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Advent Word December 3

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Forward Movement, the excellent resource for many things Episcopal, including the Forward Day by Day booklets many of you are familiar with, has once again challenged people to reflect on one word each day of Advent. Each word is taken from the Sunday liturgy – the prayers and readings for the Sunday in Advent for each of the 4 weeks of the Advent season. I am going to attempt (pray for me) to add a short reflection on each word each day of Advent. To subscribe to the Advent Word series from Forward Movement, click HERE.

Advent Word for December 3rd is “quietness”

In Psalm 122, our Psalm for the 1st Sunday of Advent, verse 7 says: “Peace be within your walls, and quietness within your towers.

Quietness is something I yearn for often. It’s so hard to hear God’s voice when the noise of the world is at high screech level! I think mayhap I need another silent retreat and I need it NOW! Oops, sorry to shout! However, I don’t think the word Quietness from Psalm 122 is about that kind of silence. The first half of the sentence from verse 7 says, “Peace be within your walls”. The quietness, it seems to me, is asking for the cessation of fighting or war, no need to be noisy in the guard towers, clanging weapons and barking orders. Instead the Psalmist, I think, is praying for peace and the end to conflict, so the walls and towers are quiet instead of filled with the sounds of battle. Quietness signals peace. So let us pray for peace, both from conflicts between nations and neighbors as well as the peace of Christ, which St. Paul says, surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). This kind of inner peace comes only from God and it heralds (quietly of course) the presence of the Holy Spirit, guarding our hearts and minds, filling us with the grace of Christ, comforting us in our struggles, and, yes, quieting our souls so we can hear God even in the midst of the hard stuff. SHHH do you hear the quiet?? God is present, may God’s peace which passes all understanding, guard your heart and soul in the knowledge of God, and of God’s son, Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

2 thoughts on “Advent Word December 3”

  1. Sorry I didn’t stay up to read this!
    I appreciate this perspective, because my head immediately went to how much I love to be home alone–I love the peace and quiet. (Not all of the time, but occasionally.) When it is disrupted, I might try the Psalmist’s approach and pronounce “Peace within our walls!”

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