1. A Long Way To Go

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We will begin with a stillness exercise, to help you become aware of entering into God’s presence.

Become aware of how you are feeling today….

If your body could speak, what would it like to say today? Perhaps there are little niggles of pain or stiffness…or something needing a little bit of attention… or maybe, you are feeling refreshed and alert. Just sit with whatever you notice…

As you breathe in, you might like to take in all that you’ve become aware of…

As you breathe out, place all of these things before God…

We now turn our attention to stepping out on our retreat journey.

As we begin our long Advent journey, let’s imagine Mary and Joseph as they set out on the road to Bethlehem: Mary, almost nine months pregnant, is seated on the back of a donkey… Joseph wearily ploughs ahead along the dusty road… together they make their way through the wilderness… Notice the effort, the pain to which they go, just so that Jesus might be born in Bethlehem…

Imagine for a moment, the hardships they are facing on this journey…

Can you imagine the scene? Let yourself be on this journey with them… You might like to engage your five senses, one at a time to do this… What can you see? Smell? Touch? Hear? What tastes might be around?

As you ponder this scene, take a moment to look back over your own journey over the past year…. What are the hardships, pain and challenges you had to face…? Did you notice any change in yourself as you rose to meet them…? What efforts did Jesus make to help you on your way…? Perhaps there are still moments from this year whose meaning is waiting to be discovered…

Now listen to these words of Paul from the Letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 4:4-7

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Take a moment to let those words sink in… all this effort, all this labour, all this toil, is so that you might be redeemed… so that you might be freed to become a son or daughter of God… so that God might come close to you in love… take a moment to stand in gratitude before this great gift… how do you want to respond as you move on into your everyday life…? Speak to Jesus right now, and listen for his response…

O Wisdom, Lord and Ruler, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Rising Sun, King of the Nations, Emmanuel. Come, Lord Jesus.