Holding Space for Christ

                       In this season of immense loss, especially of some of the patriarchs of Urban Light  (three elder men in three months) but also life-changing losses in the lives of so many parishioners, we believe God is adding something sacred in our midst.

         It was 2023 when we agreed upon the theme of Mothers for Advent 2024. In God’s goodness, he knew we would need a season to simply hold space for him in our body, not unlike the way mothers’ bodies hold space for new life. In such a time, we need more rest. We pay attention to small movements and discern what the Spirit is doing. We trust that God will do God’s work and we ask how we can collectively host it.

What is being added is not just for this season, but for our benefit going forward. Just as pregnancy is a season that changes a body and a family and a community forever, so it is now at Urban Light. Our faith is growing to firmly rely on God’s goodness in every season. We have peace because we know God will be God. And we stop wasting our energies casting our nets any and everywhere in hopes of catching something good. We can look for his goodness without anxiety.

God promises that when we look, we will find him working even the darkest times for our good (Romans 8:28). His goodness doesn’t change based on circumstances; we let him change us as we observe his ways.

It was in a season of immense loss of life, home, community, and nation, with gravel in his teeth and his face in the ashes of a fallen Jerusalem that Jeremiah proclaimed:

“Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.  I think: The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.” Lamentations 3:22-24

No matter our present circumstance, certainly God’s love covers over the entire big picture that brings all to a good end. But even more, we can specifically know God’s mercies to be new in every specific morning, trusting God not just for the good to come later, but the good that is present even now.

         Let’s be forever changed together. As for us present at Urban Light, we will hold space on Mondays 12/2 and 12/16 from 11-1 and Tuesday December 10 from 6-7pm for prayer. The sanctuary will be open and you can come and go as time allows. Pray aloud with others or alone in one of the back areas of the sanctuary. Pastor Z made an advent calendar devotional that you might download and print to use daily anywhere to memorize and meditate on Psalm 130, which reminds us to wait and watch. Finally, we will focus on holding space for Christ during our Sunday services, where we will light the advent candles and focus on the image of the Mother in scripture.

Let’s be still. See what is growing. And may Christ be in our midst.