Second Week of Advent: The Wreath
The wreath was built with evergreens – chosen for their hearty appearance and remembrance of the life that had been and the life that was shared. Without end and without beginning, each branch was selected and placed upon the great wreath that would be hung from choir loft on the Third Sunday of Advent until Christmas. This was the week of wreath-making
We trudged through the woods to find the specimens for the wreath. I had packed my impatience and judgments of habits that reeked of a time gone by – a futile retro style that didn’t fit with new technology and new innovations. And yet, there was something both invitational and commanding in her voice, announcing we would be doing the branch collection for the wreath.
Into the woods we walked, I followed this small bent-over commandant of love in her blue habit, with a small beeper in a tiny beeper-holder that was held in a pouch and a diagonal sling –the beeper that I reminded her would be ineffective when we left the building and headed for the frozen tundra. “Be still, so I can listen to the branches” she invoked, and I followed both her example and her footsteps, diligently carrying the over-sized burlap bag that would be the branch-holder of the Advent unto Christmas chapel wreath.
“No two branches are the same” she taught me, with an eye for my softening heart and the tender side exposed and ready for educating. “If you listen, you will hear the trees talking, and here you will find the One who makes the wind” she continued in Italian-laden English that both lilted with excitement and was just above a whisper.
Through the woods, we listened to the trees calling as she selected the branches from three different kinds of evergreen and the holly bush – each one chosen with intentional precision and a short prayer of gratitude before pruning the branch from its host. It was as if the branch had been called for some magnificent work and was eager to respond.
I would learn there were four things needed to make the Christmas wreath – and without each, it would be incomplete. Now, entranced, I held the burlap bag and seemed to befriend each branch and welcomed her to our circle of love.
- The soft pine branches stood for compassion, opening your hands generously to the person you meet today whose need surpasses your own.
- The hard greens for courage needed to be the integrity in a world of incongruity and inconsistency.
- The small snips of holly for conscience, with the sharp edges reminiscent of the exacting nature of the need to be who you are – authentic, translucent and ready to make your actions match your words.
- Tied together with the ribbon of confidence that all shall be well, refusing to succumb to fear, despair or the accumulated inadequacy that blocks right action.
Rescued from the cold in her workbench at the north end of the boiler house, the wreath was constructed with the gifts that would be needed by those who came into the chapel: compassion, courage, conscience and confidence – all held together by the child of love.
It’s never looked like just a wreath to me since our annual trek through the Advent woods – the Advent wreath — of compassion, of courage, of conscience with confidence.
Today,
may we be a bit more compassionate
towards those whose need is greater than ours
Find more courage to make the “next right choice’
Choose to let conscience be the cutting edge of experience
And walk with confidence in the labyrinth of life
For we are held by the wreath of love
Keep your eyes open for the "WREATH"
made with love
for you
