Dec 2

A reflection for Advent: In our time there is a seeking

Religion

Listen! I am standing at the door knocking; if you hear my voice, open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. (Revelation 3:20)

In our time there is a seeking,
An anxious groping and searching for divine things.
A great loneliness has come over our time,
A loneliness that is only found where godforsakenness reigns.
In the midst of our large cities,
In the greatest most frantic activity of untold masses of people,
We see the greatest amount of loneliness and homelessness.

But the longing grows that the time will nonetheless come again
When God dwells among people,
When God lets himself be found.

In the middle of frantic activity
And vociferous extolling of new ways and means
Stands the one word of Jesus Christ:
“I am with you…” (Matt. 28:20)

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None of us live a life so rushed that it is impossible for us
To find even ten minutes a day, in the morning or evening,
When we can let everything around us become quiet
And submit ourselves completely to eternity,
When we can let it speak to us and ask it about ourselves.
In that way we can look very deeply within ourselves
And quite far beyond ourselves.

That might happen by looking at a few Bible verse, or, even better,
By becoming utterly free and letting our soul make its way
To the Father’s house, to its home,
In which it will find rest.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Wonder of Wonders: Christmas with Dietrich Bonhoeffer  (Westminster John Knox Press)

Reflection questions:

1. What does it mean to let eternity speak to you?

2. Do you ever become lonely in the midst of holiday preparation and the bustle of the season? How so? Is there a way to avoid this loneliness?