Virtual Advent Retreat at RevGals

After a night of coughing, getting up at 5 to see daughter off, taking more cough medicine and trying to sleep, I have no voice and little energy. It's a perfect day for a "VIRTUAL" Retreat. So I'm drinking tea, honey & lemon, reflecting and perhaps some sewing repair while I think. Thank you RevGals!

Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—
and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. . .

SingingOwl asks:
For Reflection

Worshipful submission: Am I submissive and worshipful on the outside while the inside is anything but? Or has submission to God become a genuine joy? How does worshipful submission look in my life at this moment and time? Is it a delight or a chore? Why? 

 I don't like the word submission. Of course I don't need to tell this to anyone who knows me. There are moments, truly worshipful moments when submission seems to be the only response to God's awesome presence. Yet I know myself well enough to find my will seeps into any sense of submission to God's will. (As if I really know what that is.) I loved the recent article in Christian Century about finding God's will, or not needing to. I usually speak of God's will for wholeness & peace for all humanity. It's a large concept to bring down to my everyday living.

Obedient respect: Philippians 2:12-13 says, “So...just as you have always obeyed...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will and to act for His good purpose.” In what areas do I need to cooperate with what God is doing in me? Am I willing to obey, even when it costs me? Why "fear and trembling?" Why is it such serious business? 

At times I wish God was doing more of a physical weight-loss-thing in me. I'm not really sure at this time what God is doing. I have been in another and different kind of learning for the last 2 years and God's spirit has felt with me in most places. Previously I thought I couldn't come up with "vision" only the practical application for things. But here, where it seems to be needed, the ideas and thoughts come. I guess that's a good thing. I just hope I can keep listening. It is so easy to get distracted with work.

 

Reverential awe: How long since I was genuinely in awe of God? What did it look like? Feel like? Sound like?

I'm reading The Pillars of the Earth and it has me wanting to visit a cathedral.
National Cathedral is close so I may just do it soon. Meanwhile, I revisit the Florence Duomo and Milan's Duomo, and St. Peter's in my mind quite a bit while I read. In those places I felt AWE. St. Peter's really is amazing. I guess the old Brethren wouldn't think much of it, but I can really see why these places were built. (Altho reading, I wonder about some of the motives. Great book tho!)


There's another section to the Advent Retreat already posted so I will do a little quite work then perhaps come back to more reflection.