Third Tuesday of Advent
Scripture Reading for Today:
Zephaniah 3:14-20
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Numbers 16:20-35
20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”
22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”
23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”
25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”
31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”
35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
Acts 28:23-31
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
26 “‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
27 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” [29]
30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
NIV
Re-Wilding
by Rachel Pipher
Rachel Pipher writes poetry hoping it serves as an invitation to less and more— less shame, more freedom, less isolation, more truth, less holding back, more dancing. She’s trained as a social worker and loves being in positions of truth-speaking and healthy system-setting. Rachel’s first poetry collection is called ‘re-wilding’.
Welcome to this place outside where you were told the Light lived.
Welcome to a place of fear-filled change, mighty rest, or rebellious hope.
Soak in the rays of life, unmeasured and crashing, drenching you in the warmth of knowledge that, even here, you are greeted by Peace.
Having pulled yourself out of the mud, you set your roots in this wide open space.
Here, peeled from all the normal, calloused, deafening certainties, invite healing afresh from the source of all Love.
This Advent, stake your hope on the truth that there will be life, springtime, light beside and beyond the depths of winter’s death. In the coming days, despite what we’ve known and what has ended, we hold onto the hope of defiantly new life.
Let yourself believe that seasons of rest are part of the work of restoring our vision of bridge-building for the outcast and witnessing ever-flowing streams in the desert.
These poems from my first collection called ‘re-wilding’ feature the turning point in a chapter of exile where you gather enough belief to hang your heart on hope again. That moment when you start digging into the earth to plant your hope-seeds, agreeing with the promise that restored, to-the-fullest, fresh-flower life is still ahead.
Re-wilding is a 5-part series that takes the reader on the journey of hopeful deconstruction. While acknowledging the initial pain and disorientation of letting go in ‘unearthed’, it follows with a permission-giving section that says to abandon any performance and let your field lie “fallow.” Then, mirroring the awakening of springtime, and just like when grief’s hold allows for gasps of light, the following 3 sections unpack the tiny “seeds" of hope we find ourselves holding, the rebellious “rooting” for embedded and integrated life we were made for, finishing with the dizzying delight of seeing “new life” grow against all odds.
And isn’t that what this journey of Advent is? Finding ourselves holding tiny seeds of hope with front-row seats to unstoppable, uproarious life taking hold where we wouldn’t expect it?
Welcome to the place you are. May you be surprised by the promise of life-brimming hope today.
Grief anchors love
Setting it correctly
On its heights and
Carving out its depths
Hope stands up to
despair’s flooding
Buoys us, giving us
Safety from the sweeping flow
Anger guards pain
Which alone is weak
But can be hidden
Guarded, fortified
Joy waits for a window
To spill from its well
Full of buckling laughter
And bright new mornings
— Page 89 of re-wilding, in “rooting”
It has been so dull to know winter for so long
And now even as it is quiet, it is not dark here
By the light of the fire burning, we are warming
No one is sent out and all are welcomed in
A cave of shelter; longing and gathering
The greys and browns and dried roots
Seem like rainbows as our eyes adjust
To what seems like a circus, a feast, a fountain
Of opportunity, of open-handed hope
Our together is a celebration
— Page 68 of re-wilding, in “seeds”
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