Through Stained Glass: Advent Word a Day 7--Cleanse

“Without confession, there is no cleansing.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

Cleansing.

I love this time of year.

Not only because of the daily possibility of snow but because of morning frost.

It is like a blanket that the night gifts us. According to the Weather Guys, “Frost on objects is just water vapor in the air that has deposited itself as ice onto a surface. Frost forms on objects close to the ground, such as blades of grass.”

Water vapor.

Water.

Out of the water of creation came life.

Out of the flood of the earth [re: the Noah story] comes new life.

Out of the parting of the Red Sea comes liberation--life.

The water of these events, and even our own baptism, saturate us in God’s goodness. Prophets of Israel, amidst the failure of their own generation to honor God’s covenant, called for justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:24). They envisioned a fresh expression of God’s grace and of creation’s goodness — a new covenant accompanied by the sprinkling of cleansing water. In his ministry, Jesus offered the gift of living water.

The frost reminds me of a cleansing. Each day is a new day to join in the Creator in seeing that “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

In the Isaiah text, we hear once more of the Holy One’s desire for restoration. A cleansing of sorts…

But it comes only after lamentation and confession, a recognition of how the people put their self-sufficiency before their covenant with the Holy One. Something went wrong in the City, and the people must rid themselves of the practices and policies that lead to their demise. Still, the text speaks of the Divine, who takes seriously how the people put their greatness ahead of God's and remembers the promise to restore.

Here’s the thing, friends. We will mess up. We will choose selfishness over selflessness often. Still, the Holy One offers us peace—but only if we admit our role [explicitly, implicitly] in the breakdown of community.

The frost reminds me of a chance to begin again. To cleanse myself of any prejudices or biases that prevent me from seeing the Risen Christ in all those I meet. 

Each morning we wake up to Grace and Mercy and the invitation to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with the Divine.

A reminder of our baptism, a chance to give thanks, and one more opportunity to join in on the inevitable movement of the Divine—Liberation.