Sacred Knowing

Join us in Garden in celebrating this fourth day in Advent. With Christmas Day approaching quickly, it is a time of year to reflect on how the Lord continues to guide us, lead us, and protect us. We can also use this contemplative time of the year to cultivate a sense of peace, of sacred knowing that God loves us.

Many of us look for signs to help us know what to do, or we wish we could have our own personal angel visit us to let us know the “right” next steps. Uncertainty is a fact of life–this seems ever more true. This week we will remember that there is a Christ within us constantly birthing wisdom and a deep knowing if we will but listen with a contemplative heart. Let us seek out quiet in order to hear the voice that brings peace by gently saying, “do not be afraid.”

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” - Isaiah 7: 10-16 “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” - Matthew 1: 18-25 “...because God by His essence was consumed with a passionate love of uniting Himself with humankind, it was necessary for Him to veil Himself in a body suitable to permit reception and linking. He therefore came down and took upon Himself a human form in accordance with the order established by Him from the creation of the world. This entailed being conceived by the power generated by Himself, being carried in the womb, born, and then growing in wisdom and love, and so approaching union with His Divine origin.” - True Christian Religion 838, Emanuel Swedenborg

Rev. Dr. David Brown Lead Chapel Minister