Advent Reflections: Saturday, December 20, 2014 I hope for Advent to be a time of listening. I admit that it seems easier to listen when you live out of the US. There is less noise (i.e. advertising, competition, programs). Most people in the places I’ve lived do not really think about Christmas until Advent. With their limited resources, gifts are based on needs and less on greedy desires. Living in Zambia showed me how my Christian brothers and sisters listened. It was in Zambia that I received my most memorable Christmas gift— a sack of potatoes, carried over 200 miles by some of my students. They had “heard” my moaning about not being able to buy potatoes in the local market—and they listened. A few days before Christmas, four men appeared at my door with this gift wrapped in a burlap sack. This year, teaching in Lithuania, I am seeking to listen to students from Ukraine who are praying for peace, to those from Central Asia who long to worship freely and openly, to Lithuanians who wonder what will happen as Lithuania joins the European Union. Can I quiet my own internal chatter and lingering ideas about what I’d like to have and listen to those around me? Can I listen to the God who came simply and humbly to bring hope and peace? Lord, help me to listen and respond. Elaine Vaden
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 13:05:35 +0000
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