Oceans and Advent

“I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love which flowed over the ocean of darkness. And in that also I saw the infinite love of God; and I had great openings.” George Fox (1647)

I was in jail all day yesterday.

Actually, I was in the lobby of a big city jail waiting with a friend for the release of her 20-year-old daughter. In the large lobby, I spent the day watching hundreds of people coming and going. Some were like us: waiting for released family members. Some were waiting to visit incarcerated family members. Upon our arrival, we sat down in two of the only empty chairs we found, only to discover after several odd looks that we were sitting next to the office door for sexual offender registration. We moved. It was sobering to witness the number of people going into that office.

It was difficult to watch young women with toddlers or grandparents bringing cashier checks that probably represented precious and scarce money to put on inmate’s accounts. The number of legal representatives and lawyers going through the doors was staggering, as was the amount of money their presence represented. I watched the release of several dozen people. Many had no one to meet them as they walked out the door. Many laughed as they walked out, arrogant in beating the system one more time. It saddened me to see how many seemed to be under the influence of some type of drug or substance, or how many seemed to be in the process of withdrawal of those influences. No one, with the exception of my friend and I, seemed embarrassed at being there, uncertain about what they were doing or who they needed to talk to. The only one who cried upon release was the young woman we met as she walked through the doors at the end of a very long day.

I spend a lot of time in jail. And most of the time I find it oppressive, depressing, and discouraging. I am thankful I was able to walk with my friend through her first day in waiting in a jail lobby and in her first experience with the correctional and judicial system. I pray this will be her last experience. At the end of that very long day as we drove the hour and a half back home I struggled with the ocean of darkness and death I experienced that day and the lifestyles that cause people to make jails the center of their existence and the people who are innocently dragged with them into that way of life.

December is a month full of contradictions for me. I hate the coldness that settles on the land and especially my garden. I struggle with the shorter days of sunlight and the long, dark nights. A birthday this month forces me to recognize the passage of another year of my life. I find the constant barrage of a consumer-oriented celebration of Christ’s birth dispiriting and many of the Christmas decorations gaudy and out of place for the sacredness and meaning of this season.

Yet I love the Christmas season. I have the opportunity to spend my days baking loaves of whole grain bread for every household in our faith community. I love the privilege of sitting and visiting with friends as we deliver each loaf. I love the fellowship each year during cantata practices with neighboring Friends meetings and the special holiday meals and desserts we share with so many Friends during the Christmas season. I love getting together with friends to make and share hundreds of cinnamon rolls for Christmas Day.

Most of all I love the Advent Tree that sits in our meetinghouse. Advent is a time to prepare for Christ’s arrival into our world through the nativity and through the Second Coming. For over 10 years, Winchester Friends encourages one or two Friends each week during each Advent season to share how Christ arrived in their life. Friends then hang an ornament on the Advent Tree that in some way represents their story. I love these stories and the opportunity to hear how Christ arrived in individual lives. It is through these stories that I see Christ’s presence visible in many different ways to our community and to our world.

Some Friends are able to name the day and the hour when Christ arrived in their life. Many tell about the process of Christ’s presence growing over the years as they put themselves in places with people who encouraged worship, service, and love for God. Some knew of Christ’s presence at a very young age and had a desire to cooperate with God’s intentions for their life. Almost everyone who shares tells about the importance of Christ’s arrival in how they live today and in how they face difficult and tragic events that are a normal part of living. And almost everyone shares how they find encouragement and strength through a faith community that walks with them through the good and bad experiences of life. I’ve heard Friends confess they heard stories they didn’t know from their parent’s Advent stories. For Friends who have died since the telling of their story, the ornament on the Advent Tree is a reminder every year of their story and their life lived among us.

The Advent Tree has an incredible variety of ornaments: a compass, a playing card, a watch, a wreath, a miniature loaf of bread, a wooden church, a globe, a tractor, a small bible, a ruler….the list goes on and on. Each ornament on the tree tells a story and is a reminder that Christ’s arrival into a life makes a difference. Each ornament represents the multitude of ways an ocean of light and love flows into the world through the arrival and presence of Christ in individual’s lives.

There is always a choice in which ocean I swim. There were times in my life when I could have made the center of my existence the dark oceans of addictions, jails, and courtrooms. There are reasons I am not swimming there today. After spending a day in jail and the next day listening to an Advent story, I know to the depth of my soul the only reason that really made a difference is the Advent of Christ into my life. Christ’s arrival opened an ocean of light and love to me. Christ’s arrival brought shalom to my life, giving me the gift of a life filled with wholeness, well-being and most of all, peace.

I came away from my day in jail overwhelmed by the darkness and the hopelessness I found around me. The Advent Tree this year reminded me of the ocean of light and love flowing over this ocean of darkness. More importantly, the infinite love of God through Advent makes it possible for me to find openings: in jails and jail lobbies, in walking with those who face darkness, and in a world overcome with hopeless and chaos. How blessed I am this season to know that because of Advent, I swim in an ocean of light and love and in that I find hope for my world.