26 Comments

Love these good words . . . your own and the other poets and sages whose words you quoted. Thank you for encouraging us to live in a state of active anticipation!

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This week’s Sunday Musings did not contain links to last year’s Advent posts. Is there any way to get these links? I have very much enjoyed the meditations.

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The comment on last week's meditation is one I have felt in my life more than once - Indeed more than once a week, most weeks, over the last few years. It is based on an Enlightenment perspective. We look, we measure, we make categories, we apply reason to our observations and come to a conclusion.

And when one looks at the things that make "The news," it is perfectly logical that the situation is dire, now, has been dire for most of the last 2000 years. Therefore we conclude that God has truned God's back on us, and waiting is pointless.

Your answer asks us to set aside our timelines and logical prognosis. To look, not at the big picture, but at the small scale works of grace, kindness, and mercy that one person does with and to another. This is not easy. And may even ask us to set aside our Enlightenment perspective and trust other modes of knowing.

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A few years ago I was introduced to Rory Cooney’s version of the Magnificat, with the feel of a contemporary musical setting and words. It is called the “Canticle of the Turning” and catches the revolutionary spirit of Mary’s song, filled with both joy and justice. Here is a recording of it: https://youtu.be/F9QeTmRCpW4

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Thank you for this wonderful message of Advent.

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Wonderful message. The insight you provide is wonderful and need in our world today. Thank you so much for Sharing.

Dave Wilson

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I appreciated your comment about waiting and acting. I am reading the biography of Dr. Paul Farmer who died this past February. I read his book "Pathologies of Power" sometime ago. What a true illustration of "Waiting and Acting" or rather "Acting and Waiting".

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The body can pause. The body can presence truth and divine connection. The body can slow down, contemplate, wonder. These actions might fall under the instruction "wait." For Jose Arguelles, Mayan Time Keeper, the sacred art of time is practiced through spontaneous synergistic synching up to the world. The big challenge is to go the speed of the body.

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Thank you!!!

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Thank you so much for that brilliant inspiring and helpful Sunday Musing! My spirit got the medicine it needed!

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Dec 11, 2022Liked by Diana Butler Bass

I think it was Mother Jones who said, " If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution,"

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THIS: “The ultimate promise may be far off, but the faithful can act on its behalf here and now. Vision, promise, action.”

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Thank you

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Dec 11, 2022Liked by Diana Butler Bass

Wow! Beautiful and wonder-full. Thank you for turning the lens just a bit to remember what it means to “wait”.

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After 2 weeks in bed with Covid (after 3 years well and 4 shots), I am feeling better today and needed these words. As I’ve said for years - and almost always in conjunction with this season- waiting is not a passive act.

Blessings to you during these holy winter days.

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Dec 11, 2022Liked by Diana Butler Bass

Love this! Thank you and peace.

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