The Way (1)

December 7, 2008 · by Christine

This season beckons me to ask, what am I preparing for? What is the way that is being prepared within the wilderness of my life? What does it mean for my own life to become a path, a way of welcome for the Holy One? How do I give myself time to notice the ways that the path unfolds before me and within me? What are the acts of preparation that bring delight to my daily life? Whom do I ask or allow to help me prepare?

-Jan Richardson, Night Visions

A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!

-Isaiah 40:1-5

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”

-Mark 1:1-8

I am reflecting and writing on Sunday’s lectionary readings for Advent the Tuesday before as I leave the next day to lead a four-day contemplative retreat. It is always a gift to create space for others, to offer an environment to encourage stillness and reflection, to witness as those who gather listen more deeply and begin to discover their own “way” in the world. Usually it is a way that is more authentically their own, a way that takes them further into the wild spaces of God.

When Isaiah and Mark speak of preparing “the way” I do not hear that there is only one particular path. Both speak of hearing a voice in the desert. The desert is that wild place where we encounter a God who is untamed. In the days of the early church, seekers of the Holy One would wander out into the desert to leave behind the clamor of the city and listen for the God to be found in those harsh landscapes. In that place of extremes, of stripping away, they heard the sacred whispers calling them to move beyond expectations.

Advent invites us to prepare our own way, to enter into our own “wilderness” — those places beyond our comfort zone. While we may find God in familiar places and practices, often it is a God who will fit into our boxes. Once we are ready to set the divine free, we are invited to move to the edges of what we know, to grow less comfortable and stretch ourselves into new spaces. There we will be asked to confront Mystery and to dwell with it, allowing it room to spread wide within us. Sometimes that feeling borders on terrifying.

Being the organized person that I am, I have planned the details of this retreat for weeks now. I have gathered readings, reflections, and supplies, and when the women gather together from all the places they have traveled, my work is to create a safe space into which they can begin to surrender and listen. While I have many hopes for this time, ultimately I am also invited to surrender and recognize that God is guiding this time. I need to recognize when I can assist and when I am simply getting in the way. Being human, I won’t always get it right. But I know the God who shows up in that space will be a God of wild places, coaxing us into landscapes we had not dared to go before.

Several months ago I had a dream that I was on a densely forested island. Half the island had well-marked trails, and half required me to make my own way through. I was given the choice and I chose to leave the trails behind. I woke up feeling exhilarated, as though deep within I had claimed a new path that did not depend on the trail someone else had created for me. Certainly I could draw on the wisdom of the ancients, but ultimately I had to place one foot in front of the other myself and take responsibility for where this brought me.

What are the growing edges of your own life? Where are the places you have not wanted to go until now? What might you discover of God in the wilderness that you have not been ready to receive until now?

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

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ADVENT EVENING OF PRAYER: Annunication
with Christine Paintner & Betsey Beckman

Thursday, December 11th from 7-9 p.m.
at St. Joseph Parish Center, 732 18th Ave E, Seattle
(sponsored by the Ignatian Spirituality Center, no pre-registration required, free will offering)
OR
Friday, December 12th from 7:30-9:00 p.m.
at St. Cecelia Parish on Bainbridge Island
(sponsored by St Cecelia Parish, no pre-registration required, free will offering)

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Order copies of Reflective Art Journals and signed copies of LECTIO DIVINA: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness at the Abbey Shop

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Our next Poetry Party will be on Monday, December 8th!

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