TESSERA MATERIALS

Advent

Hi Mosaic,

First off, look at us! We announced last month we needed 7 pairs of people to respond to serve in our nursery. This allows one pair to serve once very 3 months. We did it! We have our 7 pairs! Thanks for responding in such a beautiful way.

A broken heart is an open heart. So what will the broken in your heart be receiving? Quick fixes? Cheap substitutes? Mindless doom scrolling? Non-stop restless activity? Or the beautiful, faithful, mercy of God that brings comfort as we learn to pay attention and receive?

Advent is an old word meaning arrival. God is always arriving to his people. This happened in Jesus’ first coming, presently through God’s indwelling Spirit, and will happen in again in Christ’s second coming. We are a people of patient longing sometimes filled with peace and sometimes filled with anxiety, frustration and angst. May this prayer and scriptures lead you to rest in the mercy of our faithful God who comforts and walks with his people. May we receive this faithful mercy for our own sake and for the sake of our neighbors.

PRAYER

Emmanuel, God With Us,
We are in this season of Advent filled with longing and anticipation.
You, Emmanuel, are God With Us.
Your mercy extends from generation to generation to those who are in awe of you.
For some, the nights are not silent, calm or bright.
For some, the days are filled with restlessness and time spent trying to make sense of things.
In this Advent, we long for you to come again and to set us free from all that binds and divides.
We await the day to celebrate the God who made a way.
We await the day to live within the full presence of the God who will make all things new.
O Father, enlarge our hearts.
O Spirit, expand our vision.
O Christ, establish your kingdom among us. Amen.

SCRIPTURE

His mercy extends to those who fear (are in awe of) him, from generation to generation. ~Luke 1:50

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful. ~Luke 1:54

Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. ~Luke 1:58

…to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham. ~Luke 1:72-73

…because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death. ~Luke 1:78-79

In Luke’s gospel, the ocean of God’s mercy is vast and extends to the darkest depths and widest margins. Jesus is God’s mercy to a world that is tired, torn, and terrified. Jesus is God’s mercy to people who are full of fear, guilt, and remorse. Jesus is God’s mercy to those who feel that they are beyond hope or comfort. Jesus is God’s mercy to you and all in your tessera gathering this week. Pope Francis wrote that mercy is “the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us . . . the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever.”

REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

• In what tangible way do you long for the mercy of God to meet you in a circumstance of your life during this Advent?
• What practices help you slow down and more tangibly receive the mercy of God?
• What weeds are present in the midst of your spirit and soul that need to be cleared  by God’s mercy this Advent so you can more fully be an extension of God’s mercy to others?