Quiet morning in preparation for Advent
Meditators from Bristol and around met on Saturday 23rd November 2024.
It was a beautiful morning, making space in our busy lives to pause and prepare for the lead up to Christmas.
Meeting at Faithspace, Redcliffe Methodist Church lent itself beautifully to this aim of pausing in the midst of busyness. It is in the centre of Bristol and real, everyday life was happening all around.
As we gathered in a circle to listen to the introduction for the morning, looking up, you could see the trees and sky through a broad and high window.
Throughout the morning, as we heard the weather and saw its results coming through the roof (which had seen better times), I looked up regularly and felt the surroundings of God’s creation as we listened and shared silence, meditation and Lectio Divina.
Helen Adams shared a liturgical summary of Advent as a Period for devout and expectant delight and quoted from a homily written by St Bernard of Clairvaux, an Abbot and Mystic from the turn of the 12th Century who talked about the three comings of Christ:
We know that the coming of the Lord is threefold…
The first coming was in flesh and weakness,
the middle coming is in spirit and power,
and the final coming will be in glory and majesty.
This middle coming is like a road that leads from the first coming to the last.
Through sharing silence, meditation and Lectio Divina, we were able to experience the middle coming of Christ day by day, that day, now, here.
The Christ who makes his home with us. The Christ who accepts us, whatever the state of that home, if we but stop and acknowledge his presence.
Thank you to the Team who planned and led this day. You created a beautiful space to hold the silence and set us up for Advent 2024.
Francesca Magner