Surprising Invitations of Advent

 

Three sisters-in-law have come and gone from our home in the past week, two of them seen, one of them "stealth." I ended up in conversation about silence and solitude with the sister-in-law who is actively addressing her loneliness with intentional silence and solitude. I mentioned this following my recent blog about the difference between loneliness and solitude. The sudden death of her husband has meant reassessing life's meaning and goals, along with how to relate to God in the silence which can be thunderous.

 

I love the title of the book Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent because Xmas becomes so noisy. I don't mean the joyous sounds of Christmas morning. Our daughter Emily works in retail and she advises me that the incessant Christmas buy-more music in her workplace would drive me bonkers. I won't disagree.

 

I have not read Okoro's book but I understand it reflects on the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, which is found in Luke's gospel. You might recall that Zechariah sees a vision which leaves him speechless and then Elizabeth goes into seclusion. I came upon this quote from Silence:

 

Theirs is a story of accustomed longing and unmet desire, sustained prayer, occasional doubt, and seasons of silent retreat and seclusion. We can learn much about the tensions of a genuine faith journey from the trials and surprises that Zechariah and Elizabeth encountered in their attempts to live before God. And we can learn about the mercy and faithfulness of a God who acts in God's own timing and for God's wider purposes.

 

I admit that I long for God to push the mute button for our raucous Christmas-lite culture. At times it feels as though church is part of the problem rather than part of the solution. We ramp up the volume when we may need more opportunities to reflect on the extraordinary power of the vulnerable, powerless incarnation. I suppose I'll content myself with creating occasions of silence and solitude through Advent and trust that God will speak --or not. `

 

Thoughts?