ADVENT MESSAGE
Dear Friends
This is the time of year when the days are at their darkest, not only because of the season of the year and the embrace of winter, but also because of the global awareness we have of ominous shadows that appear, at times, to be reaching into every nook and cranny of our existence. How do we live such a time? As people of faith, as those who seek to be people of integrity, as those who yearn to make a positive impact on the beloved world around them – where is the guiding star? Advent is the season of hope. Where do we find or where can we be found by a hope that does not disappoint, a hope that is real? The ways we have known, the truths we have been taught and sought to live by, the conditioning that has been ours – a natural outcome or belief system that every culture, race, community has – seems to be becoming a bit frayed at the edges. And over the last while I’ve had the deepening sense that we’re not going to find it there. We will find partial comfort, yes, and a certain amount of reassurance in some of the riches and traditions tried and tested over the ages, the beloved practices and truths woven into the very fabric of our beings that partly hold us now and will emerge again in the future with renewed vitality, depth and openness. But for now we are in this strange place where we know we cannot go back to what has been; to date, the way ahead is unclear, unknown. Yet we are not alive at this particular time in the history of the world and of humankind for nothing. Those who are coming after us are in-heriting a very different world than the one we have known. And part of our challenge is to model for them a way of living in this new age Our primary task is, perhaps, to be the mid-wives for the next generation.
Meister Eckhart (1260 – 1328) was a Dominican, a priest and a mystic who was living and writing at a time very like our own when the whole world appeared to be teetering into un-certainty and chaos. Regarded by some as being a prophetic voice for his day, his uncon-ventional thinking led to charges of heresy. Those in positions of power in the church were suspicious because, instead of pointing to a different orthodoxy or an alternative, clearly signposted path, he encouraged people, if they wished to enter into greater union with God, to turn to a wayless way, one for which there were no maps or signposts. Perhaps Antonio Machado comes nearest to describing what, in essence cannot be defined, when he says,
“Traveller, there is no path. Paths are made by walking.” What they are both saying, I think, is that each person’s journey is, ultimately, unique to them. If it seems crazy to some, then so be it, but in order to be true to what or who is knocking at the door of our soul, then there is no option but to embrace this way even though it may often seem to be characterized by par-adox, by mystery and by darkness rather than light, as Mary did over two thousand years ago. This journey is something about letting go, about unlearning, about unknowing. It’s about daring to step out of the box we have known and has ‘held’ us for most of our lives. It is about being courageous enough, some might say foolhardy enough, to step out not know-ing where we’re going but trusting that such an adventure will free us into a new way of thinking, a freer way of being – not for ourselves alone but so that we, and those we encoun-ter every day, might enter that process of being transformed by Love and into Love. It is cer-tainly not about a retreat from the world or self-centred introspection, but rather that the in-ner journey might so transform the outer that we truly become Advent people, bearers of hope to the world about us. This may not seem dramatic or important, but actually it is the one thing that we can open up to and embrace. We make our path by walking – our unique path. Throughout the relatively short history of Restoration Ministries one of the principles we have held dear is the conviction that the biggest reconciliation journey we will ever make is the one within ourselves. As we seek to be attentive to that, to that unique wayless way, then the external journey (and the two are inextricably interlinked) even although presenting many obstacles, becomes gloriously possible. And when we seek to be true to such a mys-tery, people will begin to notice and be blessed. They will see that we have risked the dark-ness of the desert, the wilderness and discovered the light within. They will look at us and say, in the words of the Song of Songs, “Who is this, coming up from the desert leaning on her Lover.”
May we all find hope as we journey, may we make our path by walking and may our wayless way bless the world.
Love to you all at Christmas.
Ruth Patterson
Contact Us:
19 Harmony Drive Lambeg Lisburn, BT27 4ED
E-mail: office@restorationministries.co.uk Tel: +44 2892 675783
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