Greetings of joy as we conclude this third week of Advent. As we prepare our hearts for renewed life in Love at Christmas, might we spend time together in joyful contemplation and anticipation, entering into the whole-hearted and relational love of God. 

Might we wake up today and each day to the invitation from Song of Songs: “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!” While reading this passage, I envision an active God and hear the voice of Love calling out to me in my belovedness. Calling out to me, beautiful and unique, drawing me out. And then, In Luke’s Gospel, we witness Elizabeth greeting Mary in a similar way— “Most blessed are you among women,” she exclaims. The vibrancy of greeting loved ones is depicted in both of these scripture passages. The loved ones leap for joy and listen deeply and even spring across mountains. 

Sitting with these invigorating images and all-consuming affirmations, I invite us to reflect together. What part of our beings or spirits might God be calling out to today? Where might God be calling us? What might God be inviting us into? 

Today, God seems to be calling to my true and full self. Even the places of my mind and heart that I do not fully understand, I can trust that God is holding and affirming. We are each God’s “beautiful one,” and perhaps as we prepare for Christmas, we are being invited to call each individual we encounter this next week, beloved, beautiful one. As we travel home, spend time with family and old friends, nurture new connections in New Haven, or meet strangers along our journeys, might we embody the lover from Song of Songs and Elizabeth as she greets Mary.