This Sunday we light our fourth symbolic sparkler and remember the meaning of Advent (the visit of Jesus).We wait and we marinate in:
The remembrance of Israel’s yearning for the coming Messiah, to save, forgive and restore them.Our hope for the second coming of Jesus where everything will be restored.The realisation of our own need for Gods grace, through Jesus.
God, stir in our hearts excitement about the visit of your Son.

God, sending Jesus was an act of sheer beauty.

Help us to revel in your beauty and help us to reveal your beauty.

Waiting
The yearning
The ache deep inside
Waiting....waiting....waiting
Fingers in my mouth
Pacing up and down
Dreaming of possibilities
Envy's breeding ground
Staring out the window
Tracing rainbows in the rain
A gnawing in my stomach
The ticking of the clock
Anticipating footsteps
As time goes on and on
The yearning
The ache deep inside
Waiting....waiting...waiting.“Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope.…
It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.”
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which Is Above,1986

Sometimes I love the way the Message version of the Bible puts stuff... In Psalm 27:4 we find David, yearning to just live in the house of God and contemplate Gods Beauty all day long... In Psalm 34:12 he asks Who out there has a lust for life? Can't wait each day to come upon beauty? Later on in Romans 12:17 we are implored us to "discover beauty in everyone." The Message version loves beauty! I think it is right... God is all about beauty!!

Today I am struck by this thought- that it is our privilege and challenge to sit and contemplate the astonishing beauty of God, to add to the beauty of God all around us and to reveal it in the people we meet.

God, you are beautiful! Expand our vision of beauty. Help us to find it in the curious places of this world. Push us to discover beauty in every one of your precious creations.

Beauty in the odd places

With only six days to christmas it can start to seem a bit manic. Traffic is full-on, the malls are packed.

Tension is rising. Despite today beig my first day of my holiday - i think i'm even busier now than i was at work.

Organising trips away, catching up with people, end of year functions, seeing old mates who are in town. Things are pretty busy aye.

Admist all this - where is the beauty of christmas - it certainly isn't on the faces around me. People look heckled and harassed. The pressures of providing that special occasion and making this a time to remember actually seems to burden us.

But as you're out and about - finidng that perfect gift, trying to think of the that special way to bless a neighbour, friend, or local bum.

Pause

and look. Look for that tiny child with the innocent eyes.

Smell. The pine and the pastry wafting out of the shops and the lounges

Taste. The mull wine and the hot meals.

come up with your own suggestions of beauty and let me know to look, smell, taste for these too - coz my list is merely a starting point.

I'm off to the mall now to buy a gift for Jo so this will be my (justin) last post!

I like this clip simply because it shows a glimpse of beauty amongst the constant sorrow we here of in iraq.

Give a gift of beauty...

Today- find someone a smooth pebble, an extraordinary postcard, a delicate peice of ribbon- give someone some sweetness for their eyes today!

At Christmas- instead of the box set of West Wing (fabulous as it is) why not paint someone a picture? Make a photo collage? Make a photo Frame? Collect a glass vase full of pebbles? A box full of ribbon!

For Life- Life a life that adds to the beauty of Gods creation. Find community and help a soul find its worth. Tell a new story, sing a different song, of beauty that is life and light, of beauty that lasts.

I love the idea of us being here to add to the beauty of God already present. The idea that God made a perfect world and we get to be a part of sweeping up the bits that we have covered in the dust of our sins. For some of us the trendy concepts of social action, advocacy, and social justice seem to be so daunting that we forget the part of the story where God simply wants us to add to the beauty of what he is already doing in the world
Add to the Beauty by Sarah Groves

We come with beautiful secrets.
We come with purposes written on our hearts,
written on our souls.
We come to every new morning.
With possibilities only we can hold,
that only we can hold.

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces.
Calling out the best of who we are.

And I want to add to the beauty,
To tell a better story.
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside.

It comes in small inspirations,
It brings redemption to life and work.
To our lives and our work.
It comes in loving community,
It comes in helping a soul find it's worth.

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces.
Calling out the best of who we are.

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful.
This is grace, an invitation.

And I want to add to the beauty,
To tell a better story.
I want to shine with the light,
That's burning up inside.

Decadent Beauty
There are two kinds of this.

I have seen both.

The beauty of a mountain valley, full of the fragrances of summer.

Ripened fruit, blossoming flowers, apple juice, and homemade jams.

Sweaty men freshing themselves in a lake.

The bleats of shorn sheep fill the air along with the buzzing of insects.

The sky a plain canvas of blue, and the heat of the sun fills everything with warmth.
A group of young friends walk and laugh together.

Run and play together - their love for each other is unspoken but clearly present.

The full expressions of themselves, their personalities, their opinions, their thoughts, their passions.

Their identity's are secure and they feel free to be true to themselves with each other. God's dwelling with them - in the silent moments and in the hearty thrust of debate.

His spirit boils up inside theirs - bursting forth with randomly creative ideas and new visions of life to transform communities.

They receive a glimpse of heaven while God imprints his upon their hearts a determination to bring more of the celestial into the world.

Second kind comes from a powerful man.

His bedroom is kept in state in a old museum in Paris.

He believed he was a God and so he created his chambers to reflect this.

Everything is covered with gold and silk - the ultimate expression of human decadence.

Beautiful it is - but lonely it feels.