Second Sunday of Advent
E /merg - (ence)
Emergence: // as defined by living the Advent journey: 1. to connect/in a process of becoming/releasing into presence 2. to act as one body in reaching new frontiers 3. to live more humanly/[from the root] to create silence 4. to move together toward E (mmanuel)
John the Baptist did not remain in the desert, holding his “pearl of great price.” John’s message to us is one of Emergence. Grounded in his knowing of Emmanuel (“God with us”), John aligned his inner experience with where his feet took him.
He shows us the Advent way of interior sync with exterior, illuminated in the words of theologian Frederick Buechner in Alphabet of Grace, “Thus, when you wake up in the morning called by God to be a self again, if you want to know who you are, watch your feet. Because where your feet take you, that is who you are.”
We watch where John the Baptist’s feet took him. His silence in the desert moved him to connect with a community in need of intervention. Like the wisdom of the 12-step journey, he did not stand idle to the suffering around him, but was “impelled to action” by a desire to pave the way for the Incarnation. He did not wait for a plan or a dashboard of metrics. Aware of the cultural challenges, he did what he could. He defined Emergence. His integrity led his feet and his life to announce a pathway from the contemporary suffering toward the solution.
Upon foot-watching, few of us will announce the intervention of the incarnation. Or will we?
If my life is the only Gospel read by another, what is the message? Where will my feet take me today and what will emerge? Can we trust the same grace, the same Emmanuel, the same Word that John did?
E /merg - (ence)the Advent journey of moving together from where we areinto the open heart of God,watching where our feet take us.
Reflection by Bridget Bearss, RSCJ, Executive Director, Stuart CenterImage by Bridget Bearss, RSCJ
