基督將臨期靈修經文與反省
1. 第一週靈修經文與反省
默想經文： 約翰福音1.1─15
主題： Bonding/連結
方法: 試著把經文背誦在心中。默想這段經文如何把基督降臨（Christmas）與將臨(Advent)關連起來？你個人又如何被它們關連起來？在本週中，至少找到一個時段，你獨自一人安靜默想，禱告，和傾聽這段經文對你的意義。
進深反省
“Christmas is not about seeking, it is about allowing yourself to be found, to be loved, to be treated as a person of sacred worth.” - Ben Witherington III
“Advent is the beginning of the end of all that is in us that is not Christ.” - Thomas Merton
“Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie done quietly in peace, for all is well.” - Thomas Kelly
“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free: From our fears and sins release us.” - Charles Wesley
（取材自The Living Legacy-the soul in paraphrase, the heart in pilgrimage, Ben Witherington III, p.8）
2. 第二週靈修經文與反省
默想經文：詩篇27篇；馬太福音6.24-26
主題："Creatures of Habit" 慣性的生物
目標: 敬拜上帝是基督徒的優先順位中最頂端的一項。不只在主日敬拜或特別節日，敬拜應該浸透在生存當中。本週花些時間專注在敬拜上面。你可以藉著唱詩歌，閱讀，反省，繪畫等等方式去回應上帝的愛。
進深反省
“Worship, whether we realize it or not, restores our souls, renew our hopes, redefines our vision, re-orients our priorities, and restores order to the created world.” - Ben Witherington III
“Sometimes losing, or at least loosening one’s grip on one’s life is precisely what needs to happen so that the door is left ajar for renewal, rejuvenation, rebirth, re-creation, and recreation.” - Ben Witherington III
“Rest, Rest, Rest in God’s love. The only work you are required to do now is to give your most intense attention to His still small voice within.” - Madame Guyon
“….Of Course it is true that orderliness in itself is not a bad thing, nor an ungodly thing. But there is an ordering of things that sometimes comes from a deep sense of insecurity in the soul. That insecurity, and its accompanying feeling of chaos or things being out of order, is compensated for by an attempt to control every eventuality … When we allow ourselves to be simply creatures of habit who stifle our fears and insecurities by over ordering things, rather than dealing with them we are at the same time quenching the Spirit and renouncing the freedom we have in Christ to be all that we are meant to be… But what would happen if we really took holidays as holy days—times to rest in the Lord, times to turn off the alarm clock, times to get caught up in love, wonder and praise, times to ‘turn and become as a child’ so that we might really enter into the kingdom and royal spirit of the season?...We need to lose track of all time, except prime time—the creative celebration and worship of the Christ child. Space, silence, rest and worship are in fact the soil from which creative responses to God come forth.”
“Or task as Christians seeking a lifestyle of worship is simple to let go and acknowledge that God is God and we are not and that is a good thing. To borrow once more from Fẻnelon,’ Full surrender is full peace. If we are restless and concerned about things…we have not genuinely surrender. Surrender is the source of true peace.’”
(取材自Witherington and Hare, The Living Legacy—the soul in paraphrase, the heart in pilgrimage, pp. 14-18)
3. 第三週靈修經文與反省
默想經文：以賽亞書53；歌林多前書13
主題：Incognito 隱名埋姓
目標: 上帝在基督裡愛的奧秘，應該在我們生活的喜樂和感恩中，被擴散出去。多多地歡慶和喜樂，可以為我們的生活帶來力量。本週，請你用一些創意的作法，來慶祝那藉著基督耶穌所顯明的奧秘。找一些基督徒朋友來舉行派對，就只是單單地慶祝生命，並享受團契相交之樂。
參與在一些服務的工作中，是將基督的奧秘顯明給別人，最佳的辦法。試著找出不同的服務方式。去固定地接觸別人，就單單為著天國的緣故。這可以從每天去做，到加入一個助人的計畫方案。
進深反省
“Revelation of profound things, as it turns out, involves mystery, incognity, and secrets revealed at great cost and in amazing ways.” - Ben Witherington III
“The grace of heaven is everywhere.” - Thomas Merton
“It is in Jesus, of course, and in people whose lives have been deeply touched by Jesus, and in our selves at those moments when we also are deeply touched by him that we see another way of being human in this world, which is the way of holiness.” - Frederick Buechner
“Why are we [here]? We are [here] to say God. We are [here]for one reason and one reason only: to pray. We are [here] to focus the brimming, overflowing, cascading energies of joy, sorrow, delight, or appreciation, if only for a moment but for as long as we are able, on God. We are [here] to say God personally, to say his name clearly, distinctly, unapologetically, in prayer. We are there to say it without hemming and hawing, without throat clearing and without shuffling, without propagandizing, proselytizing, or manipulating. We have no other task… We are not needed to add to what is there; there is already more than anyone can take in. We are required only to say the Name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” (取材自 畢德生Eugene Peterson,Subversive Spirituality, p.150.)
4. 第四週靈修經文與反省
默想經文：路加福音Luke1.46-56
主題： Mother Load 母親的擔子
目標: 本週至少選擇聖經中一位主要的女性角色（路得，以斯帖，馬利亞，馬大…），做深度研讀。記錄下您的發現和反省。
花一些時間全然安靜。本週嘗試一段時間（半天或一個晚上），完全禁絕音樂，網路，影片等娛樂功能。默想耶穌的母親馬利亞，向著上帝全然的降服。我們需要安靜並喜樂地，降服在上帝的面前。
進深反省
“All the obedience in the world cannot produce divine grace or salvation. Only the divine activity itself can produce such an outcome.” - Ben Witherington III
“The world does not need more of you; it needs more of God. Your friends do not need more of you; they need more of God. And you don’t need more of you; you need more of God.” - Eugene Peterson
“Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will. Whatever You may do, I thank You; I am really for all, I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, and in all Your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord.” - Henri Nouwen
The excerpt below is from this modern classic. It speaks of the “overwhelming experience” of complete surrender and utter abandon to God’s purposes. Mary must have experienced something of this when she surrendered to God’s purposes that led to that first Christmas. It is to this that the season of Advent calls us.
“It is an overwhelming experience to fall into the hands of the living God, to be invaded to the depths of one’s being by His presence, to be, without warning, wholly uprooted from all earth-born securities and assurances, and to be blown by a tempest of unbelievable power which leaves one’s old proud self utterly, utterly defenseless… Then the soul is swept into a Loving Centre of ineffable sweetness, where calm and unspeakable peace and ravishing joy steal over one.” ( Witherington and Hare, The Living Legacy—the soul in paraphrase, the heart in pilgrimage, pp. 29-30)