Third Tuesday of Advent

Scripture Reading for Today:

Ezekiel 47:1-12

The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side. 3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

Psalm 42

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Jude 17-25

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. 24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

The Mystery of Dead Ends

by Jessica Stefick

Author

Jessica Stefick is a coffee-shop manager, dance teacher, avid sewist, and wannabe theologian living on the ancestral, traditional and unceded territory of the Stó:lō people in Mission, BC. She is currently completing her Master’s of Arts in Theological Studies with a concentration in Old Testament at Regent College. Jessica and her husband Cody, both imports from Alberta, have embraced the PNW life by buying an 87’ Vanagon and love exploring the coast whenever they can.

In my short life so far, I have faced many seasons and situations that have looked a lot like what you might call “dead ends.” Dead ends to previously comfortable ways of thinking, physical and mental health, vocational pursuits, and relationships. I have faced dead ends in areas of my life that at one point I would have boldly said God had led me to, perhaps even ordained. Likely, similar to you.

One of the first major and lasting dead ends in my life came when I was 16 and on the verge of a professional career in ballet. Despite the demanding lifestyle, the sacrifice of my teenage years, and the deteriorating effects it had on my young body, I was all in and convinced that the world of ballet was where God wanted me to “be a light” and a “bringer of good news.” But alas, the dead end came through a sudden and hard-to-diagnose injury that caused me to have to quit my dream and the life I thought I was called to. As the cherry on top, it left me with a souvenir of chronic pain that has lasted the 8+ years since, and I’m still not over it. To my embarrassment, during the Christmas season, the Nutcracker album leaves me in tears, not because it brings to mind intricate choreography or stunning ensembles, but because my innermost parts still long to be on stage dancing it. Despite the many mysterious blessings that have come out of the life I have had apart from ballet: new passions, unlocked abilities, and unexpected relationships, this dead end still rears its ugly head as doubt, disappointment, regret, and physical pain.

The mystery of dead ends is no new problem for God’s people. In the passage from Ezekiel in today’s lectionary reading, we experience the author—who was no stranger to God’s mystery—responding to Israel’s ultimate dead end: exile. To set the scene, Ezekiel’s vision in 47:1–12 follows a long and emotional flushing out earlier in the book of Israel’s disobedience and judgment, God’s perceived abandonment, and what needs to happen in order for restoration to take place. The vision in 47:1–12 expands on the ripple effects that God’s presence has upon being restored to the Temple, picturing a tiny trickle of water that flows from the entrance of the Temple that becomes a raging river flowing out into the desert valley and eventually into the Dead Sea (talk about a dead end!). This river leaves behind a trail of trees and life despite the previously hostile terrain and turns the dead sea (an incredibly salty and lifeless body of water) into fresh water that hosts schools of fish large enough to attract masses of fishermen/women! Here, Ezekiel pictures a dead end that turns into a living valley when met with God’s presence.

But, at the risk of Ezekiel’s vision creating in us unfounded optimism out of touch with the state of our current reality, 47:11 (NRSVUE) says...…

“But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.”

The brief addition leaves me wondering why Ezekiel might have felt the need to jade a vision of hope with the presence of things that remain categorically “dead”? While an answer to this question could (and does) lead to all sorts of larger theological interpretations, how I see it relating to my current reflection is that Ezekiel recognizes that some dead ends appear to be left as such even upon encountering the presence of God—salty and seemingly missing out on the “life” given to that around it. I can certainly identify with this. My own dead end of a lost dream and chronic pain often feels like one of the marshes or swamps that misses out on the restoration that I see happening elsewhere. Unanswered prayers, fruitless therapies, and countless hours of research, appointments, and discussion with doctors often lead me to question the “life” and restoration that I thought I was promised. This is where Advent comes in.

Advent, like Ezekiel’s hopeful anticipation of the consequences of God’s presence, offers us hopeful anticipation that Christ dwelled amongst creation and met people in their own dead ends, often mysteriously bringing what was dead back to life (literally and metaphorically). But, just by taking a look at those around us, we know that Jesus did not offer a quick fix to every ailment, hardship, or dead end imaginable. But he certainly points to a future where this is the case. Living on the completed side of canon, during Advent we not only know who we are waiting for, but we also know how it all turns out. Though some dead ends might feel like salty swamps and marshes now, we wait in hopeful anticipation, knowing that God will once again dwell in fullness with God’s people and wipe away every unanswered salty tear and every unresolved dead end (Rev. 21:1–4).

What Ezekiel has to offer in 47:1–12 is not a quick fix to the dead end that Israel experienced, but a hopeful vision of God coming face to face with it, bringing life and restoration to places that had not previously known this to be possible. In our anticipation of Christ’s coming again, may we experience a hopeful vision of the impending life and restoration that is still to come!

Some questions for reflection:

What is a dead end that I face?
Where might God be in the midst of my dead end?
How might I partner in God’s life-restoring mission to the dead ends of all creation?

Thank you for reading the New Leaf Advent Reader, a collection of reflections from writers across Canada. If you are enjoying the reader, sign up to receive the readings in your inbox each day here: SIGN UP

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Join us in the Learning Centre on December 15th as we make room for connection and contemplative practice over these Advent weeks. Learn more here.