Reading: Lamentations 3:22-26 (NRSV)
Song: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (instrumental) (lyrics here)
Reflection
The Christmas season can be very noisy. Christmas music everywhere (some good…some not), busy malls and grocery stores, gatherings of family and friends (both real and virtual), crowds and traffic…sometimes the “hustle and bustle” of the season can be overwhelming.
Which is why during our Advent journey we are going to mark what we’re calling “Wordless Wednesdays.” For our devotions on Wednesdays we will sit prayerfully with instrumental versions of familiar carols as part of our invitation to wait. As the author of Lamentations reminds us:
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.” (vv. 25-26)
Although the recordings we will be listening to are “wordless,” the carols we will be sitting with on these Wednesdays do have powerful lyrics that you’re invited to read through prayerfully in a style similar to “lectio divina.” Here is a suggested approach for these Wednesday reflections:
Close your eyes and listen to the instrumental once on its own. Breathe deep and open yourself to the idea of “waiting quietly” for God.
Read through the lyrics slowly and prayerfully, more than once. Look for words and phrases that catch your attention and stir your soul.
Listen to the instrumental again while praying with the word or phrase that has caught your attention. What about it has grabbed you? What does the resonance you feel with it reveal about the longings of your heart and soul? Offer these reflections to God in still, quiet surrender.
May God use these times in blessed escape from from the cacophony that often surrounds us this time of year.
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand.
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
for with blessing in his hand
Christ our God to earth descending
comes, our homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth he stood,
Lord of heaven now incarnate
in the body and the blood,
he will give to all the faithful
his own self for heav’nly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
streams before him on the way,
as the Light of light descending
from the realms of endless day
comes, that pow’rs of hell may vanish,
as the shadows pass away.
At his feet the six-winged seraph,
cherubim with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the Presence,
as with ceaseless voice they cry,
“Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, Lord Most High!”