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CCDA invites you to explore how the themes in Ezekiel prepare us for the advent of the Messiah. Join us in a communal reflection on the very real ways the birth and incarnation initiated a revival during a season of waiting and darkness. If you have missed the others in this series, read the first three devotionals here.
Visio Divina
For this devotional, we encourage you toward a spiritual discipline called, “Visio Divina”. Visio Divina is a form of divine seeing in which we prayerfully invite God to speak to our hearts as we look at an image. As you look and reflect on an image, ponder the questions below-some of which may speak to you, while others may not. This is a practice that can be done individually or communally. We encourage you to try Visio Divina (outlined below) with our images below!
- As you look and reflect on the images, notice your breath and your body.
- Simply be present to the image and allow it to speak to your heart, without any particular agenda. Let God’s Spirit prompt reflection within you.
- How do you feel looking at the image?
- If you had to describe the image in a sentence or two silently to yourself, what would you say?
- If you were in the image, where would you place yourself?
- Do you get a glimpse of the sacred from this image? Is God speaking to you in this image?
- Does a name for God arise for you from this image? In silence, sit with what you have received.
“I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” Ezekiel 37:26-28
We encourage you to listen to this version of O Come O Come Emmanuel as you read.
In the midst of a valley of death & dry bones, God breathes life, raises an army, opens up graves, AND chooses to dwell there among his people. The God of the Universe chose to dwell in an unlikely place amongst an unlikely people.
Our creator’s promise of peace and dwelling extend through generations to Elizabeth and Mary, where the womb became a sacred dwelling place. In Elizabeth’s blessing and Mary’s Magnificat we are reminded of the beautiful lyrics and haunting melody of “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” The song echoes the matriarchal groans from Christ’s ancestors, their longsuffering joined with the simultaneous liberation that was birthed through their wombs.
“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appears.”
Advent invites us to anticipate with Christ’s foremothers, whose participation tells us to rejoice, all while recognizing the hardships we are experiencing & challenges that await us. We are invited to enter into the story of a migrant family who found themselves holding the incarnate dwelling of Creator.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
This year, as we await Christ’s birth, we live in the darkness of state-sanctioned violence and raging global pandemic. We mourn and ache for the lives tragically lost, and the trauma endured in the year that has passed. We await new hope. We are expectant with revolution. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel dwells with us, CCDA.
O come, Thou Day-Spring,
come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
“God of Mary & Elizabeth, we thank you for holding space for the words & emotions of these women in the story of Your coming. To experience waiting through their eyes is a healing gift to all of those who have waited for peace and goodness in the shadows of those whom society most often centers. As you guide us into experiencing holy silence this Advent, help us to distinguish what kind of silence and for whom? Help those whose social positions make it that they speak quickly and are heard quickly, learn a silence in this season that considers the quiet and suppressed stories in their midst. And like Joseph and Zechariah, keep the powerful from becoming defensive and insecure when they feel their role being transformed in your wake. Let us use this season to hold space for the unseen and unheard. And when they speak, let us believe them. Let us hold their words as sacred, knowing our faith is diluted without the sounds that they carry.” Prayer written by Cole Arthur Riley of @blackliturgies
Do You See Me? Women and Incarceration: The Untold Story by Miea A. Walker, MSW, is a great way for you to begin to make space for the unseen & unheard.
Stay tuned for Locked in Solidarity, our action & awareness week for mass incarceration, happening on Feb 7-13, 2021.
Go deeper with “Do You See Me? Women and Incarceration: The Untold Story” Workshop Here.
