Love Blooms Bright

I’m joining in with a group blog called Love Blooms Bright which Kimberly Bohan has helped set up for advent. Here is my first post:

Someone described this blog to me as being very welcome. They described it as a quiet blog for Advent.

It got me thinking. A quiet blog? Does that mean only postings that still the mind and calm the soul? Certainly, the broody moodiness of the preparation season does have an element of quiet waiting, but there is sound aplenty too. Or does it mean that we are taking a break from disputation and argument?

Last Sunday, Advent was ushered in for me with a choir processional, bringing light into the church in an evening liturgy. Far from being quiet, there was the sound of handbells ringing, voices raised, finger cymbals (which I found myself coveting like crazy) kerchinging and most potently the insistent ratatat drumming on a tabor. The beat beat beat of the drum was a reminder to me that God is coming, whether I like it or not. Advent is a wake up call, not a quiet sleepy dream.

As I hear again in my mind the sounds of that processional, I know that though we might wait, God will not. By this Sunday, no doubt we will be hearing the sound of a bad tempered baptist roaring through the Judean hills.