A time of Advent reflection
I will listen to you, LORD God,
Because you promise peace to those who are faithful and no longer foolish.
You are ready to rescue everyone who worships you,
So that you will live with us in all of your glory.
Love and loyalty will come together;
Goodness and peace will unite,
Loyalty will sprout from the ground;
Justice will look down from the sky above.
Psalm 85: 8-11
Reflect on the word SILENCE for a few moments.
It is hard to listen. My world is full of sounds:
The alarm clock waking me to a new day; the kettle whistling with hot water for my cup of coffee; weather reports, traffic reports, news reports, TV talk shows. Voices questioning, commenting, talking, filling the air with sound bites that drown the silence of the new day. How can I possibly listen in silence when there is so much happening around me?
Am I afraid to listen? If I do listen will I hear the Psalmist’s words echoing ‘loyalty will sprout from the ground’? Or see justice looking down from the sky? Do I really want to know how love and loyalty come together? Or experience the uniting of goodness and peace? Am I afraid of being silent in case I feel uncomfortable with what I hear? Or if I am challenged to act?
The sound of my front door closing tells me that I am being pushed into a world of busyness. Perhaps I will be drowned in a sea of sound that makes it hard for me to hear God.
It is hard to listen.
God of Goodness and Peace, help me to learn to listen.
© Ranjini Wickramaratne-Rebera
For a number of years, our dear friend Ranjini Rebera wrote Biblical reflections for the use of Gungahlin Uniting Church and others, usually for Advent and Lent. We were privileged to receive these, as Ranjini had a working history of writing and teaching on a global stage. Each time she completed the considerable work on one of these studies for us she would announce firmly, ‘That’s it. That is the last one I’m writing. No more. End of story!’ But as Advent or Lent came around again she would start hinting that she’d had an idea for a reflection – and she would write another one.
When she completed a Reflection for Lent 2021, we were not to know that this really was the last one. Ranjini died on 13 October 2021. We miss her intellect, her leadership, her vivid personality, her artistic gifts, her deep faith and her pastoral heart. We have lost some colour from our world.
The Gungahlin Uniting Church Worship Team, where Ranjini served for several years, offers Ranjini’s study material, first produced in 2015, as we give thanks for her life shared among us.