Joy Sings Out

This came across my desk recently... so I send it on to all you Advent adventurers....

The Advent tension is a way of learning again that God is God: that between even our deepest and holiest longing and the reality of God is a gap which only grace can cross.
~ Rowan Williams, A Ray of Darkness

This past week I caught a glimpse of the kind of grace that crosses the gap between our longing and the reality of God. One of our pet birds died recently and when our 5 year-old granddaughter Sara came over to visit I told her Peep had died. She immediately said I want to talk with her. So we went out into the backyard where we had buried Peep. It was dark as we held hands with only the ray of a flashlight to solemnly guide us to the place of burial. I turned off the flashlight and I hear Sara whispering and then she tugged my hand as she said one last good-bye to Peep. I turned the flashlight back on and as we turned to walk back into the house. Sara turned back and joyfully sang out: “Merry Christmas Peep!”

In the stillness of a December night, joy sprang up. In the middle of a parched land a river springs forth. In the midst of loss, joy sang out. In the midst of a dry and thirsty land a story of joy runs through it…