Advent has been a season of waiting and preparing not only for holiday gatherings and celebrations but for the Christ to be born once again in our own embodied lives. It has been many weeks of accompanying and being accompanied by Mary, pregnant with God, bringing forth the substances of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love in both small and big ways as we approached Christmas Day. Now Christmas has come and the waiting is over. I am trusting that each one of us in our own way are bringing forth the spark of the divine with more intensity in the midst of a frightened and tired world; magnifying the Lord as we give and receive these substances. Let us take some time to linger in gratitude, in celebration, in honoring what has come. Take time to rest and recover, to allow that which has been birthed to be enjoyed and struggles to be acknowledged, and to be renewed in strength and courage. Let us rest and trust this week. Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love within and upon us all, Heather
Here most of the Readings from this week's pauses: “Love as ‘the will to extend one’s self for the the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.’ Love is as love does. Love is an act of will–namely, both an intention and an action.” — bell hooks "I cannot specifically define love, but I am convinced it is the fundamental energy of the human spirit, the fuel on which we run, the wellspring of our vitality. And grace, which is the flowing, creative activity of love itself, is what makes all goodness possible." — Gerald G. May Still me until I hear your heartbeat quiet me until I feel your breathing make me one with your rhythms move me to the cadence of your love. — Jan Richardson Forgive us, God, when we live our lives within thin lines, when we say this is the shape of our work this is the boundary of our habitation these are the limits to our love these are the lines of our vision these, and none other. Draw us beyond our patterns into yours: shifting, moving, curving, spiraling, many-colored, ever-changing, stretching, pushing, challenging, renaming, unsettling, disturbing, casting forth, and welcoming home. — Jan Richardson “If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.” Then, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ taking birth forever, as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us. Yet there, under the dome of your being does creation come into existence eternally, through your womb, dear pilgrim— the sacred womb in your soul, as God grasps our arms for help; for each of us is His beloved servant never far. If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the street pregnant with Light and sing.” — Saint John of The Cross “I did not seek this birthing, but you have drawn me into the passage; and I am the one who is bearing, and I am the one being born. So in my longing yearning breaking gasping groaning laboring bearing birthing I am asking, O god my midwife, deliver me.” — Jan Richardson “My soul doth magnify the Lord." I love these words. The human soul, or individualized atman, is not merely the servant of God, or the seeker of God, but the magnifier of God: a crystal prism of Christ-all consciousness channeling an invisible ray of divine energy into this rainbow incarnation, magnifying God into You, as embodied radiance, at once completely unique and yet a hologram containing every "other" particle of creation. I wish You not just to Have a wonderful Christmas, but to Be a wonderful Christmas. Peace.” — Alfred K LaMott “God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.” — Desmond Tutu
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