In this season of growing darkness, I wanted to share with you the advent reflection that my friend, Susan Wilkes, wrote for St. Stephen’s Church.

Advent Reflection

“Be sure to stand in the fire pit,” my friend, Bob, told me as I was leaving for a pilgrimage to Kildare, the site of Celtic Saint Bridgid’s monastery. Bob had felt a palpable and inexplicable energy when standing in the foundations of Brigid’s ancient fire pit on the Cathedral grounds and wondered if I would feel it too. When I visited, I found the imagery of Brigid’s light everywhere, from the torch in Towne Center to the sculpture at the sacred well of Brigid holding a flame, to the name of the spiritual community there – Solas Bhride, or Brigid’s Light. Standing in the fire pit, I too felt a strong, elemental sense of the divine presence, perhaps because of the devotion of those who maintained the blaze for many centuries and of those who today seek to rekindle the flame.

One of the many legends about Brigid is that she was present at Christ’s birth and, in fact, lit the way with her torch for Mary and Joseph, as the weary travelers entered Bethlehem. Given that she lived in the 5th century, we modern sceptics might dismiss the story as Celtic myth or find our fact-seeking-meters quickly swinging to “mostly false.” But I’m reminded of the saying, “just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

Thinking of the story of Brigid lighting the way as a metaphor, sets me to wondering what she has to teach us about this season before Jesus’ birth. How might we light the way for the in-breaking of the Sacred into our world still today? What does our devotion to tending the eternal flame look like? Do we know that we too carry a torch capable of bringing Light to even the darkest places? If we believe this ancient story is still happening now, what might we do this Advent?

One of my favorite Mary Oliver poems begins with Buddha’s instructions right before he died, to “Make of yourself a light.” The poet is emphasizing how “he might have said anything, knowing it was his final hour” and how through his words she finds herself transformed, “like a million flowers on fire.” The Christian scriptures also give us words about being or shining a light and invite each of us to become more and more of a manifestation of God’s luminous presence. As we light our Advent candles this year, perhaps we each can reflect on how we ourselves are called in ongoing ways, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives, to illuminate the way for God’s birth into our world.

Susan Wilkes