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Please enjoy this beautiful Advent reflection, courtesy of the SNDdeN Anti-Racism Team:
Anyone awaiting the birth of a child is filled with many ‘wonderings’ and ‘what ifs’. We who have celebrated so many birthing God moments in our lives are no different.
Maya Angelou once said “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
What would happen if, this Advent, we discovered that difference and diversity is not division, but a great untapped gift given to each of us waiting to be opened and embraced?
What if oneness and unity are not sameness but the gleaming face of a multi-faceted God waiting to be discovered?
What if differences of opinion, perspectives, and disagreements are not conflict but a radical embrace of another?
What if attempting to understand the life experiences and actions of another is not condoning, but an invitation to break open our ignorance so that the other can thrive among us and not merely survive?
What if we stopped being overwhelmed by our aging process and lack of newer members, and instead harnessed our collective imagination and created a vibrant future all the while knowing that God’s lavish goodness accompanies us?
By trying on these ‘wonderings’ and ‘what ifs’ this Advent, we may just find our breath taken away as we behold the wonder of God more clearly visible in our deepest selves and that of the other. The state of our world, our church, and our communities desperately need new and fresh birthing moments that indeed take our breath away.
-Sister Anne-Louise Nadeau, SNDdeN for the US/SND Anti-Racism Team
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