Session 2: 'A light has dawned'

We begin this time of Advent retreat by taking time to settle into a time of prayer. Take time to still your body and mind. Allow your body to let go of tension and stiffness. Invite your mind to be still, knowing that any pressing matters or distractions can be dealt with later. Now is the moment to invite God to be present to you and to speak to you during this reflection time, while you in turn open your heart to God and allow God’s word to speak to you…

Today’s Scripture from Isaiah contrasts the darkness in which many of us find ourselves with the dawning of God’s light. In Luke’s Gospel Zechariah doubts the angel Gabriel’s promise of a child to a couple far too old to bear children. When his son John is born, he proclaims, ‘By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death’.

Jesus is that dawn. Can we hope for a renewal of life, even in the shadow of death and darkness?

We listen now to the scripture reading from Isaiah ch. 9, vv. 2-3:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.

Have you ever watched for the dawn to come up? Perhaps you were on holiday up in the mountains or by the seashore. Perhaps you were at someone’s sickbed, or in your own, longing for night to be over. You may have been working, waiting for your shift to begin or end, or on a walking pilgrimage, waiting to get going for the day. See if you can allow your memory and imagination to take you back to that experience.

You wait in the all-encompassing darkness, but you begin to notice the slightest glimmering of light in the east. The dark becomes grey and then light and colour arise out of nowhere, ever brighter. The sunrise is magnificent, breathtaking, and you can hardly remember the darkness, and soon the whole horizon is full of light.

How does it feel to move from darkness to light? What is it like to long for light in the dark? And to let go of the dark as you are surrounded by light?

Isaiah speaks of rejoicing as at the abundance of harvest time. What harvest are you longing for right now? He speaks of warriors. What victories are you seeking?

As you allow your imagination and your senses to lead you, stay with whatever catches your attention. Does a sense of praise and joy or need and petition come to your mind and heart? Allow yourself to speak to God as one friend to another. Perhaps you’re not accustomed to speak to God in such a free and familiar way, but this is God’s invitation to you.

As a pilgrim of hope in this time of jubilee, where does your Advent journey seem to be taking you?

O Key of David, who opens the gates of the eternal kingdom; come and lead from prison the captive sitting in darkness. Amen