advent listening

Last Sunday evening we had a service in our church called Quiet Christmas – a chance to get away from all the noise and business, and to listen. To listen more deeply to the troubles of the world. To listen more deeply to ourselves – we particularly invited those for who Christmas is difficult. And to listen out for the one who comes.

We’re often not very good at listening – really listening. We are bombarded by sounds – and we add more of our own, through speakers and headphones and earbuds. But if our listening is all on the surface we may miss the deeper voices.

This poem is about these two types of listening. It’s called Wachet Auf because that is the name of the music I played earlier by Bach – it means ‘Sleeper’s wake’. You might have noticed the different strands in the music…

Wachet Auf

Advent.

Season when

Dual citizenship

Holds us in

Awkward tension.

…

The world, intent on

Spending Christmas,

Eats and drinks its way to

Oblivion after dinner.

The Kingdom sounds

Insistent warnings:

Repent, be ready,

Keep awake,

He comes.

…

Like some great fugue

The themes entwine:

The Christmas carols,

Demanding our attention

In shops and pubs,

Bore their insistent way

Through noise of traffic;

Underneath, almost unheard,

The steady solemn theme of

Advent.

…

With growing complexity,

Clashing, blending,

Rivals for our attention,

Themes mingle and separate,

Pulling us with increasing

Urgency,

Until in final resolution,

The end attained,

Harmony rests in aweful

Stillness, and

The child is born.

…

He comes,

Both Child and Judge.

…

And will he find us

Watching?

Ann Lewin      

Ann Lewin is interested in the contrast between the traditional Advent themes of repentance and getting ready and the Christmas celebration.

For me, the Advent challenge is to hear again what it means for Jesus to come today, and for me to welcome him. In an email the other day we were challenged to choose a word for our Advent journey and the word that came, to my surprise, was ‘basket’.

Maybe our Advent can be a time of listening, of waiting, of being ready to receive – in the middle of everything else. 

Be still for a few moments

Allow the noise in your head to quieten

Focus on your breathing – breathe more slowly, and more deeply

You might want to bring these words to mind: hush, be still – hush as you breathe in, be still as you breathe out

If something begins to surface, hold it in the quietness – hold it before God – hold it in his loving, caring presence

There is often so much noise and business in our lives – and in our heads.

Lord, help us to be still…

Help us to listen more deeply

Lead us from the surface of things down into the deeper places

Give us courage to stay there, where we can meet you

Help us to be ready to welcome you not just at Christmas, but each day of our Advent journey

Amen