Light in the Darkness Fasting and Prayer – Final Week

December 17, 2017

December 18, 2017

We have entered the final week of our annual Light in the Darkness season. This is our name for the historical practice of Advent, when our days get darker just as we are preparing for Christmas. It’s an opportunity to come to terms with the days of declining sunlight and the impending winter, as well as our own limits and struggles and hunger and need. At the same time, it’s a season to celebrate the light of Jesus with us and to hope for more of Jesus, and more light and joy and life and peace in our present and our future.

Yesterday, Steve spoke about the incarnation – our understanding that in Jesus, God has become one of us, taking on a body and knowing first-hand the full range of human experience, from birth through death and beyond. As Steve shared some of his own journey finding Jesus in pain and grief, he invited us to grieve and lament if we need to, but also to open up each room of our lives to Jesus, and to welcome his presence and his new life and hope he will birth there.

One way that followers of Jesus over the centuries have welcomed Jesus and waited for JEsus during this season has been through fasting and prayer. Consider taking one day, or even one meal, a week from now through Christmas – it’s just two weeks away! – to skip your food and to reflect and pray instead. It’s a way of acknowledging our hunger and need for God and for letting our bodies and minds stop and pay attention.

Whether you fast or not, here’s a way you can pray for Reservoir Church and for your world this week.

For our church: We are stretching ourselves financially in 2018 to hire a director of communication and growth. The goal is to provide leadership to our efforts to connect with our non-churchgoing neighbors in Cambridge, Somerville, and surrounding communities and to offer potent spiritual direction in a secular world. Pray that we hire the right person for the position and that God leads us into effective communication and relationships in the year to come and beyond, helping more people in our city connect with Jesus in ways that promote their flourishing.

For our world: For the good news of Jesus to be incarnate to each of us to all people that are looking for God. Specifically, ask Jesus to be incarnate through those of us who love and follow Jesus, and wait for him and celebrate his birth this Christmas.