December 04, 2025
Beloved Community,
What a year it has been in my life, and I bet in yours too!
Please pause with me now, take a breath, receive and release it fully.
I invite you to take a moment to reflect upon all that has happened in your life. Let it rise in your awareness, in your mind's eye, like a movie showing all the different scenes, actors, and players. Notice what you feel and any emotions that arise. With another breath, acknowledge yourself in some way and come back to now.
I marvel at our human experience! We have such capacity to move through changes and countless opportunities for transformation!
We practice spaciousness by pausing, breathing, and reflecting with awareness. See if it expands your view of the meaning and possibilities inherent in each moment. Invite a curiosity of “not knowing” and expect to see something other than the meaning you’ve already assigned.
As we take another spin around the sun this Advent, I invite us to explore pausing to observe the unfolding scenes in our lives. Perhaps we can shift and simply behold what is happening without any narrative in our mind of what it means.
Perhaps this is how we might learn to see beyond appearances, to see light around the edges of all that is happening in our world. The seasonal theme is always about light in darkness. We may forget that the backdrop of the Christmas story is one of danger, chaos and drama. Yet, the whole world paused in a collective spaciousness. What they beheld was the light of peace, love and joy. The light was borne from the spaciousness of Spirit and not from the contraction of the world.
May we apply this in our lives no matter what we think is happening; no matter the news, reports and rumors of darkness, pause and look for the light that endures within us.
Let us practice the spaciousness of the pause as we light the Advent candles and become the beholders of an expanded version of the story. Let us hold the expectancy of a collective pause that reveals peace.
In this spaciousness, something wonderful is allowed to happen. The whole world pauses with us as attention shifts, and we become the beholders of the light.
This is spiritual awakening. It happens moment by moment and with each breath we stoke the fire of our faith. We strengthen our faith in the assurance of our spiritual awakening through the action of living now from peace, with love and joy.
Let’s play together on Sundays as we explore the qualities of Advent and become the midwives of awakening. Consider creating your own advent practice with the support of our Advent booklet and weekly lesson plans and practices.
I love you,
Reverend René