Imago Adventus - 01 - Sprout

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord… On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious

Isaiah 11:1-2, 10

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I am going to take a break from Romans for the next several weeks as we move into the Advent season. I’ll pick up with Romans in late December / early January. But I am taking some time to focus on the texts of the Advent season and the reflections written by Ann Voskamp in her book, The Greatest Gift. Her reflections for today begin with this scripture from Romans about the stump of Jesse and a shoot that will spring forth. I immediately went to this picture that I took while having dinner with my family this past summer on our deck. We have this beautiful magnolia tree that our deck was built around and so we have this wonderful cover of shade on our deck throughout the summer. We love spending time out there. But this summer, I looked at one of the areas between branches and saw this shoot growing out of that place. It was such a small, insignificant shoot in comparison to the huge tree, but there it was and it has continued to grow.

Voskamp asks about the small glimpses that we get of God in the often-missed things of life - we so often want to have the “big sightings” of God, yet if we keep our eyes open we will see God in all kinds of the little things around us.

She also asks a wonderful question about the season - What are you waiting for, yearning for this season?

For me, I want to experience Advent in a radically new way. I don’t know what that might look like, but I want to have a brand new experience of God that will continue a transforming work in me and spread to others.