Advent - A Celtic Calling
You may remember from a previous blog post that the Celtic Christians had three separate periods of time each year set apart for particular focus and practice. Each period was approximately 40 days preceding a particular day of celebration. The three are the days prior to Easter, the Transfiguration, and Christmas. They were committed to a regular rhythm of awakening to the depth of human hope, struggle, and Divine Love. They did not wait until a specific day just to have a few hours of acknowledgement of some sort of historic spiritual event, but instead they took several weeks to give mindful attention to a particular aspect of human longing. They turned their attention to the story of the work of the Spirit meeting us in those longings to awaken us again and again to the presence of God in and through our entire experience of life.
Advent is a time of considering our hope for God to be close, not far. We look for eternal and powerful presence that is so near that it is literally in us.
A god who is only “out there” somewhere always devolves into an idea of a god who is judging, punishing, watching, and mostly disappointed in us. We are left with shame and a crushing sense of duty in order to get into the good favor of that god. But a god who is close, so close as to inhabit our very being, is a god that knows of our heart struggles, longings, desires, needs, and meets us in and through who we really are. The “in here” god is one who dignifies each form of life by bringing that life forth, sustaining life with the presence of eternal Life, and bringing that life home again to the Source of Life.
Advent is a longing for intimacy with all that is, and a hope for embrace, eternal embrace, from the Giver of all of Life. It is a hope that I am remembered by God and that I am a part of God’s revelation. And to go further, it is the glorious story of God coming so near that the Divine presence is within the human experience.
Perhaps these days and weeks leading up to Christmas can be a time in which you set aside regular moments to consider the “in here” nature of the Divine presence. There may be practices that help you such as silent/contemplative prayer, walking in the autumn and winter woods to hear the whispers of God’s presence of Life everywhere, writing a poem to express the hope of your heart and the coming close of the heart of God, or offering care toward others in need as an act of noticing the imprint of Divine Life in and through all souls.
May you have an enlightening Advent indeed.
Kirk Webb
(Director and Founder of the Celtic Center)
Giving the Gift of Learning and Personal Growth
This Advent season, give the gift of our online course, The Celtic Christian Perspective and Practice, so that a loved one might dive deeper into their own personal spiritual journey.