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I don’t know whether you have noticed the Advent Candles in the western windows of the Sanctuary, but here is a picture of them with the morning sun coming through them.
Each Sunday during Advent, members of our church were asked a question that related to the theme for that week of Advent. The first week of Advent is Peace and the question was what makes you feel the most peaceful or where do you feel the most peaceful? The second week of Advent is Hope and the questions were what makes you feel hopeful or what are you most hopeful about? The third week of Advent is Joy, the questions were what makes you joyful or how do you express your joy? Finally, the fourth week of Advent is Love and the question was how do you show love to others? Each Sunday we “built” a candle of the members responses written on small rectangular pieces of translucent vinyl, so the candles really are communal work.
When I was sitting in the Sanctuary last week early one morning I wondered how we are taking these little beacons of light into our community? How are we bringing Peace and Hope and Joy and Love into our neighborhoods, our schools, our places of work, all the places we go during the week and to all the people we interact with?
This coming weekend we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. I would like you to imagine Dr. King asking you,
- How have you been an active peace maker this week?
- Where have you sown hope this week?
- What joy have brought into someone’s life this week?
- To whom have you been the face of love this week?
It’s very easy to let it be someone else’s responsibility. It’s very easy to see your obligations piling up so high that you “can’t” be a peace maker, sow hope, bring joy or be the face of love. Those are all the ways we become the people that Dr. King talked about in Letter From Birmingham Jail, those who don’t really do wrong – they just fail to do right.
Let’s not fail.
-Carolyn Hayes
Director of Children and Young Families
