Moments with God: Reflections during Advent

-
I wrote this poem in response to John 1:1-18 as part of a spiritual exercise suggested in the devotional, "Meditations on the Birth of Jesus. A Renovaré Advent Resource for Spiritual Renewal" by Miriam Dixon and Margaret Campbell.

December 1st

In the Beginning


You were there among them
One more in the crowd
They did not recognize you
In fact, they turned their backs on you

They walked away
They left you alone
But you did not leave
Instead, you placed your tent in a dry land
And promised to be water and bread

Help me come out of that crowd
Help me come to you
May I ask for water and drink
May I taste your bread and gain strength
May I come to dwell beside you
May I confess with unwavering lips,
“From His fullness we have all received, 
grace upon grace”


December 3rd

John 1:1-18

Light, help me see you.
Life, help me receive you.
Flesh, help me be your dwelling place.




December 5th

I wrote this poem in response to the prompt to write my most recent experience of God watering my dried-up hope in an expected way.




God in a Cat

God in a cat…
Giving me someone to take care of
Someone to nurse and to keep warm
Someone to reassure, “I am here. I will take care of you.”

God in a cat…
Giving me someone to hold
Someone to caress
Someone to sing to
Someone to keep me awake at night

God in a cat
Watering my dried-up hope
By a leap and sudden landing on my lap
he breaks the spell of grief...
Perhaps God's here with me
Perhaps God knows and cares


I was praying, and crying for Caleb, during our Advent devotional when our cat, Tajín, suddenly leapt unto my lap. The association I make of God with a cat comes from the book, The Horse and His Boy from The Chronicles of Narnia where Aslan shows up as a barn cat to comfort the boy. God has used Tajín to comfort me more than once since Tajín showed up under our house. 
December 7th



Juan 1:1-18
Dios de las oportunidades


Ya vivías aquí, pero no te reconocimos.
Nos creaste, de uno y otro modo te manifestaste, 
pero no te pudimos ver.
Tu presencia etérea, eterna, no bastó.
Tomaste entonces forma de hombre.
Te mudaste a nuestro barrio, pasaste hambre y sed.

Dios de las oportunidades, ¿vendrás otra vez?
¿Vendrás de forma que no haya modo de poner excusas?
“No sabía”.
“¿Cómo eras?”
“¿Dónde estabas?”
“No te vi.”

Dios de las oportunidades, dame otra oportunidad a mí.
December 15th
Matthew 1:18-25

 God, speak to me in a dream like you spoke to Joseph
Break into my confusion
Reveal yourself to me
Tell me it is true — 
The child I lost will rise again



In the devotional "Pauses for Advent," Methodist pastor and teacher, Trevor Hudson, writes a daily reflection based on a word. His reflections prompted me to explore the relationship between the following words and my pain right now. 

 December 21st





"Throughout all our experiences and encounters, God is present with us and will be even to the end of the age." Trevor Hudson


God with us, Emmanuel
God with Caleb
God with Daniel
God with Paul
God with me
God with Mari
God with Vanna
God with Inu
God with Tajín

 God with us when we are born
God with us when we die
God with the world
God with us in our grief







I open to you the dark rooms of my life — my darkened mind, my withering heart.
Everything is dying inside me...hope, joy, love. What's the point?
I speak like this in despondent moments, but then I remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, the resurrection and the life.
"On those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned."
You pierce my darkness and I hope again.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is it Love?

-
Image
His concerned eyes were fixed on me for reassurance from the moment we were called in. He looked so small in the dentist's chair, in spite of it being a pediatric office. I stood by him throughout the visit. Once the check-up and cleaning were completed, his little hands explored the toys and trinkets the dental hygenist held in the prize box that day. He was only three years-old, and he had been brave.  We took the elevator down, and to Daniel's delight, we discovered there was a coffee shop on the bottom floor. After such a successful first visit to the dentist, I could not possibly deny him a treat. The coffee shop opened to pretty Centennial Lakes. We took a seat outside, and suddenly Daniel noticed the music coming out of a speaker hidden behind some plants. "Mami, ¿quieres bailar?" He stood up and took me by the hand. There, with a smiling couple as the audience, my little boy led me in a simple dance step right-to-left, left-to-right to the tune of some piece b...
Read more

A Child in Our Midst

-
Image
This meditation was written by my brother Arturo for my son Caleb's memorial service and translated by my friend and co-worker Rachel Herring. Thank you both. A CHILD IN OUR MIDST Matthew 18 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  2  He called a little child to him and set him in the midst of them.   3  And he said:  “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is not inclined to give easy answers. We tend to trivialize the disciples’ questioning of Jesus about who is most important in the kingdom of heaven, as though it were a superficial question, an expression of their egoism and self-interest. This is a mistake. The question is a deeper, and important, one. It’s a question of defining the nature of relationships in the new, longed-for reality of the kingdom of heaven. It’s a question of understandi...
Read more

Segundo encuentro: El misionero

-
Image
Si no hubiera sido por el misionero, muy probablemente mi familia seguiría indiferente a la religión y a Dios. Uno se acostumbra a vivir con ideas vagas y repeticiones culturales que a veces ni siquiera son capaces de despertar la emotividad. Algunos, como mi familia, se mantienen ajenos, mirando desde afuera (o desde adentro) lo que otros hacen, lo que otros creen, lo que otros dicen, sin que nada interrumpa la monotonía de nuestros pensamientos y creencias.  Recuerdo su figura alta, de piel blanca y ojos claros, que delataban —junto con su acento— que era de otro lugar. Tocó la reja de la casa de mis abuelos y mi tío Martín salió a ver qué quería. Ya de por sí era extraño que un fuereño llamara a la puerta, pero el motivo lo era todavía más.  Haroldo Figueroa era un misionero  bautista  de Chiapas que, por una razón que desconozco, escogió a la ciudad de Iguala, Guerrero, para abrir una iglesia. Mi tío lo recibió de buena gana y él y mi abuelita comenzaron a asisti...
Read more