Advent 2025
ADVENT 2025: THE CENTRAL CANDLE – LIGHT
“The Christ Mystery is the indwelling of the Divine Presence in everyone and everything since the beginning of time.” ~ Richard Rohr
We have traveled the path of a “hero’s journey” through the framework of Advent. We began with a little bit of Hope – the first light in the eastern sky. That hope began to move into Faith – a sense that there really was something new coming into being. That Hope-becoming-Faith moved us to the second level of the journey – Peace. Knowing that something was happening, something was coming into form. And, if we paid attention, that we didn’t have to make it happen all alone, of ourselves. There was something larger at work, bringing this new Light into expression.
This awareness moved us into the third level – Joy! The Latin word “Gaudete” – rejoice! When we finally “get it” that there really is something happening – a new dawn, a new birth – the natural response is joy. This lifts us to the fourth level of the journey – Love. Even though we can’t properly see this newness just yet, we love it as we love the baby when still in the womb. We sing to it, we rock it, we speak to it.
Today we celebrate the actual birth, the moving of Spirit into form. But we may suddenly realize that this isn’t an external birth; it isn’t about some other baby born 2,000 years ago; it’s the birth of us, within us. We realize that the Christ is, as Ernest Holmes defines it, “The word of God manifest in and through people.” In fact, to expand that, the entire manifestation of the universe itself. “Christ is the image of the invisible God, and the first born of every creature.” (Colossians 1:15)
This is what is being born within us – not a “Christ” out there, not a “Christ” to be achieved by our own works, but “The Christ” already present within and as us to be recognized, seen, and lived. We are both the hiding place and revealing place of God. Thus, we ourselves are “the Light of the world.” We only need to recognize our Light and let it shine, express, through us.
This week: Remind yourself frequently, “I am the Christ – uniquely being me. I am the Light of the world. And so is all that is around me.” Practice seeing the Christ – the Divine-in-form – in every person, animal, plant, and, yes, rock, around you. It’s ALL the Christ. It’s all radiating Divinity, if we will just awaken to see it. Today, as on any day, the “birth” is really the birth of awakening to who and what we – and all – truly are. Happy Birth Day!
“What good does it do me if Christ was born in Bethlehem once if he is not born again in my heart through faith?” ~ Origen
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ADVENT 2025: THE FOURTH CANDLE – LOVE
“Love is the self-givingness of the Spirit through the desire of Life to express Itself in terms of creation.” ~ Ernest Holmes, SOM Glossary
As we come to the final station on the path of the Advent journey, the journey of preparing to allow something new and wonderful, a new Light, to be born/reborn within us, we move into an awareness of Love. This Love is both from us as we contemplate this new birth, and to us as we make ourselves receptive to this new birth.
In ancient times, it was thought that the man carried the seed, the form, of a baby and the woman’s role was to receive and gestate that seed. (That’s why God is the Father – not the Father/Mother – in so many traditions.) Today we know that it’s the combined contribution of male and female that creates new life. And it is also so within our spiritual life, that both we as humans and the Divine Nature (whatever that is for you) combine to create new and expanding life.
Love is the energy that truly creates and expresses as new life within us. “Love is the central flame of the universe, nay, the very fire itself.” (SOM 478.3) As we anticipate the birth of the Christ, we must realize that “The Christ” is the Divine made manifest – i.e., expressed in form. Each of us is already The Christ, just awakening to that realization. Times like Christmas are wonderful opportunities to remember, wake up, and embody – live from and as – this Truth.
This is what we are seeking to “birth” within us – not a “Christ” out there, not a “Christ” to be achieved by our own works, but “The Christ” already present within and as us to be recognized, seen, and lived. Thus, we ourselves are “the Light of the world.” We only need to recognize our Light and let it shine, express, through us.
This week: Our Hope has become Faith, which has become Peace, which brings us to the great Joy of knowing that new birth is happening within us. Now, we Love that new “baby,” even though we don’t see it quite yet. That Love is an essence that surrounds us and what is wanting to be born in us, thus allowing it to come forward into form. Whether you know what this newness looks like or not, love it as it is. Let it reveal itself to you, without trying to force it. Simply love it into being. Walk in Love.
“In our journey towards a deeper and more abiding love relationship with the Divine, we grow by encountering and understanding our barriers. This invitation to receptivity encourages us to listen to the stirrings of love, release into communion with God, and become more present to Divine love. ‘God cannot love you more. God already loves you infinitely.’ Embracing this love, we can respond to God, others, and all of life from our heart, which is the source of compassion toward all. ~ Colette Lafia, The Divine Heart: Seven Ways to Live in God’s Love
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ADVENT 2025: THE THIRD CANDLE: JOY
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” ~ Rumi
Advent, like Lent in the Catholic tradition, is a time of penitence, and deep reflection. Yet, like “Laetere Sunday” in Lent, this third Sunday, known as “Gaudete Sunday,” is a break from that deep and sometimes dark path. “Gaudete,” like “Laetere,” literally means “Rejoice!” It comes from the official reading for the day (slightly altered with some New Thought language):
“Rejoice in the Infinite Presence always; again, I say, rejoice! Let your patience be known to all, for the Infinite Presence is already right here; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and meditation, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to Infinite Spirit.” (from Paul’s letter to the Philippians)
We began this journey with Hope, then moving into Peace as we grew in trust. With this third step of the journey, we “see” the outcome – perhaps not fully in form, but definitely knowing it’s there – and experience Joy! I use the analogy of finding out on a Friday evening that you have a winning lottery ticket, worth a lot of money. Yet the lottery office won’t open until Monday for you to turn in your ticket and get paid. But even though nothing has actually changed in the moment, you move into joy and celebration, knowing the certainty of this Good. This is the feeling of this stage of the journey.
Before our good can become real in form, it must become real in our mind. Hope, faith, and peace can take us so far, but until we actually know – so vividly that we can see, taste and feel it – it remains in potential. But Joy activates us to activate the vision. Joy inspires us to move our feet.
This week: We have asked our Divine Self what wants to be born as we move into this new year. Perhaps even simply having clarity and knowing of what that might be is the first step. Wherever you are in this process, trust the process and take the next step. As you do, you’ll experience hope, which will move into faith through a sense of gratitude as if it’s already so. This brings a sense of a deeper peace. And then one day you wake up in Joy! Suddenly it seems real! Let that sense, supported by gratitude, grow within you. Contemplate that which is being birthed through you with joy. Walk in Joy.
“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest and philosopher
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ADVENT 2025: THE SECOND CANDLE – PEACE
Hope (the first candle) is the beginning stage of the development of faith. Hope is our expectation of something good happening. Unfortunately, because there tend to be lingering doubts and fears hidden beneath our hopes, they can produce the anxiety stage known as “waiting.” Don’t we all just love waiting. (Not!) However, what gives us hope – especially if it’s from our higher/divine nature – can heal us.
As our doubts and fears begin to fall away as the result of daily dedicated spiritual practice, we begin to experience an ever increasing sense of inner peace and trust in the creative process of Life. Trust is the transitional stage between our hopes and the ultimate outcome of our Faith, which is the graceful manifestation of something good into our lives. As our worries begin to wither away, the ‘anxiety of waiting’ is replaced by the grace of patience, which is a calm certainty that something good is happening to us in the present moment, despite any appearance to the contrary. Whereas waiting is the activity of fear, patience is an expression of Love, which is the absence of all fear.
Peace is an inner state. It is not based on outer circumstances. We can make ourselves feel unpeaceful about outer circumstances, but those circumstances are not the cause of our lack of peace.
As we move from a tentative hope, into a more grounded faith, we experience a deeper sense of peace. In fact, it’s been said that hope must die for faith to emerge. Our fears are created by our having greater faith in what we don’t want than what we do want. We already have all the faith we’ll ever need. For many of us, however, that faith is either dormant from lack of use or misdirected down paths we don’t want to go.
In order to live in peace, we must live in faith, the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. One way to build faith is to move into gratitude for our desired result, as if it is already happening. Gratitude is the final stage of faith. We can accelerate the process by being at the final stage in our own mind.
This week: When we see the first light of dawn in the eastern sky, we might feel hope, we have absolute faith that the sun will rise. In the same way, as you’ve heard the inner call of what wants to be birthed through you, let yourself move into absolute faith of its happening. And amplify that faith with gratitude. Realize that you wouldn’t have the call without the answer, the means also being provided. And realize that, while it takes moving your feet, you’re not in this alone. The Divine Nature of the Universe wants to manifest this. You’re just being open and saying yes! Stand in peace. Walk in peace.
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ADVENT 2025: THE FIRST CANDLE – HOPE
Every journey – and advent is a “hero’s journey” – begins with hope. Hope is the first light of dawn in the eastern sky after a long, dark night. It is the first clearing of the clouds following a storm, the first smile or genuine laugh, following a period of deep grief. It is finding out that you are pregnant after a long time of trying.
Hope is the first indicator that something new is emerging. It is not the thing fully formed yet – only a taste, a hint. But it is enough to show that something new is coming. It is happening, perhaps in a still hidden state, yet something is happening. There is still a journey to undertake, “stuff” to go through, but it is no longer a hopeless trudge, but one in which we feel a call towards something that is potentially emerging.
Hope is the call forward, towards the dawn. Hope is our intention to be more than we have been, to embody more of our divine nature in our human nature than ever before. But we have all heard the saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Our intentions will bring up our fears and, if we let them, those fears will corrupt our good intentions. (And land us in “hell.”) In fact, our fears can so corrupt our intentions that we won’t even allow hope in. We won’t even try to move forward.
As Jesus pointed out, we cannot serve two masters. We must choose between our hope and our fears. Fortunately, our Christ/divine nature, is always present, always calling. It is the Source of the light in the eastern sky of our lives. It is the Light before which our fears cannot stand. Light dissipates darkness, simply by being light. This is true on the levels of form and spirit.
Our hope, then, is fed by our focus on the Light. Just as the dawning day dissipates the fearsome “monsters’ of the night in our childhood, the realization of the Light of the Christ already present within us, dissipates our belief in the “scary monsters” of our adulthood.
This week: Ask your Divine Nature what is wanting to be born in your life at this time. Spend some time listening to the already born Christ within yourself to hear what new way It is seeking to express through you now.
Then notice what are the “scary monsters’ – the fears – chattering away. Perhaps they won’t even let you hear a higher calling. Remember, the fears are scared themselves. Often, they simply need loving reassurance and encouragement to calm down. Then, the energy once manifesting as fear, frees up to become the energy of moving forward. Everyone gets scared by new ventures. The question is, how will we use that energy?
So, notice what wants to be born – you don’t have to figure out the “how” of it – just the “what.” And notice the fears – bring them to the surface so you can listen compassionately and reassure them of your safety as you venture forth, being “moved forward” to a greater experience and expression of your inner Christ nature. Create a way to remind yourself of your hoped for new expression throughout the week.
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ADVENT WELCOME 2025
Advent – coming from the Latin meaning “moving toward” – is a traditional Christian practice of preparing for both the celebration of the birth of Jesus and/or the Second Coming of Jesus. But the practice of preparing for something new being born is older than even humans, as we see animals, as well as humans, preparing for birth.
From our New Thought perspective, this can be seen as a time and process of preparing for the birth/rebirth of the Light within. A revealing of the Christ, the Buddha nature – whatever name we want to give it – within ourselves. Part of this involves realizing that this Christ nature is already and always present within us. So, this Advent practice is to awaken or deepen with our awareness of that which already is.
Ernest Holmes defines The Christ as “The Word of God manifest in and through people. Christ is the Universal Idea, and each one ‘puts on the Christ’ to the degree they surrender a limited sense of Life to the Divine Realization of wholeness and unity with Good, Spirit, God.” (from the SOM Glossary)
In order to live fully in the world – and since the Infinite clearly shows up as and in form, form – humanness – must be as sacred as any other way of the Infinite – we must embrace both our human and divine natures. Neither is better or less than the other. As in the Chinese Taiji symbol (aka, the yin-yang symbol) the two natures work together to create a whole. However, millennia of living in the human world have pulled us into that world as the only world. The spiritual journey – and Advent is a spiritual journey – expands our vision to see the spiritual and let it enliven the human experience, as it is intended.
During this time, we will be exploring four aspects, symbolized by the four candles of the Advent wreath, of the nature necessary to more deeply experience our own Christ nature. When Jesus exclaimed, “I am the way, the Truth, and the Light” he wasn’t talking only about himself. He was having the profound experience that the way, Truth, and light was within and he, like each of us, IS the embodiment of that.
As the 13th century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart said, “God never begot but one son, but the eternal is forever begetting the only-begotten.” During this time, we will deepen with our understanding of this idea – the Oneness of the Divine in, through, and as me.
I am grateful that you are joining this journey into “moving toward” a greater experience and expression of the Truth of you, the Truth of all, the dance of the sacred and human – both the Divine in expression.
Have a blessed Advent.
Rev. David Robinson