Thanksgiving and Advent are just three days apart this year. So this week’s Gospel reading* of Jesus’ crucifixion serves as unusual, dual preparation. I sense an invitation to deep reflection on the account of Jesus’ death and how it might prepare me this year to engage the upcoming weeks with radical presence.
I have taken the Advent candles out of storage and bought new batteries for them. The Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings are ready to be prepared for the family feast. Somehow, already I am holding next Thursday and Sunday together in my heart. The feeling tones of celebration and expectancy are similar, so this is not uncomfortable. But the scripture I am praying with is of crucifixion.
Jesus is suffering, hanging on a cross between two criminals, defenseless and silent as the soldiers mock him. In Luke’s account, all Jesus says is “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” And, to the criminal hanging next to him, “Truly, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Radical truth and radical compassion.
This is apparently the end, a horrific end, to Jesus’ human story, what comes of the child born in the manger I will be dusting off next week. The criminal’s request to be remembered by Jesus opens my heart to remember the radical nature of Jesus’ life. Power is turned inside out. Forgiveness is freely given. Surrender and suffering and resurrection are inextricably linked.
I know again, and yet afresh, Jesus’ story never ends. In a new way, I will light the Advent candles this year, as intimations of hope in the darkness of this broken world, this December 2019. When the child is placed in the manger this year, I pray to experience a new coming, a new awareness of the radical path of following him, in life and death. And I hope our family’s Thanksgiving feast will honor and welcome the abundance of Jesus’ radical life: ever-unfolding, eternal living presence of truth and compassion.
–Ann Dean, Dayspring Church
Reflection Questions
- How do the conjunction of crucifixion, thanksgiving and advent spark your reflection?
- Does Luke’s account of Jesus’ death shape your prayer in any new way at this time in your life?
- What do you need to live more fully into the radical meaning of this upcoming holiday season?
