Love, the Rose, is on the Way

At Advent the earth is bare; yet the furrows of earth can rejoice, so says the carol, “People look East,” because a seed, a rose seed, has already been planted in them. The furrows of earth are encouraged to offer their strength to nourish the seed, to ground it, so that it may take root, and eventually grow and blossom into a rose.

Our hearts can be like the fields in winter – seeming barren, furrowed open with suffering. Yet the suffering heart already contains in it the seed of growth. We simply need to tend it in patient endurance. The rose of love, of compassion, grows out of our heart’s winter.

That is because Christ, Love’s Rose, has already placed himself as a seed into the earth, and into the ground of our hearts. We need only offer him our enduring strength, and in time he will blossom in our hearts.

Roses of course come with thorns. Before Christ fully blossoms into manhood, the thorns of Herod’s fear and envy will cause the death of innocent children and the rending of parents’ hearts. The furrowed fields of suffering are watered with tears.

The bare furrows of Advent, the stirring seed of Christmas, the thorns of Epiphany, each is a step along the way toward the full blossoming of the Rose of Love at Easter, once in history, eternally within the earth and ever again in our hearts.

 

To read more about how Advent is celebrated in the Christian Community, click here. For a story that you can share with your children around this time, click here.

2 replies
  1. Frances
    Frances says:

    I really enjoyed reading this and as I grow older the cycle of life has much more meaning than ever to me.
    Having been a Christian Community member now only for three years, although attending services for three years prior, I can only say how grateful I am that I have found the Christian Community. There is so much meaning to the festivals that I really never understood and am only now scraping the surface. Thank you, much love.
    Frances

    Reply
  2. ger
    ger says:

    Glad I am that I have just found this site, it’s so beautiful.& so meaningful that I plan to send it to quite a few people in time for Christmas.
    It has made my day & lifted my heart.
    Thank you, thank you

    Reply

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