practical skills in program development, event management, fundraising strategy, strategic planning, marketing, and donor communications. Honestly, I’ve had the opportunity to try a little of everything! It’s been such a blessing to gain a multifaceted skill set and learn more about myself and my gifts.
Another thing that makes the Leadership Associate position unique is the supportive work environment. The one-on-one mentorship and coaching I have received at TH has been such a gift. Each member of the staff team has been genuinely invested in my personal and professional growth – and I couldn’t be more grateful!
What do you have to say to potential Leadership Associate applicants?
Definitely consider submitting an application to the Leadership Associate program. This program has given me space to explore my interests and strengths as a young grad. The Leadership Associate position has been hugely impactful as I expand my horizons, develop long-term career goals, and discern God’s call on my life. If you have an interest in non-profit administration or ministry, this might be just the opportunity for you!
Email karen@theologicalhorizons.org to apply!
Lent 2 | Repentance & Rest
The Word
“But now, now, says the LORD, ‘Come back to me with all your heart’…. Return to the LORD your God again, who is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness and ready to forgive.
The Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.’”
The Wondering
To many, the old call to “Repent!” rings with threat and thunder. Yet biblical beckonings bring promises instead. When John the Baptist cries, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” he proclaims a present reality that is right here, right now. Will we turn around to notice it?
“Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32) Repentance is an opportunity – a door waiting to be opened. Perhaps if you and I turn away from what is besetting, distracting or diminishing, we may see the gifts that await us: wisdom, restoration, healing, a taste of the life we’ve been missing.
Where regret and wrestling leave us stuck, repentance offers release – and a measure of rest. Repentance allows us to rest in forgiveness, regroup, and float for a while, upheld while we learn to swim in the current, or walk unburdened, or do a dance of deliverance, day by day letting go of the past and entering fully, with an open heart, into the present, where an open Heart longs to receive us.*
Where do you sense regret and wrestling in yourself? What might repentance look like today?
*adapted from Marilyn McEntyre in Where the Eye Alights: Phrases for the Forty Days of Lent
The Wisdom
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
The grace of the gospel, which is so hard for the pious to comprehend, confronts us with the truth. It says to us: you are a sinner, a great, unholy sinner. Now come, as the sinner you are, to your God who loves you. For God wants you as you are, not desiring anything from you – a sacrifice, a good deed – but rather desiring you alone. God has come to you to make the sinner blessed. Rejoice! This message is liberation through truth. You cannot hide from God. The mask you wear in the presence of other people won’t get you anywhere in the presence of God. God wants to see you as you are, wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and to other Christians as if you were without sin. You are allowed to be a sinner….
from Life Together
Lent 1 | Wilderness
The Word
““Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. The tempter came to him and said, ‘Since you are God’s son, command these stones to become bread.’ Jesus replied, ‘It’s written, People don’t live only by bread but by every word spoken by God…’””
The Wondering
The invitation into the wilderness of Lent sparks anticipation and, perhaps, a pang of dread, in us. Where will the Holy Spirit lead us in these coming days? Up rocky trails that confound us with our own transgressions – and break our hearts over the sufferings of brothers and sisters in a world of war? Might the Comforter take us, too, along the psalmist’s paths of righteousness that promise still waters, green pastures?
Jesus, after his baptism, was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit – as if by a familiar Guide who showed him the way to an appointed place of solitude and encounter. Jesus, already one with the Spirit, knew where to go and went willingly, without hesitation, and once there, was shown what to do.
For you and for me, this is how the Spirit often works: by showing up in the guise of another creature—a dove, a whale, a friend—and by summoning, directing nudging, driving, revealing, and along the way, comforting and sustaining us. The Spirit meets each of us in our particular season of life and in our particular needs, and helps us to learn, as the poet Roethke says, by going where we have to go.*
Where do you see the Spirit showing up on this first Sunday of Lent? Will you follow?
*adapted from Marilyn McEntyre in Where the Eye Alights: Phrases for the Forty Days of Lent
The Wisdom
“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
from Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke.
Reproduced for educational purposes only.
Ash Wednesday | An Invitation
The Word
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow; tear your hearts and not your clothing. Return to your God, for God is merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive.
-Joel 2:12-13, Common English Bible
The Wonder
I feel it. Don’t you? Prone to wander, we drift away from our true home. We forget that we are God's beloved. We forget that we are not God. We succumb to the temptations of money, sex and power. We ignore the cries of our brothers and sisters. We focus only on ourselves.
During Lent -- these forty days before Easter -- God calls us home. God invites us to remember who we are. To let God be God in our lives. To respond to our suffering neighbor. To begin again with God.
Only when the fierce love of God, fully revealed in the Crucified One, pierces our hearts, will we truly return to the God who longs for us. And so let us begin. {adapted from Trevor Hudson}
The Wisdom
Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day…
This day — a gift from you.
This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.
This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.
This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home
halfway back to committees and memos,
halfway back to calls and appointments,
halfway on to next Sunday,
halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned toward you, half rather not.
This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,
but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and broken promises,
of forgotten children and frightened women,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.
We are able to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.
On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;
Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.
Come here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.
We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.
- Walter Brueggemann (b. 1933)
Mary Brissett on Tending to our Mental Health
We so enjoyed having friend and counselor, Mary Brissett share at a recent Vintage Lunch. Below are some resources she recommends as well as a video of her talk.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Adam Young's Podcast - The Place We Find Ourselves
Dan Allender's book - To Be Told is a great place to start
The Allender Center Podcast . They also do a lot of story group workshops that could be beneficial.
Brene Brown's books - Daring Greatly and Atlas of the Heart
Curt Thompson's books and podcast (Being Known)
Also, in addition to individual counseling, New City Counseling offers a number of groups. Some around sexuality, anxiety, the body (these are both didactic and interpersonal) but they also do interpersonal groups with about 5-6 other people.
Mary Brissett is a counselor at New City Counseling and has a master's degree in mental health counseling from the University of Virginia. She has clinical experience serving a broad clientele and enjoys working with university students, couples, women, and multicultural clients. She has worked in private practice in Virginia and Colorado and overseas, including Ethiopia, where she served with Women at Risk (WAR), providing counsel to women who are heads of households and struggling to overcome lives involving poverty, prostitution, and addiction. Mary was born and raised in Ethiopia to an Ethiopian mother and an Indian father. When she is not counseling, she loves spending time with her large extended family, traveling, hiking, reading, and working on house projects.
Presence & Gratitude | March Prayers
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
Spring is sending its first signs to us here in the Northern Hemisphere which is always such a powerful promise of hope amidst the dark. Even with these late winter storms and now global unrest, we know the light perseveres. This month, may you take some moments to bask in the warming sunlight, to stop and caress a new crocus or sit and listen to the gathering chorus of migrating birds.
“We pray that you will grow strong with the strength that comes from the honor and shining-greatness of his power. Then you will be able to stand firm in a calm and unhurried manner, as you give thanks with glad hearts to the Great Spirit who is our Father from above.”
A Blessing for the Life you Have
Blessed are you who look
wide-eyed, maybe timidly,
at the present moment,
gazing at those things that
are gently, actually within
the reach of your fingertips.
Blessed are you amid the
ordinary details that define
what life is for you, right now.
And as you see them,
greet them—each one—
as you smile and
call them by name.
Everyday joys. Small pleasures.
Birds chirping. Cat cuddles.
A cold glass of water.
A little child calling your name.
The breeze on your cheeks.
The ocean rhythm.
The perfect pillow.
The kindness of a friend.
Loves that are and were
and ever will be.
May they seem even lovelier,
even more delicious because
they become gifts offered anew.
May gratitude fill you,
reaching all of the spaces within
you that disappointment
left behind and fear has gripped.
May something rise in your heart
that feels like a strange
new kind of contentment.
Because this isn’t what
you had planned, but it
surprises you that even here
it can be good. Satisfying.
In a way that you know you
can come back to. A place that can
sustain you through
whatever may come.
Blessed are you,
finding that life is good
because it is enough.
Kate Bowler will be speaking here at the University of Virginia on April 3rd! Click here to reserve your ticket or learn how to watch after!
** This blessing can be found in Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection
*** Learn more about the First Nations Version of our scripture verse.
Lenten Resources
Here are some of our favorite resources for Lent. Send your own recommendations to us at info@theologicalhorizons.org and we’ll add them!
ONLINE
The Lent Project 2022: art, video, Scripture & reflection from Biola College. See past collections
Sacred Space for Lent 2022: a book of daily Scripture & points for reflection
Pray as you go: a daily Scripture and music podcast. Download the app, too.
“God of Sorrows: A Lenten Prayer” by Cole Arthur Riley of Black Liturgies
Wonderful collection of poetry for Lent and Easter
BOOKS
Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter a favorite Lent and Easter book
Lent In Plain Sight: A Devotional in 10 Objects by Jill Duffield with digital resources, too
Between Midnight & Dawn: A Literary Guide to Lent, Holy Week & Eastertide by Sarah Arthur
Where the Eye Alights: Phrases for the 40 Days of Lent by Marilyn McEntire
Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days by Trevor Hudson
Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent by Richard Rohr
Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings by Henri Nouwen
Faith & Work Conversation with Commerce School Dean Nicole Jenkins
The Faith & Work Forum is a series on Grounds that discusses the interplay between faith, work, and life. Each semester we feature guest speakers with leadership experience from across a wide range of vocations, who bring authentic stories about seeking a meaningful, purpose-driven life.
On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, our Spring 2022 Faith and Work Forum featured Nicole Thorne Jenkins, John A. Griffin Dean of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. She was introduced and interviewed by Diamond Walton, UVa alumna and Program Associate at the Tipping Point Fund. Watch the conversation below.
Some blessings for when you're at your rope's end | February 2022
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
January felt like a difficult month to get our traction around here. Perhaps you felt it too. As we enter into a new month, let's give ourselves permission to be honest about our griefs and limitations. Let these words from Scripture and the blessing from author Kate Bowler be a balm over those sore places.
Christy Yates, Associate Director
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought." - Matthew 5:3-5, The Message
a blessing when you realize everyone is struggling - Kate Bowler
blessed are you who have realized that life is hard. and it’s hard for everyone. your awareness came at a cost. you lost something you can’t get back. you were diagnosed with chronic pain or a degenerative disease. your family fell apart and things have never been the same.
blessed are you who gave up the myth that the good life is one of happiness, success, perfection. the life that looks beautiful on Facebook, but isn’t real. you who realize it is okay to not be okay. To not have a shiny life, because no one does.
blessed are you who see things clearly, where struggle is everyone’s normal. you walk among the fellowship of the afflicted, a club no one wants to join.
and while this life isn’t shiny, it does come with superpowers. superpowers of ever-widening empathy and existential courage that get you back up after another fall
and a deepened awe at the beauty and love that can be found amid life’s rubble. like flowers that grow from the cracks in the sidewalk. these virtues blossom in you. and thank God for you.
blessed are all of us who struggle, for we are in good company, and we’ll never walk alone.
Cover image: “Be Astonished.” 48 x 60 in. Oil on canvas. Christen Yates
Reflections on faith & life from the road by Drew Rollins '21
Should you ever find yourself agaze, maybe full of yearning (if you’re anything like me), from the particular window at which I’m currently seated, try letting your eyes unfocus for a minute. Treat it like an optical illusion. Before you, the panorama’s color palette becomes blurred and stratified; fine details of creation retreat temporarily; it all starts to look like a Rothko painting—grey-white on blue on starkest white, slate on earth-brown on perseverant green.
I’m writing from a funny little bookstore/cafe in Boulder, Colorado, the rear casement of which looks out onto a grand expanse of wild, (to me heretofore) unfamiliar American terrain. Jagged, snowy peaks reach heavenward like a semicircle of greedy siblings competing to dominate the cornflower horizon. A narrow brook, presumably condescending from one such peak, trickles downwards, nurturing the adjacent foliage, slow but indefatigable, as though in search of something. I wonder where its contents will end up. Does it replenish some groundwater basin, or feed into the Platte or the Arkansas or the Yampa? Will the Pacific swell, just a bit, from its near imperceptible contribution?
A few weeks ago, I requested to take a hiatus from work and headed west in a gold pick-up truck that’s older than me. The expedition’s primary objectives: to visit friends, to write a lot, and to connect more deeply with (among other things) nature, myself, and my faith. I’m not sure how successful I’ve been thus far, and there are moments when that uncertainty distresses me—at what point will the life-altering enlightenment strike, ya know? In the past couple days, though, two verses have in tandem provided some measure of solace. One is an Old Testament charge: “Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11). And the other is a New Testament complement: “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12).
The second verse mollifies the fear that a faith without dramatic discoveries or epiphanic visions is a faith without substance. For me, there is comfort in the notion of a Spirit that indwells us and enables us to love others well, even when said Spirit (or its role in the trajectory of our lives) is difficult to catch a glimpse of. Meanwhile, the first verse reiterates the value of continuing to search, in spite of—or perhaps even because of—those eras of rudderlessness that seem intrinsic to existence. We are meant to keep looking for God/struggling towards betterment/seeking that which we cannot see. In addition to whatever dividends it pays, I think there’s a sort of strange, paradoxical beauty in a quest like that, as nebulous as it can feel. The earth doesn’t need to shatter, and the ground doesn’t have to break. Faith endures and embraces doubt; it hinges on more than constant surety.
I want to be so undeterred. I want to keep combing the mountainside for inspiration and truth. I want to really believe that humans—like the peaks I’m surveying, born of old plate tectonics, violent collisions, and hard cataclysms, weathered by persistently erosive winds—are topographic creatures; that we’re shaped by what we experience, burnished by what we cherish, smoothed over by what we withstand. I want to be secure in uncertainty, to treasure the growth it fosters. I want love to flow from me, unremitting and forceful, even when I can’t quite envision its ultimate destination.
Epiphany | Stars
“IN THE TIME OF KING HEROD, AFTER JESUS WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM OF JUDEA, WISE MEN FROM THE EAST CAME TO JERUSALEM, ASKING, ‘WHERE IS THE CHILD WHO HAS BEEN BORN KING OF THE JEWS? FOR WE OBSERVED HIS STAR AT ITS RISING, AND HAVE COME TO PAY HIM HOMAGE.”
MATTHEW 1:1-2
Noticing stars, for most of us, requires intention. To see stars, we must venture out into the night and look up. Epiphany reminds us that it is in dwelling in deep darkness and in gazing out into the vastness of space that we find the star that leads us to Jesus. Finding Jesus calls on us to step into unfamiliar night places and dare to look beyond the few feet ahead of us, to expand our purview and our risk-taking for Christ.
The coming of the three kings from far-away places --- whose pilgrimage led them long, hazardous distances through the dark, ever looking up and following a star --- calls us, the present day Jesus-followers, to question our inclinations to remain safe and live small. Discovering Jesus, being found by Jesus, moves us to go out, to see beauty where we never noticed it before, to be unafraid, to linger in the dark. Epiphany invites us to think and act expansively and with trust, to consider not only our immediate circumstances and circles, but the concerns of the whole of creation Jesus came to redeem.
FOR REFLECTION
When have you struggled to look up and out? What keeps you from venturing out in search of Jesus?
When have you been struck by the beauty of the night sky? Might you go outside and stargaze tonight? Ask yourself: What do I think and feel?
Where might your search for Jesus take you in this new year?
Lord of sea and sky, you create the earth and all that is within it, the moon and stars, the sun and clouds; no place is off-limits to your goodness. As we reflect on those strangers who came from far away to find Jesus, we rejoice that we know and worship him, too. When we become fixated on ourselves and the short distance ahead, move us to go out and look up, to remember you are the Lord of all and that when we seek you, we will find you. Amen.
2022 By the Numbers
2022 BY THE NUMBERS (and our promise)
Happy New Year! At Theological Horizons, we are jumping headlong into 2022, equipped by your generosity (thank you!!) and inspired by fresh research:
#1 Among the Gen Z adults we serve, spirituality is a key to well-being right now:
FLOURISHING: across every indicator (work, relationships, physical and mental health) “very religious” adults under 25 are faring better than their nonreligious peers.
MEANING & PURPOSE: Highly spiritual young adults are more than twice as likely to say what they do in life feels valuable and worthwhile.
#2 Gen Z adults prize genuine connection with adult friends and spiritual mentors:
FAILURE: Only 10% of all young people told researchers that a faith leader had reached out to check in with them during the first year of the pandemic.
TRUST: The vast majority of young people (87%) say they trust adults who take time to foster relationships with them
Studies show (and we know!) that the adults of Gen Z are exploring everything, asking questions constantly, and craving guidance – even as they navigate an increasingly digitalized society that prioritizes connectivity and productivity. READ MORE OF THE RESEARCH
In light of this astonishing need, here is our Theological Horizons Promise for 2022:
Theological Horizons is committed to
initiating conversations with questions of genuine curiosity,
forging sustained, authentic connections, and
speaking truthfully to the unchanging love of God in Jesus Christ.
Thank you, thank you for wholeheartedly supporting this ministry with your financial gifts in 2021. We know that you are praying for us and cheering us on as we step out into a new year!
Karen
Karen Wright Marsh, Executive Director
P.S. Check out the new findings reported in Christianity Today. We created a pdf just for you!
New Years Prayers | January 2022
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
As we enter into this new year, many of us come with questions for our futures; all of us come with uncertainty. From a people who have deeply known and yet not known what ground they stand on, may these words from Scripture translated by our First Nations sisters and brothers and a Lakota Sioux prayer give us a new vision of hope. - Christy Yates, Associate Director
“He will keep your feet on solid ground and guide you to the end of the trail so that you will have a good reputation when the day comes for our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One to be revealed."
1 Corinthians 1:8 - First Nations Version
Oh, Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me! I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever hold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand
the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.
Help me remain calm and strong in the
face of all that comes towards me.
Help me find compassion without
empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy: myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame.
- Translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887
Christmas Day | Heart
“BUT MARY TREASURED ALL OF THESE WORDS AND PONDERED THEM IN HER HEART.”
LUKE 2:19
Mary listened as the shepherd shared all they had been told about her infant, and treasured and pondered them in her heart. No doubt, as Jesus grew, Mary would return to the shepherds’ proclamation and that of Gabriel’s before them. When raising the Son of God got complicated and painful, when Jesus went missing as an adolescent or began to get in trouble with the authorities, Mary must have pondered in her heart all the more, mulling over treasured words to reassure her of her son’s well-being despite all the danger his mission engendered.
Like Mary, some of our lives’ twists and turns, divine messages and earthly suffering, bring forth an ongoing conversation between us and the God whom we long to trust. When we attempt to hear and heed God’s call and faithfully go, we need God’s treasured words in order to remain steadfast.
Through it all, God’s call persists. God’s words, once spoken to us, cannot be unheard. Once written on our hearts, may we treasure them, ponder them, return to them and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, act on them. Glory to God in the highest!
FOR REFLECTION
When have you heard God's voice? How was it communicated to you? How did you discern that it was God speaking?
When you think of God's call to you, what comes to mind? What word of the Lord to you do you treasure? Ponder in your heart?
Have you had times in your life of faith when you questioned God's providence? What words of God sustained you during that time?
God of angels and shepherds, you speak to us in a multitude of ways, always seeking us out to inhabit your work and ways. We cannot fathom your glorious mysteries! Help us treasure up your words and ponder in our hearts the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, come to earth this Christmas Day. Amen.
Christmas Eve | Cloth
“AND SHE GAVE BIRTH TO HER FIRSTBORN SON AND WRAPPED HIM IN BANDS OF CLOTH, AND LAID HIM IN A MANGER, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO PLACE FOR THEM IN THE INN.”
LUKE 2:1-7
Can you picture Mary? Exhausted from her trip and from childbirth, taking each strip of cloth and tenderly wrapping it around her firstborn son. I wonder if she did so haltingly, unsure if she was getting it right. On Christmas Eve, the full humanness of Jesus stuns me no less than when I looked at my own firstborn. After all this waiting and a preparation that cannot really prepare us: he is finally here and oh-so-beloved.
Mary wraps him in bands of cloth, for warmth, for security, comfort, and so much more. Mary swaddles the baby in whom we will be clothed, all of us enveloped by the unrelenting compassion and grace of our God. Even as we stumble and bumble, learn and fail, nothing can undo the mantle of love in which we are covered. We see the baby Jesus wrapped by his mother in bands of cloth and know that the One she holds has the whole world in his hands; therefore we can rest secure.
FOR REFLECTION
What are your most vivid Christmas Eve memories? What do they mean to you?
Have you ever swaddled a baby? Does this image speak to you of God’s love for us?
Whenever you touch cloth today, allow it to remind you that you are clothed in Christ, wrapped in the love of God. What might that feel like?
Immanuel, God with us, our wait is over, you are here. When we picture you, wrapped in bands of cloth, resting in your mother’s arms, we marvel that you came to us so humbly, without any earthly status. You truly are fully human, intimately aware of what it means to rely on others for care, to depend on people for help, to cry and hurt, to laugh and grow. You have compassion for us because you empathize with our vulnerability. As we celebrate your birth, we rejoice that we are enveloped in your love no less than you were swaddled in the manger.
Amen.
Vocation & Longing | Reflection by Victoria Van Dixhoorn '22
“How foolish!” my ten-year-old self would think, shaking my head at prosperity gospel preaching.
Growing up in a Christian home with two wise parents, I knew the promises of the prosperity gospel rang hollow and delivered little in the way of lasting hope. And yet, I have recognized a strain of prosperity gospel in my own thinking as it relates to feelings of ‘spiritual intimacy’ or closeness with God.
God does reward the faithful. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working,” says James 5:16. David writes in Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.”
Seeing answered prayers and recognizing God’s hand moving in our daily interactions often challenges me; and yet it is not so much the absence of my idea of deliverance that bothers my mind as much as the words about a righteous person.
To our human minds, so much of life seems paradoxical or at least conflicting.
“God is in control and has a sovereign plan for our lives.” Do we ditch retirement planning and the 401ks? Unfortunately, no. “We could die at any moment so live like there’s no tomorrow.” Do we spend all our money on Mojitos and Prada? Again, I hate to say it, no. “God has plans to use our talents as we work.” Do we forget LinkedIn and the hundreds of job adverts? Not yet.
The Bible gives us more general examples. ‘Live in the world but not of it.’ Live as someone who is fully saved but not fully sanctified. Live as new creations in your old broken body - that body which will drag you into the ruts of winter depression or push you towards too many drinks. God has a plan for our lives, every second and nanosecond of our lives, but we must still plan for our lives. I have always wrestled with this.
As humans, ‘things’ in a very meta sense, are beyond us.
Even staunch atheists will admit to this fact. Often, we view the world through distorted lenses: either overly optimistic, because it is either easier or brings us comfort, or pessimistic, because the problems are too large and the worries too beyond us. In her Ted Talk, “Everything Happens for a Reason,” Kate Bowler, professor at Duke, Stage IV cancer survivor and four-time author, remarks: “Sometimes we cannot even explain the happenings in our lives. We find ourselves unable to explain our ever trusted logic, “everything happens for a reason,” even if we can still believe it.
This is not the problem; the problem arises when we deny this fact - that things are beyond us - and try to make meaning and purpose for ourselves.
We have only to read the news or an occasional Buzzfeed article to see celebrities and other people we celebrate as ‘achievers’ wrestling with the same issue. Award-winning writer Melissa Broder puts the struggle to especially fine words in an article for the New York Times. In the article, Broder discusses how her disillusioned hope that she could make “meaning of life” ultimately left her with a “spiritual longing…for some kind of eternal beauty or ineffable truth…always just out of reach.”[i]
The struggle Broder voiced actually relates to issues of desire and longing, Dr. Chris Yates argues, in a piece he wrote for The Hedgehog Review. “Desire has become longing’s counterfeit,” Yates writes. We fail to see that desire is something cultivated in us by culture, society and nature to a degree, while longing extends past the physical reality of our world to something greater. In short, we can often satisfy desire, but we cannot satisfy longing.
My generation gets (probably well-deserved) shade for our distracted nature, our obsession with technology, and our idealism, among other things. But we have made progress in other areas of life, such as the fresh value many young adults place on tying purpose to work. Michael Jackson may have sung about personal commitments to make a change and address homelessness and child hunger on the streets in 1988, but the difference is that we seek to do so through our work, not just on the side. That is unique.
You may wonder where I am going with this, and here it is: sometimes we take our quest for purpose in our work too far; we try to satisfy our longing for Good and Meaning with our own efforts. As in an article for One Republic, many people feel a profound sense of disappointment in their search for purpose if they look to their work as the source. Indeed, the search for capital ‘P’ Purpose in any activity or relationship of this world will leave us unsatisfied, wanting more. And yet, we should pursue good relationships; we should seek a job that aligns with our values and uses our talents.
So how then can we make sense of vocation? Vocation suggests a commitment to something beyond ourselves and a hope for something greater than ourselves. When it comes to vocation, I am learning a few things.
First, that there is value in doing things we do not always enjoy. When we are challenged, often our perseverance and perspective grows. Relatedly, I am learning that much of life consists of showing up, completing responsibilities, and fulfilling duties to our coworkers, friends, and family. Third, I am realizing that we are called to live step-by-step and walk with wisdom - what some have called ‘doing the next right thing.’ We are not called to plan every second and nanosecond of our lives. God has done that already.
Much of life is not black and white. God has not left us with a template for how much to sleep and eat, where to work and who to befriend. So much of life is beyond us. We are simply called to constantly realign our desires with our longing for heaven and harmony with God. This requires immediate action and immediate waiting. Ah yes, another paradox. We act in faith and we wait in faith. This must become our practice.
The practice of realigning our desires toward longing, and thus toward God, requires that we cultivate this ability in our minds and hearts. Cultivation may mean slowing down or stepping back from certain commitments; it may mean beginning some friendships and ending others; it may mean walks in nature or afternoons of pick-up soccer. Cultivating an active and waiting heart in our daily lives, attuned to our responsibilities and God’s will takes work. In fact, it is our vocation.
“Oh what a bother,” you may be thinking. “How tiring and discouraging this will be.” God knows our human frailty. He knows our frame better than we know ourselves. Thankfully, God hears us when we cry out not on the merit of our own righteousness or our belief; rather, we are given the prosperity of heaven by the merit of His grace and Christ’s saving work on the cross. Our Father knows our needs and has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our vocation and cultivate our hearts. With his help, when we cultivate them with intention, our desires will move us in the moment, but our longing will move us toward eternity.
In Ephesians 1:18, Paul writes, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” To anyone who stumbles across this reflection, as I pray this for myself, I pray this for you: that you may draw close to He who guides our vocation, fulfills our longing and restores our souls.
[i] Melissa Broder, “Life without Longing,” New York Times, February 9, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/style/love-infatuation-longing.html.)
Advent Week 4 | Trees
“OUT OF THE GROUND THE LORD GOD MADE TO GROW EVERY TREE THAT IS PLEASANT TO THE SIGHT AND GOOD FOR FOOD, THE TREE OF LIFE ALSO THAT IS IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN, AND THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.”
GENESIS 2:9
God is good, all the time. Recognizing the foundational truth of divine goodness allows people of faith to call out evil and even dare to combat it with tenacious love.
Seeing the glory, tenacity, longevity, variety of the trees that surround me reveals God's goodness, all the time, when I am awake enough to pay attention to them. The tree of life in Genesis exists not only in the garden of Eden, but in my backyard and indeed all over the world. God's good creation provides and sustains life, abundant life, not merely survival. Trees clean the air and water, they provide shade and produce fruit, they mark the seasons and time. They are life-giving reflections of our life-giving God. They remind us that God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
This season many of us will put up a tree within the walls of our homes, string it with lights, and decorate it with ornaments for no purpose other than to enjoy its superfluous beauty. Why go through all the effort? What's the point? Perhaps we yearn to participate in God's creative, lovely, life-affirming, good creation in a way that defies whatever conspires to overtake the light and love of the One who sends Jesus Christ not to condemn the world but to save it. Maybe we, too, want to be over-the-top in our expressions of beauty that signal to those with eyes to see that God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
FOR REFLECTION
What reminds you of God's goodness? Is there something in creation that reminds you of God's good and life-giving presence?
During this Advent season, when we are called to be awake to God, what is giving you a sense of God's nearness?
Could your prayer today the call and response, “God is good, all the time”? How does repeating this truth color your perspective?
God, you are good, all the time. Your goodness resounds through creation and through every creature. You gift us with beauty so diverse and persistent that were we to notice all of it, we would be utterly overwhelmed by your life-affirming power. As we go about our day, grant us eyes to see the trees of life that surround us, giving thanks for their ability to provide food, shelter for animals, air for us to breathe, leaves and flowers that are breathtakingly pleasing to our sight. All the time, you, God, are good. Help us to recognize your goodness and make it visible to others.
Amen.
Advent in Plain Sight - Book Talk with Jill Duffield
Did you miss our Advent in Plain Sign Book talk with Jill Duffield? Not to worry! Pour yourself a cup of tea, get the laundry to fold or go for a walk and enjoy this 30 min. conversation.
Advent Week 3 | Belts
“RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL BE THE BELT AROUND HIS WAIST,
AND FAITHFULNESS THE SASH AROUND HIS HIPS.”ISAIAH 11:1-9
The Savior soon-to-become incarnate ushers in a peaceable kingdom that is difficult for us to imagine. The The Savior soon-to-become incarnate ushers in a peaceable kingdom that is difficult for us to imagine. The One sent by God reverses what seems like an intractable order of things, where the strong suppress the weak, creation is perpetually exploited, where wars are endlessly fought. Isaiah declares what seems impossible: that equity will be enacted for the meek, the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and that the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
Isaiah’s words are more than simply lovely poetry to assuage our weary souls. They expand our imagination and call us to wrap ourselves with God’s belt of righteousness, gird our hips with faithfulness, and make a holy commitment to reshape our world right here and right now. Where raw power threatens to overtake moral authority, our determined effort to preserve ideals can serve as a bridge to the future.
This Advent, may we put on the belt of righteousness and daily pursue the ideals of delight, faithfulness, fear and knowledge of the Lord, living out God’s promise of a peaceable kingdom.
FOR REFLECTION
Read Isaiah 11 slowly. Do you see glimpses of this vision in your life? In the world?
What would it mean for you to wear a belt of righteousness? Of being wrapped with faithfulness?
What is the role of vision in shaping change, both personally and as a community and culture?
PRAYER
Loving God, as we anticipate the coming of the Christ child, we lament how limited our vision is. We often give in to the sentiment that things never really change, that transformation is impossible. Kindle our hope with the prophet’s words of equity, justice, and delight. Wrap us in your righteousness and faithfulness, that we might see the world through the eyes of divine promise and enact holy possibilities for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Pay Attention & Wait | Reflections by Fellow Gen Charles '22
I haven’t been doing much deep thinking lately. I’ve been caught up in normal school life and fun activities, classes and work, that I forgot to check in regularly, both with God and with myself.
When I was fifteen, I started journaling. My journals were filled with the typical teenage angst mixed in with questions about God and what I should do with my life and who I wanted to become. And in some ways, my current journal is the same. Or at least it should be. I still have questions about God and who I want to be, but I haven’t been asking them.
I haven’t set aside the time to settle down and put my finger on what’s going on deep inside me. Part of that is busyness and how I don’t want to miss anything as a fourth year (because FOMO). The other part of it is fear. There are some questions we don’t ask because we’re afraid of the answer. Calling is a hard thing to think about. It’s sort of amorphous. Maybe I’m not quite sure of the definition of calling. For me, in some sense, it’s a deeper longing. A long lasting desire that doesn’t bend to the whims of time and circumstance. And for people like me, that’s hard to figure out. You have to learn to (and be willing to) strip away the noise—what you are told to desire, what you feel you should desire, what you even believe you are allowed to desire.
Strip it all away and get to the root of what is beneath the surface, hiding behind the muck to get to calling. That’s where God comes in. He lovingly calls us out of hiding, out of our misconceptions of what life should be and asks us to trust him into what he can make it. It’s tempting to chase after the answer of What is my calling? that we forget the one who is doing the calling.
While working towards calling (or stumbling into it) is important, I’ve neglected the more important thing: to pay attention to God. The gift of time and attention is what we long for in our deepest relationships. And though relationships also include giving gifts and affirmations and are about joy and sorrow, they boil down to presence. To sacrifice time and energy in other pursuits for the greater reward of being present together. This is God’s call to me, and I suspect for you too. That I wouldn’t chase answers but that I would pay attention to him and trust that he will lead me where he wants me to go.
Paying attention goes hand in hand with waiting. Lingering long enough to watch something happen. Focusing my gaze for a particular glimpse. It’s enticing for me to take things into my own hands and start building a list of jobs to apply to and contacting everyone I know about what they think I should do. It’s a greater act of faith to sit and be attentive to God. To watch and wait as he writes my story. To pay attention to this God who calls me his beloved and walks with me wherever he leads. That’s my calling for today.