Sylvain Reynard

NY Times Best-Selling Author

Advent Readalong – Week Three

Dear Everyone,

A theme for the first week in Advent was Waiting. The theme for the second week is Mystery. At first glance, these two ideas don’t seem to connect with one another. But when one is faced with mystery, one must be patient. When one is faced with mystery, one must be silent. Again, I am moved by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s wisdom in affirming the mystery of God, the Incarnation, and Advent.

Advent brings endless questions – why not now? Why not sooner? Why there? Why then? Why? I look forward to the day when the questions are answered and the mysteries are solved, but now I wait and I embrace the mystery, while looking forward.

Faith, hope, and charity; in Advent, we see the commingling of these three theological virtues, but Advent certainly is the season of hope. While we continue our reading this week, and we look toward Christmas, I’d like us to take some time each day in silence to reflect on the joy of what is to come. O come, o come Emmanuel, God with us …

I welcome your comments and I hope that you continue to have a blessed Advent. Thank you for reading along with me,

SR

www.sylvainreynard.com

Advent Readalong – Week Two

Dear Everyone,

We are embarking on the second week of Advent. I’ve really enjoyed the first week of readings from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “God is in the Manger,” along with your comments. Thank you for reading with me and for sharing your thoughts.  I think of Advent, like Lent, as a kind of journey and I’m very grateful to you for journeying with me.

This week, I was struck again by Bonhoeffer’s wisdom. His reflections are always insightful, but this week his examination of both waiting and silence caught my attention. I am notoriously impatient and have been so my entire life. (The Professor and I share this attribute) Bonhoeffer reminds us that to be a Christian is to wait. At this point in our history, we live between the resurrection and the New Jerusalem. We live in gratitude and in hope, but there is much that is “not yet.” And so we must wait. We must be patient, even as we are impatient with suffering, tragedy, war, and death. 

Bonhoeffer also meditates on silence:  “Silence ultimately means nothing but waiting for God’s word and coming away blessed by God’s word.”  This remark struck me, particularly in its relation to waiting. The more impatient I am, the more I have to say. But when I’m impatient or cross, I’m not listening.  Bonhoeffer observes that the silence of the Christian is a “listening silence.” At least, it should be.

We wait in hope. We listen in silence. We have faith the time will come and so will the answers. And in the meantime, we are part of a wide and generous community of fellow travellers who wait and listen with us and to us. Let’s be sure to remember one another in our prayers, and let’s also remember those in our community who are ill.

Peace be with you all. I welcome your comments below.

May your Advent continue to be blessed,

SR

www.sylvainreynard.com

Advent Readalong – Week One

Dear Everyone.

Peace be with you and peace be with your communities.  I hope that all who are celebrating have a blessed Advent.

Today, I am beginning my Advent reading of Day One of “God is in the Manger,” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) . I’ll be completing a reading from the book each day until Christmas, when I’ll begin the Twelve Days of Christmas reading, which starts on page 65. Please join me.

I’ll be posting weekly reflections here on my website and I welcome your comments below. I’ll also be participating in a chat with the All Things SR podcast during their podcast on January 5th, 2025. 

The editors of “God is in the Manger” have provided a short biography of Bonhoeffer in their Preface. I invite you to read it. If you want to read more about Bonhoeffer you can do so here: https://bonhoeffersociety.org/about/bonhoeffer/biography/

I also recommend his work “The Cost of Discipleship.”

But today, I am going to meditate on the first reading, which declares that Advent is the season of waiting and that Christ comes to us in the person of our fellow human beings. Transcendence and immanence. Grace and responsibility.  

I am conscious of the tremendous suffering the world this Advent and I am conscious of the fact that there is so much hatred between human beings. I am confronted with the question of what I am doing for the world and in the world this Advent. As I live, and speak, and act, do I contribute to the problem or am I working toward a solution? 

Bonhoeffer, who lived and wrote during a time of war and hate, faced these questions. I’m looking forward to learning from him once again.

Peace be with you all,

SR.

www.sylvainreynard.com

Advent Readalong

Dear Everyone,

I have been hosting Easter and Advent Readalongs for the past couple of years. This year, I’ve chosen “God is in the Manger” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian, who was a member of the Resistance movement during World War II. He was imprisoned in 1943 by the Nazis and later executed. He’s well-known in theological circles for his work, “The Cost of Discipleship,” which had a profound effect on me and many others. There are several films about his life, one of which you can discover more about here, which releases December 6th.

In “God is in the Manger,” we will explore a series of readings drawn from Bonhoeffer’s sermons and writings. We will begin our first reading on December 1st, the first day of Advent, and continue for forty days into 2025. You can join me by reading the ebook or the paperback edition. You may be able to find the paperback in your local library. I wanted to be sure to post my choice early enough for everyone around the world to source the book in time for December 1st.

I’ll be posting reflections on the readings here on my blog. I welcome your participation and your comments. I should mention that you don’t have to celebrate Advent in order to join me; this is an inclusive readalong and all are welcome.

Looking forward to reading Bonhoeffer with you,

SR

www.sylvainreynard.com

Advent Readalong – Merry Christmas

Dear Everyone,

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, if you celebrate. Yesterday, I read the “Feliz Navidad” reading from Henri Nouwen’s book, and I also read Day 1 from the Twelve Days of Christmas readings. Today, I’ll continue with Day 2.

Fr. Nouwen has a unique way of both challenging and encouraging. He emphasizes community and friendship, but also humility and service. Humility is a virtue that’s absent largely from my culture and from much of history. And yet, it contributes something so important to our own spiritual discipline and to the communities we inhabit.

Fr. Nouwen also emphasized how communities are always populated with those who confound or trouble us. He also writes how a community is a place that takes us in. This latter point really struck me. So often I think of community as a place we create for others, but really, community is the place where we are welcomed, despite our own shortcomings. I am grateful for this reading community.

I welcome your comments and Advent and Christmas reflections. Have a blessed Twelve Days of Christmas,

SR

www.sylvainreynard.com

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About The Author

fluer-de-lisI am honoured to have had all three of my novels appear on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists. I was a Semifinalist for Best Author in the 2011 and 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards. {More About Sylvain}

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