{"id":2673,"date":"2025-12-04T17:51:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/?p=2673"},"modified":"2026-01-06T12:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:38:12","slug":"advent-reflections-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/advent-reflections-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent Reflections 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fourth Sunday of Advent<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Sunday the psalmist invites us to
\nLet the Lord enter; he is king of glory.
\nBe it done unto me.
\nBe it done unto me.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can you who encompass all things
\nbe encompassed by me?
\nIn whose image I\u2019m wondrously made,
\nbe made, then, of me.<\/p>\n

– from a song by Bob Hurd<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Third Sunday of Advent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gaudete!<\/p>\n

This Sunday the psalmist invites us to pray:<\/p>\n

Lord, come and save us
\nthat we may celebrate life
\nin all its magnificence, multiplicity and mystery:
\nunbiddable, unstoppable, unquenchable. Amen<\/p>\n

adapted: Nicola Slee<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Rick Whittle\/Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2nd Sunday of Advent<\/strong><\/p>\n

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. \u2013 Isaiah 11<\/p>\n

Maybe this week we could look for and spend some silent time with a tree that has been damaged but continues to grow \u2013 and ponder\u2026.<\/p>\n

Gerald May, psychiatrist and theologian, suggests we reconnect with the natural world:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been fractured\u2026 broken away from the nature of one another, broken apart from our own nature\u2026 We must allow ourselves to be healed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Let us begin again as, so often, did Cornelia Connelly.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yanping Ma\/ Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

First Sunday of Advent<\/strong><\/p>\n

On this first Sunday of Advent the psalmist urges us,<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord\u201d
\n\u2013 trusting we will find light for our path
\nif only we open our eyes in humble places.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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