Advent Daily Reflection 2020-12-11
Ephesians 5.6-14
"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be associated with them. For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
As a child and then adolescent, I had a real problem with God's wrath and the notion of obedience. As one of seven children, life often seemed to me to be a litany of "dos" and "don'ts" - from relentless daily chores to taking care of the littles or being one of the elder children who "should know better." Consequences for not fulfilling one's family duties did not always seem fair, and being perfectly obedient (aka "responsible") seemed an unreasonable expectation.
My mom always told us that hell was not a place but "separation from God." And I thought well, if God is just going to get mad at me for not following his arbitrary rules, then I am not so sure I like him all that much.
Ah, grasshopper! As I aged, and fell away from faith and church, and then returned, I realized that I had misunderstood obedience all along. My mother was right - pain, hell, suffering IS separation from God. Because there is darkness and there is light and turning to the light is to turn to God - and vice versa. The "obedience" that I found so infuriating was, as we know, a gift and an opening - an invitation to spiritual and real-world discipline. Not punishment, but an invitation. Not blind power but a challenge: to seek the light of God and Christ even when darkness is upon us or, perhaps, even when we have found our way into darkness all by ourselves.
I have said to anyone who will listen that Advent is my favorite season. I think I love it because I am deeply moved by the notion of light in the darkness - not only the ability of even the tiniest light to overcome darkness, but the very beauty that such light casts: the campfire, the candle, the single streetlight, the moon, the lit window on a dark street, the "fairy lights" on Christmas trees - these beckon and comfort us precisely because they are surrounded by darkness.
And so, too, do our lives sway in this dance between turning towards God and turning away; from being secure in God's love and wondering if God is there at all; from being grounded in faith and having our faith tested and tried. This passage from Ephesians reminds us to "Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true."
Advent is a time of waiting and also a time of awakening - awakening to God's promise of love and light and redemption that is always right in front of us and around us, even and especially in the darkness.
"Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”