Advent is for Remembering

Thirty years ago, when I first began attending 1st Pres, there were many ‘traditional’ worship elements in the early 8:00 a.m. service: choral reading, call and response, prayers of the people, and the children served as acolytes, lighting the Christ candle to open the service and then closing the service by ‘carrying the light out into the world’. I was a pretty new Christian, having answered our Lord’s call of love and salvation 

Yvette Wyatt

just a few years prior in my first church home, The Church of Christ in Amity, Oregon. These elements were sort of strange and a bit ‘woo woo’ to me.

My church experiences were minimal; including some Vacation Bible School (VBS) weeks, a few Sunday school classes at a Baptist church — they provided The Joy Bus that children could just hop on and go to church (you could do that in the olden days) — and a bit of Methodist youth group gatherings. So, I’m sure you can excuse me that with my limited and shotgun-style church experiences, the depth of the traditional worship aspects caused me to wonder if I had mistakenly stepped into a Catholic church. I didn’t know a lot about church stuff, but I knew there were rules to being a Catholic: 1) You should be one to attend. 2) I wasn’t one.
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Once I convinced myself that 1st Pres was not a Catholic church and I wasn’t breaking any religious rules, I came to not just being comfortable with these traditional elements, but to find an interesting level of comfort and an assuring peace in them, as I do in the Contemplative service at 10:30 a.m. It was like a warm invitation to step into the current of a river flowing for centuries and join a rich and deep ensemble of believers.

Now, thirty years into a faith journey, I ironically find myself reading and studying several Catholic theologians, teachers, and authors as I look for how my God Creator, Father Encourager, and Mother Heart would have me mirror the life and love of Jesus Christ. One of these Catholic mentors is Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen (January 24, 1932 – September 21, 1996). He was a Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian.

Today, I am happy to share with you an Advent meditation on the purpose of ‘remembering’. It has been my experience that remembering the myriads of ways and innumerable times our Lord has been faithful in my life is the most effective means to trusting in His grace and mercy for the present moment and future needs. May this meditation encourage you that the gifts of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love are ours now and into the future. We only have to remember all the evidence of the mercy and grace given in the past.
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Blessings, Yvette

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Looking Forward by Looking Back

Daily Meditation | December 5, 2024

The expectation of Advent is anchored in the event of God’s incarnation. The more I come in touch with what happened in the past, the more I come in touch with what is to come. The Gospel not only reminds me of what took place but also of what will take place. In the contemplation of Christ’s first coming, I can discover the signs of his second coming. By looking back in meditation, I can look forward in expectation. By reflection, I can project; by conserving the memory of Christ’s birth, I can progress to the fulfillment of his kingdom. I am struck by the fact that the prophets speaking about the future of Israel always kept reminding their people of God’s great works in the past. They could look forward with confidence because they could look backward with awe to Yahweh’s great deeds.

But Mary treasured up all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
​Luke 2:19 (NIV)

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​Henri Nouwen Society Daily Meditations