ADVENT: Signs and Wonders

Digital Illustration for 

Rejoice! Advent Meditations with Joseph

Video Series

by Ascension Press

In this digital illustration, Joseph gazes at the wonders of the night sky. It would be hard to know what he thought of the starry sky, but one thing is certain. Joseph would see the stars and remember a God who keeps God's promises.

Remember when God told Abraham to look up to the sky and try to count the stars. "So will be the number of your descendants," God said. And Abraham became the father of nations, and ultimately, a forefather of Christ.

Today, we may see stars for their scientific wonder and the vastness of the cosmos. We may even ponder the greatness of the God who created such marvels. But we can also look to the night sky like Joseph—remembering that God is a God of promises and that God can be trusted to keep them.

Sure On This Shining Night

20"x24" 

Oil on Canvas

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Sure on this shining night

Of starmade shadows round,

Kindness must watch for me

This side the ground.

The late year lies down the north. 

All is healed, all is health.

High summer holds the earth.

Hearts all whole.

Sure on this shining night 

I weep for wonder 

Wandering far alone

Of shadows on the stars.

– James Agee

Choral Arrangement by by Morten Lauridsen

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Guidance: Day and Night

OK. It’s a new year. For many of us, it’s a time where we reflect on where we’ve been and wonder where we are to go in the year to come. So I thought now would be a good time to post a piece on God’s guidance.

God delivered the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt and led them through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Each and every day, God’s people looked up and knew that God was with them—leading them to a promised home.

These are two vertical gallery canvases painted with only a palette knife. This technique rendered the pillars to appear more abstract, yet still very recognizable. Presented as a pair, they harken to the Old Testament like tablets of the The Law. They also possess a liturgical feeling like a stole draped around the shoulders of a pastor. They are meant to remind us that God has always been and always will be with us.

These very different images juxtapose each other in multiple ways. They reflect the many ways we encounter God. At times, God can seem like the cloud. Comforting. Gentle. Quiet. Refreshing. Other times, God can seem like fire. Refining. Protecting. Passionate. Scathing. But God’s love remains the same. God provides our daily bread, the exact portion we need, to survive another day in the wilderness. God guides us with wonders of grace, we have only to look with eyes of faith.

Wherever our journey takes us, no matter how lost or alone in life’s wilderness we may feel, we can always trust in God’s presence and guidance—every day and every night.

I Wonder As I Wander

“I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.
For poor on'ry people like you and like I...
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.
But high from God's heaven a star's light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.
If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God's angels in heav'n for to sing,
He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King.”

Have you ever looked out at a starry winter sky and let your mind wonder? Wonder about the mysteries of the universe? Wonder about the God who made it all? Wonder about how that same God would love us so much as to come to us, meek and humble, and save us? That’s what memories and emotions this appalachian carol conjures in me.

Advent is a time of waiting, hope and wonder. It’s a preparation time before Christmas, like Lent is to Easter. A couple of years ago our church had an Advent series based on “I Wonder As I Wander.” This painting was the illustration for it. It shows a traveler gazing at the night sky in wonder at the “Christ Star.” The sky is also filled with other wonders. There are also 4 purple satellites orbiting the star. They represent the candles of Advent, making the sky a kind of cosmic Advent wreath.

A thought from Frederick Buechner has stuck with me this season. He talks about the manger, where The Word became flesh, is really the world. To God, coming to this world is just as much a sacrifice as being born in a manger of straw. I wonder if our creator and savior in some way becomes incarnate in our world still. For “God is with us” when we love each other in humility and comfort each other, wrestling and struggling with the dark and ugly parts of our lives. Like the traveler in the song, such mysteries makes my mind wonder.

In these days leading up to Christmas, I hope you take some time to pause from all of your wandering, gaze at the night sky and let your mind and wonder. There is so much to this existence we don't understand. There are still miracles out there be experienced. There are still marvels of God’s grace to bee witnessed. We but need to look and wonder.

You can listen to a performance of “I Wonder As I Wander” at this link. It is played on a hammer dulcimer. I think it is the best way to hear it. It reminds me of the song’s appalachian roots. It also has a haunting quality that I think best captures the mystique of the song. Again, you may want to close your eyes and let your mind wonder as you listen. That is how the image of this painting came to me.