December 3: Advent Calendar

The Advent owl?

Welcome to the Cottage Advent Calendar

Every day from December 1 - 24, you’ll receive an email (to “open” like a window on an old-fashioned Advent calendar). Each post will be something - a little spiritual “treat” of words - on a seasonal theme from my writing.

It is a genuine pleasure to share this collection of reflections with you. I pray each post will surprise you and shine light on your path.

And I hope you’ll invite your friends by sharing these daily posts with others.

TODAY’S reflection comes from 2008. That year, I used my own Advent calendar as a springboard to write a daily devotion for the Sojourners blog. Each day (beginning on December 3), I opened a window and wrote an extemporaneous reflection! This selection was the first post in that project.

Last year, this owl was found in the branches of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree!

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Window 3

Since today is December 3, I had to open three Advent windows. The first depicted a dove. The second window revealed a bell-ringer in the church tower. And the third, this morning's window, offered a picture of an owl.

I was tempted to write about the dove-peace since the symbol is most obvious. Or I might have ruminated on church bells, the great timekeepers of hourly Christian prayer. But the owl caught my attention. An Advent owl?

The owl is an ancient symbol of wisdom. Many religious people think faith is about answers, but we may be remiss in this assumption. Scripture teaches us that we are to seek wisdom, that holy Sophia, not the certainty of easy answers. Faith is not passing a doctrine test; rather, faith is about the wisdom of God. Wisdom is a kind of knowing that probes the soul; it goes past answers, often raising more questions on our journey toward God than it resolves. The Jewish philosopher, Victor Frankel, referred to wisdom as "knowing penetrated by unknowing." Yes, wisdom is elusive. Yet it is considered the greatest of all treasures, more precious than gold. Over and over, the Word directs us to seek, pursue, and chase wisdom.

According to both ancient Hebrew and Christian traditions, wisdom has an active quality. Indeed, 50 years ago, the great writer Huston Smith pointed out that wisdom is the ethical life of God in the world. It is the living expression of justice, beauty, and love. Wisdom does not allow its children to sit contentedly in prayer closets, congratulating ourselves on how deeply we experience God. No, holy wisdom calls, pushes, directs, and compels every one of us to act on behalf of the great God of the universe and make shalom.

Indeed, the calendar's first three windows—owl, bells, and dove—open up a surprising vision for this Advent. Wisdom comes not through money, politics, or power. Rather, wisdom is a way open to all who long for it, experienced through redemptive time and practicing peace. Wisdom, hallowed time, and shalom—each a holy sign directing us away from fear and pointing our pilgrim way toward the Prince of Peace.

From Sojourners, December 3, 2008

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Downhill I came, hungry, and yet not starved,
Cold, yet had heat within me that was proof
Against the North wind; tired, yet so that rest
Had seemed the sweetest thing under a roof.
Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest,
Knowing how hungry, cold, and tired was I.
All of the night was quite barred out except
An owl's cry, a most melancholy cry
Shaken out long and clear upon the hill
No merry note, nor cause of merriment,
But one telling me plain what I escaped
And others could not, that night, as in I went.
And salted was my food, and my repose,
Salted and sobered too, by the bird's voice
Speaking for all who lay under the stars,
Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice.
— Edward Thomas, “The Owl”

Of this poem, A.E. Stallings writes: “Though it was apparently written in late February of 1915, yet it seems a sort of Christmas poem to me (and arguably a Christian one); indeed it would make a very fine carol. The elements are all there—the darkness, the cold, seeking room at the inn, thoughts of those still out ‘under the stars’—the soldiers and the poor, themselves important to the story; and then, though negated, the suggestion nevertheless of ‘merriment,’ and that last word upon which the poem hinges, ‘rejoice.’”

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The Cottage ADVENT CALENDAR is free and open to all. If you feel called to financially contribute to this work, there are two special ways to support The Cottage this December.

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That little owl with a call as steady as my heartbeat was telling anyone who would listen, ‘I am here.’ We were listening. We’re listening still.
― Heather Durham

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An Advent Event

Shane Claiborne has picked Freeing Jesus as the December book of the Red Letter Christian Book Club! Read the book and join us in conversation via ZOOM on December 19 at 7pm. This is a free event. Click here for information and the sign-up link.