From Advent Into Christmas

This year at Cambridge Welcoming we have centered our Advent worship on the notion of God's peace. In our liturgies, prayers and meditations, we have contemplated this vision of peace known in scriptures and made incarnate in Jesus, our Christ.

As we prepare for Christmas, we will post a series of lessons and mediatations to guide you through the remaining days of Advent. The contemporary lessons come from the poem, Amazing Peace, by Maya Angelou (published by Random House in 2005).

We invite you to read the lessons, recite the poetry and prepare the way for peace to be born in your heart and life.

Contemporary Lesson Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes

And lightening rattles the eaves of our houses.

Floodwaters await in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche

Over unprotected villages.

The sky slips low and gray and threatening.

A Lesson from the Prophets Isaiah 12: 2-6

A Hymn of Meditation "Joy Shall Come"

Joy shall come even to wilderness,
And the parched land shall know great gladness;
As the rose, as the rose shall deserts blossom
Deserts like a garden blossom. For Living springs
Shall give cool water, in the desert streams shall flow
For living springs shall give cool water, in the desert streams shall flow

This hymn is set to a traditional Israeli tune, written and arranged by Darryl Nixon, 1987.