Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus’ birth, as well as the great anticipation of his return. In 2020, it seems that we are in a very different world this year than the last. From pandemic, to protests, to police violence, and an overall weary and uncertain world… this Advent season provides us an opportunity to sit and reflect on the year that we have experienced, and to rest in the truth of God’s promises.

At CBM, we have created a set of Advent resources for you just for that purpose. This year, 5 writers have contributed a personal Advent reflection, selected a piece of visual art, as well as written a personal and responsive prayer for your use this Advent season.

WEEK ONE

WRITTEN BY

Julia Bowering

Working with the International Partnerships team, Julia is responsible for assessing needs, designing programs and monitoring and evaluating international projects at CBM. Her expertise in strategic planning, capacity building and leadership development is a great asset to CBM and its network of global partners.

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“The Potters Hands” by Katharine Taylor

The Generosity of Hope - written by Julia Bowering

“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down…”. I wonder if your heart, like mine, has beat with the rhythms of this prayer as we watched the events of this year unfold? We heard of families in India struggling to feed their children during the lockdown, women in Bolivia trapped inside for months with abusive husbands, the neglect of the elderly in many Canadian facilities, the explosion in Beirut and the ugliness of racism being unveiled in our communities, our institutions and our own hearts. And of course, we have held our personal grief deep in our bones as we struggled to respond to so much calamity. Oh Lord. Have mercy. Come.

Contrary to the cheery glow our culture associates with the month leading up to Christmas, the Christian tradition has always made space for aching hearts and weary souls in the weeks leading up to the celebration of Christ’s birth. The traditional passages chosen for this week of Advent resound with a heart-cry for the presence of God in times of suffering. Instead of the forced optimism we often mistake for hope, our faith makes room for hope that flickers alongside tears. Hope that struggles, like a pale green point, to emerge from ashes. Hope that mysteriously multiplies in the dark places and hope that invites us into abundance and generosity in landscapes of scarcity.

This cry, recorded by the prophet Isaiah, comes from such a place. After years of living in Babylonian captivity, a faithful remnant of Israelites had returned home to Jerusalem only to find a reality that did not match the dazzling promises God had made to them. Where was the restoration that they longed for? Where was the God that had revealed his power and presence to their ancestors? In the face of crisis, the Israelites acknowledged that they had come to the end of their own resources. Confessing the many ways they had fallen short they appealed to the only thing that remained: The generous grace of their Father and source of their hope.

During our CBM staff chapel in August, we lamented with our colleagues in Lebanon about the increasingly difficult economic, health and political situation in the country. Together we prayed for restoration. A few hours later, the Beirut explosion obliterated much of the city along with many lives. Elie Haddad, CBM Team Leader of the MENA region writes, “The question that keeps lingering in our minds is: Where is God in all of this? Where is God in this senseless pain and preventable suffering?… “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?””1 Looking at the rubble, Elie points to the ways God has answered that question. “I can see God in the goodness of countless Lebanese who took to the streets to clean, help, feed, and comfort the distressed.” He also sees God in the transformation of the Lebanese church from a quiet observer in times of crisis to a responsive, frontline expression of Jesus’ love. And finally, Elie points to God’s love, poured out in prayer, donations and care from partners around the world. In a context of great scarcity, the abundant generosity of God has been revealed and hope continues to grow.

The image of the Saviour at the core of this passage is an ordinary potter. It is the image of an artist who transforms clay – dirt – into beautiful serving dishes. It is the image of our hope and our invitation into abundance and generosity.

As we prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ this year, there is space to cry out in lament for all that has been lost. Things are not as they ought to be. We are not as we ought to be. And yet, we do not live in scarcity. Our generous Creator takes our broken pieces and forms us into beautiful vessels capable of great generosity in times of crisis. Flickering hope is fanned into bright flame.

Prayer:

Creator, we long for you to make all things new. Our hearts and spirits are weary after the year we have walked through. The horizon ahead is unclear and we cannot always see what you are doing.

Yet because of your generous grace and love, our hope is not lost in the dirt and dust. We are the clay and you are our potter. We trust our lives and our world to your artist hands.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Listen to Julia’s Liturgy

WEEK TWO

WRITTEN BY

Carla Nelson

Based in Canada, Carla works with CBM’s International Partnerships team and Field Staff serving in Africa. Carla works alongside Africa Team Leader André Sibomana in supporting CBM’s initiatives, strengthening our educational programs with partners internationally and exploring new educational opportunities

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“El Salvador killed more than 75,000″

The Generosity of Peace - written by Carla Nelson

“A gift is not truly a gift if something is expected in return, unless of course, the gift is peace.” Unfortunately, the author’s name was not included in the photograph of this slogan which was prominently displayed at a yard sale. Still, it helps me to understand what Monseñor Oscar Romero meant when he spoke the following words in his sermon on Epiphany Sunday in January 1978.

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism.
Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.

Archbishop Oscar Romero spoke out on behalf of the poor and oppressed people of El Salvador in the 1970s and 1980s before he was shot to death while preaching, calling Christians, even Christian soldiers, to obey God’s higher order of peacebuilding. The mural pictured here represents the important role Romero and the church played in the Salvadoran struggle for peace.

But we are in the Season of Advent, not Epiphany. Perhaps this is the point. The Season of Advent anticipates the Celebration of Epiphany when we fully acknowledge the revelation of God incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ – God’s full disclosure of Himself to us, with us and at work amongst us. How will the world know this truth? Monseñor Romero declares that it is through God’s children’s generous and dutiful acts of peace for the sake of others – “the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.”

The significance of my “duty” to daily practice the discipline of generous peace contributions has recently come through the work of my CBM colleague, Rev. Gato Munyamasoko. He drew my attention to Matthew 5:9 which says that it is through our generous practices of peace that we “will be called children of God.”

Rev. Munyamasoko has been developing a curriculum resource, a series of twelve modules, to help followers of Christ live out this mandate. I have been working alongside him, virtually, (as he is currently living in Gisenyi, Rwanda), editing, referencing, clarifying, wondering, confessing, embracing and formatting the learning he desires to share with African countries through Christ followers there.

The curriculum resource is rooted in Rev. Gato’s life experience as a child of God called to foster peace and reconciliation. Born of Rwandan refugee parents in the Congo and influenced by the Canadian Baptist peacebuilding ministry of Rev. João Matwawana, Gato started a peacebuilding program in the Association of Baptist Churches in Rwanda (AEBR). The focus was to help people to be healed from trauma, specifically, the trauma resulting from the genocide. With the support of CBM in 2012, the peacebuilding program expanded to Kenya with CBM partners and also in the Congo.

Throughout the years, the learning he has been privileged to receive has exposed him to many books by many authors on the many facets of peace and reconciliation. He is grateful for these opportunities and they have given him even more passion and experience to see the children of God engage in the daily discipline of peacebuilding.

Today, he continues to pursue his passion for peacebuilding and reconciliation. CBM has made it possible for him to return to the Congo to accompany the Baptist Community in East Congo (CEBCE) in their process of reunification after 21 years of division. And, CBM has encouraged him to author these modules that they may be a resource to the church in Africa.

God does indeed work through his people, people like Gato Munyamasoko, Oscar Romero and even you and me. It is through peace, the “the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all” that we will be recognized as God’s children.

Personal Prayer

Generous God, it is my deepest desire to be your child – to be called as such by you and to be known as such by others. You have told me that for this to be so, I must be a person who practices peace.
Forgive me for the many moments in which I missed the opportunity to be generous in my peace-giving.
Open my eyes to see when the gift of peace is mine for the offering.
Soften my spirit that I may relinquish that part of me that deems another as not being worthy of the gift of peace.
Make my words full of your peace-giving intent and design my actions that you, the Prince of Peace, may be made flesh again and again and again.
All for your glory, Amen.

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Advent of Generosity

WEEK ONE

WRITTEN BY

Julia Bowering

WEEK TWO

WRITTEN BY

Carla Nelson

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