Comfort

My advent word of the day is comfort. 

 This week, month, year has been a year where comfort has been a desire for most of us. As we struggle with the idea that people can pick up a gun, explore the internet and learn how to make a bomb and then go and kill just random people. When the world seems out of control we search for a feeling of relief, consolation, solace. We wanted to be comforted.

When I was going through the hardest moment in my life, comfort came from family and friends. The ones who didn't ask questions, who gave me a hug, listened, or just told me a story to laugh. During this time when I was getting divorced and trying to figure out what this meant for my son and I. I was trying to figure out who I was, who I wanted to be, where I had failed. I had some very good friends and family who made a space for me to land. Who welcomed me back. One of the places that brought me the most comfort was church. I needed the familar. I needed that sense of peace that you get when all of you are singing together the songs of faith. Those songs brought such comfort. When the whole group sang together Be Thou My Vision, Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, Amazing Grace. The prayers and words that I knew from the time I were little, comforted me, reminding me that I was part of something larger. My home church became a big comfort for me. Especially when they didn't ask questions they just welcomed me and my son back in the communal life of faith. The flow of love was of comfort from the passing of the peace to the sharing of cookies and coffee. 

 

Comfort. This week if the news is feeling overwhelming. Find what brings you comfort. Whether it is gathering around with you cousins and singing songs to the guitar. Taking the time to sit around the table playing games. Drinking hot coco with marshmallows. And maybe return to church or turn to a faith community for the first time. Where we will sing together songs that have been sung for ages. Where we will be comforted by the familar story. The story we here this time very year. The story of how God was sending in babies, little one who would grow and change. These story tell us of the messengers of God who enter our lives to bring light to the darkness, comfort for the oppressed, hope for the hopeless. These messengers ask us to prepare for God's life among us. The story of faith we here this time of year is a reminder that God comes among us to comfort us, to bring light into a world full of darkness. Let this time when we talk about hope, peace, joy, and love bring comfort to you.

 

O Come, O Come Emmanuel 

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

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.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.