Meditations During Advent: And God Said That It Was Good

Friends of Silence is “a non-profit endeavor to facilitate others in reverencing silence, prayer, contemplation, the Divine Guest, and the Oneness of all creation as well as to encourage the life-giving empowerment that derives from the Silence.”

Nan Merrill, a woman of wisdom and compassion, began Friends of Silence in Detroit in 1987 as an urban contemplative community welcoming individuals of all faiths and cultures. I have been a follower of Nan’s since I came upon her beautiful translation of the Psalms, “Psalms For Praying.” 

I wrote my Meditation for today on Tuesday evening, and then tossed it when I found this Advent “Liturgy for the Night” by Padraig O'Tuama in a Friends of Silence Newsletter.  Ó Tuama is a poet and a theologian. For Ó Tuama, religion, conflict, power and poetry all circle around language, that original sacrament.

Liturgy for the Night

On the first night God said: 'Let there be darkness.' And God separated light from dark; and in the dark, the land rested, the people slept, and the plants breathed, the world retreated. The first night.
And God said that it was Good.

On the second night God said: 'There will be conversations that happen in the dark that can't happen in the day.' The second night.
And God said that it was Good.

On the third night God said: 'Let there be things that can only be seen by night.' And God created stars and insects and luminescence. The third night.
And God said that it was Good.

On the fourth night God said: 'Some things that happen in the harsh light of day will be troubled. Let there be a time of rest to escape the raw light.' The fourth night.
And God said that it was Good.

On the fifth night, God said: "There will be people who will work by night, whose light will be silver, whose sleep will be by day and whose labor will be late.' And God put a softness at the heart of the darkness. The fifth night.
And God said that it was Good.

And on the sixth night God listened. And there were people working, and people crying, and people seeking shadow, and people telling secrets, and people aching for company. There were people aching for space and people aching for solace. And God hoped that they'd survive. And God made twilight, and shafts of green to hang from the dark skies, small comforts to accompany the lonely, the joyous, the needy and the needed. The sixth night.
And God said that it was Good.

And on the last night, God rested. And the rest was good. The rest was very good.
And God said that it was very Good.
                                                                       

Amen

 

- The Rev. Dr. Bruce Grob