by Tom Sine
Prep now for an Omicron Crisis Christmas!
On Monday, the UK reported its first death from the Omicron variant, and on Wednesday it reported 78,610 new cases of the coronavirus, the highest number of daily cases since the pandemic began.
CNN reported on December 15th that “Omicron is spreading faster than any other variant.” Many of our hospitals simply won’t be able to deal with the rapid spread. For the sake of all those you care about, don’t hesitate a minute longer. Get vaccinated today or get your booster today! The lives you save for Christmas 2021 could be your own or those you love! Also, create careful celebrations.
Christine and I normally have 40 to 50 people over for our annual Christmas Party for many years. However since the coming of COVID that has not been possible.
Last week we invited 7 good friends over, for a festive Christmas dinner, who had all had their shots and boosters. The day before the event one friend called and shared that she had been vaccinating people for the last two weeks and was concerned that she might have been exposed to the virus.
Out of concern for aged hosts, she opted to re-schedule when she was “safer,” which Christine and I appreciated. Just as the other three were arriving we got a call from our 7th guest. Mark was in bed with what was likely a bad cold and bowed out too.
However, Christine and I and our 3 other guests had a great time. In fact, it appeared they even felt responsible to eat for our two other friends…who missed out.
Even though this Christmas 2021 and we all want to be with family and friends, a number of people paid a much higher price than they expected Christmas 2020. Christine and I urge you for the sake of family and friends to consider the cautions listed below that the CDC recommends.
For those that are up to date on your shots, here are the CDC Guidelines of how to celebrate safely:
CDC Guidance for Celebrating Holidays in 2021 Published October 4, 2021
With the coronavirus pandemic continuing into a second holiday season, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appeared to have released updated guidance over the weekend for those looking to celebrate safely.
“The content is in the process of being updated by CDC to reflect current guidance ahead of this holiday season,” CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said in a statement. “The page had a technical update on Friday, but doesn’t reflect the CDC’s guidance ahead of this upcoming holiday season. CDC will share additional guidance soon.
“Attending gatherings to celebrate events and holidays increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19,” the guidance read. “The safest way to celebrate is virtually, with people who live with you, or outside and at least 6 feet apart from others.”
But for those who wish to still gather indoors when outside is not an option, the CDC recommended bringing fresh air in.
“If celebrating indoors, bring in fresh air by opening windows and doors, if possible,” its holiday celebrations guidance stated. “You can use a window fan in one of the open windows to blow air out of the window. This will pull fresh air in through the other open windows.”
It was unclear which portions of the guidance would remain for the 2021 season.
Here is what the CDC recommended before the page became inactive.
For “safe celebrations”:
- Host a video chat party with family and friends to share in the celebration…a Zoom visit.
- Plan a special meal with people who live with you inspired by the holiday or event.
- Have an outdoor celebration with everyone at least 6 feet apart.
- Watch virtual events and celebrations.
- Drive or walk around your community to wave to neighbors from a safe distance.
- Take food or gift to family, friends, and neighbors in a way that does not involve contact with others, such as leaving them at the door.
- Throw a virtual dance party and collaborate with friends and family on a playlist.
- Celebrate outside with neighbors and friends.
- Attend a virtual ceremony or celebration.
For making in-person celebrations safer:
- Get vaccinated when you are eligible.
- Know when to wear a mask.
- If you are not fully vaccinated and aged 2 or older, you should wear a mask in indoor public places.
- In general, you do not need to wear a mask in outdoor settings.
- In areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases, consider wearing a mask in crowded outdoor settings and for activities with close contact with others who are not fully vaccinated.
- In general, you do not need to wear a mask in outdoor settings.
- Outdoor activities are safer than indoor gatherings.
- Have conversations ahead of time to understand expectations for celebrating together.
- Do not attend or host a gathering if you are sick or have symptoms of COVID-19.
- If celebrating indoors, bring in fresh air by opening windows and doors, if possible. You can use a window fan in one of the open windows to blow air out of the window. This will pull fresh air in through the other open windows.
- C.D.C. Guidelines for Celebrating Holidays in 2021 The Chicago Health Department October 4, 2021
WISHING YOU AND YOURS A JOYOUS AND SAFE CHRISTMAS & THE OPPORTUNITY TO REACH OUT TO THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING AS WE RACE INTO 2022!
Photo by Andre Ouellet on Unsplash
Are you ready to rekindle the WONDER of the season? Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin in this virtual retreat as they walk you through practical and fun activities focused on Advent Wonder. Sign up for 180 days of access to work through enriching discussions and engaging exercises at your own pace. Or give it as a gift! If you have purchased courses from us before or plan on purchasing in bulk, email us for a discount code.
We celebrated at our annual thinplaceNASHVILLE Christmas party this past week…in person and online. Our Sunday gathering was actually around our table for the first time since March 2020. We’ve met outside and had picnics together, but it was so good to gather, eat dinner and laugh in real time!
Sunday Night thinplace
Tuesday Night Thinplace
It was truly WONDERFUL to just be together! And it was WONDERFUL to gather on Zoom too! To laugh and share our Christmas memories, ugly sweaters, and Secret Santa gifts with each other.
Throughout Celtic Advent and into Traditional Advent, we’ve been practicing walking in WONDER.
How are you doing with that practice? Maybe you are in need of a reminder to use your shoes each day. As you put them on, Ask Jesus to help you WALK IN WONDER! Try using your Wonder Shoes or Advent Socks this week.
And see what God shows you!
To help you get started: What is a favorite Christmas tradition from childhood that brings you wonder, makes you smile?
Is there a favorite dish, baked good, meal, or tradition that brings the wonder of Christmas back to you?
Share your story or a recipe with your friends or family this week. Take a drive around town and look at Christmas lights, or turn off the lights except for the Christmas tree and sit in quiet or listen to your favorite Christmas songs. Listen to Handel’s Messiah
or listen to one of these
NOW let’s consider the WONDER that is about to appear! And take in the WONDER of the Shepherds and Mary and Joseph at the Birth of Jesus in LUKE 2: 1-20
LISTEN TO THE PASSAGE in the NIV
LISTEN IN THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
READ IT in the PASSION TRANSLATION
LUKE 1: 1-20 THE PASSION
2 1–2 During those days, the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, ordered that the first census be taken throughout his empire. (Quirinius was the governor of Syria at that time.) 3 Everyone had to travel to the hometown of their family to complete the mandatory census. So Joseph and his wife, Mary, left Nazareth, a village in Galilee, and journeyed to their hometown in Judea, to the village of Bethlehem, King David’s ancient home. They were required to register there, since they were both direct descendants of David. Mary was pregnant and nearly ready to give birth.
6–7 When they arrived in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor, and there she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the newborn baby in strips of cloth, and Mary and Joseph laid him in a feeding trough since there was no available space in any upper room in the village.
8 That night, in a field near Bethlehem, shepherds were watching over their flocks. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared in radiant splendor before them, lighting up the field with the blazing glory of God, and the shepherds were terrified! 10 But the angel reassured them, saying, “Don’t be afraid, for I have come to bring you good news, the most joyous news the world has ever heard! And it is for everyone everywhere! 11 For today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah. 12 You will recognize him by this miraculous sign: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in the feeding trough!”
13 Then all at once in the night sky, a vast number of glorious angels appeared, the very armies of heaven! And they all praised God, singing:
14 “Glory to God in the highest realms of heaven!
For there is peace and a good hope given to the sons of men.”
15 When the choir of angels disappeared and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go! Let’s hurry and find this Word who is born in Bethlehem and see for ourselves what the Lord has revealed to us.” 16 So they hurried off and found their way to Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in a feeding trough.
17 Upon seeing this miraculous sign, the shepherds recounted what had just happened. 18 Everyone who heard the shepherds’ story was astonished by what they were told.
19 But Mary treasured all these things in her heart and often pondered what they meant.
20 The shepherds returned to their flock, ecstatic over what had happened. They praised God and glorified him for all they had heard and seen for themselves, just like the angel had said.
What do you notice?
What is missing that you always thought was there?
What does the Holy Spirit Highlight just for YOU TODAY?
I love that the shepherds don’t hesitate! They don’t wait til the next day to go to Bethlehem. They are so caught up in the wonder of the Angelic host that they are ready to act! What is a WONDERFUL thing of God you’d like to tell others about? Who is someone who needs to know the WONDERFUL love of God this year? Begin to pray for them to feel God’s love and ask Jesus to show you tangible ways to show this love to them!
I wonder how many doors they had to knock on to find the baby in a manger, or how long it took them. Were people annoyed at being awakened by dirty shepherds in the middle of the night? Did these townsfolk get excited too and go with the shepherds? What would you have done?
I wonder what Mary and Joseph thought of this band of young shepherds coming to visit and sharing their story about the angels?
Like Mary, What do you need to ponder in your heart this last week of Advent as we approach Christmas?
Use ART to help you connect with the Story…
Check out Nativities around the World from contemporary artists….
website of NATIVITIES AROUND THE WORLD to help you engage with the WONDER of the story….
What do you notice? What speaks to you today?
Good News of Great Joy Melani Pyke
Melani Pyke is a Canadian artist who sells her beautiful work on Etsy.
You can buy a print of this amazing painting here.
Henry Ossawa Tanner The Annunciation to the Shepherds
Learn more about Henry Ossawa Tanner, African American artist who studied and worked in the United States and Paris in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s
ANGELS appearing before Shepherds TANNER
LEARN MORE HERE:
TANNER Annunciation to the Shepherds
As a part of your WONDER PRACTICE this week, if weather permits, take time to sit outside and stargaze. Imagine the sky filled with angels. You might want to read Luke 2 again or listen to it being read. Allow the heavens to declare the WONDER and GLORY of God. Allow the beauty of the moon and stars to fill you with WONDER! and the moon will be full this Saturday night, December 18th, 2021
Lord God,
Calm us as we wait for the Gift of Jesus.
Cleanse us to prepare the way for his arrival. Help us to slow down and prepare our hearts. Help us to wait and take time to be with you. Teach us to contemplate the wonder of God with us.
Teach us to know the presence of your Spirit. Teach us to bear the life of Jesus and live out his Kingdom.
Today and Always. AMEN
(adapted from Ray Simpson of Lindesfarne)
JOIN US THIS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21st at 7pm central time for a thinplaceNASHVILLE BLUE CHRISTMAS gathering via ZOOM. If you, or someone you know needs a way to process some of the pain of this year, join us THIS TUESDAY NIGHT, DEC 21st. You will need a pitcher of water and a large glass, a blanket or throw, lemons and honey to pray with us. EMAIL freerangeworship@gmail.com to sign up and receive the zoom link.
BLUE CHRISTMAS Gathering
The fourth week of Advent is long this year which gives us a wonderful opportunity to contemplate the coming of Christ before Christmas arrives. Enjoy:
God we gather in this Advent season,
To hear the prayers you have placed in our hearts,
Filled with the ache of hurting people and a broken world,
We come willing to listen to the silence,
Longing to see and to become all you intend us to be.
Let the busyness of our bodies rest,
Let the worries of our minds rest,
Let the doubts of our hearts rest,
Letting go of self may we all hold onto God,
Opening ourselves to become a part of your new world that is emerging.
Pause for the lighting of the Advent candles
God we release to you the rush and noise of life,
We breathe out all that hinders our becoming who you intend us to be,
Fear, anxiety, busyness, confusion, guilt and tiredness,
We throw off our busy distractedness and breathe in all that is of you,
Love, joy, peace, compassion, justice, grace and mercy.
God may we be mindful of you today,
Knowing that each moment of time is sanctified by your spirit.
May your words echo deep within us,
So that we can hear your call to holiness, justice and compassion.
Becoming people of hope to a troubled world.
God may your silence penetrate deep inside,
Releasing for us the hope of this Advent season,
May it bring us to the place where love and justice meet,
Enabling us to surrender all that holds us captive,
Encouraging us to release all that has enslaved us.
O God as we wait to become your transformed people,
May we embrace your love and enter the place of deep communion with you,
Where time is stilled and place is fertile ground for seeds to sprout,
May we willingly walk into the unknown mystery of faith,
Seeking to become a part of your new world of justice and peace.
Read scriptures for the day from daily lectionary
God may we wait in patience and hope for what is emerging,
In our lives, in our world and through our faith,
May we be willing to walk on paths unknown,
That you have marked out with loving care.
May we wait in trust and not fear for your new world,
For the justice and peace and freedom you have promised,
For those things hoped for and not yet seen.
Knowing that the future is in God’s hands,
May we wait for the release and rest of your new world.
Eternal Spirit, Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all. Loving God, in whom is heaven. The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the earth! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen. (From NZ Prayer Book)
Pause to offer specific prayers and thanksgivings
God as we wait for your coming and meditate on your promises,
Grant that we may hear afresh the hope of your salvation,
And respond to the wonder of your forgiving love,
May we be filled with hope not just for ourselves,
But for a world in which all is made new.
May we walk forward without fear into the ways
of the One who walked without fear into our world.
May we enter with assurance and trust into the love of the Christ,
Who came in the fragility and vulnerability of a human child.
May we be filled with the hope and promise of the Spirit,
And greet with joy all the unexpected and unanticipated happenings,
That give us glimpses of what God’s new world is becoming.
God grant that we may walk with humility into your grace and peace,
Our hearts filled with your love,
Our minds inspired by your truth,
Our wills strengthened by your hope.
Until at the end of our journey
We know the joy of our homecoming and the welcome of your embrace.
Amen
This litany is adapted from the Advent devotional Waiting for the Light, a compilation of Advent readings from Godspace writers published in 2011.
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by Laurie Klein
Mama deserves a gift. That’s what I think.
When she leaves the house, I scurry into the kitchen. I gather a funnel, bud vase, and empty jar. Puffy slippers carry me soundlessly into her room. Click, goes the door.
On her dresser, assorted colognes glint on a mirrored tray. I sniff each one, carefully tip vial after uncorked vial, half-filling my jar until . . .
Is she back already? Quick, to the attic!
The top floor of our house smells gray and used up, like forgotten dishrags. Bare studs frame a little room containing the front dormer. I hoist the sash. A shiver. A whiff of snow. Then: to work. Eight-year-old hands funnel the liquid bouquet into the vase, then mash in a wad of tissue to seal it.
Now, to await the right moment.
“Goodness,” Mama says. Drawing me close, her wrist perfumed with countless mixed blooms, she murmurs, “What could be sweeter?”
Decades later
Today, surrounded by cut pine and paperwhites, I’m on hold, transitioning from Thanksgiving to Advent anticipation. The bowed head lifts, expectant, longing for peace.
By varying degrees, we enter the seasonal segue.
The segue, by definition, initiates blend. It’s a seamless passage from one image, song, scene, or mood to the next. Our sensibilities register an indelible trace of what has already flowered—even as we move toward sensations yet to unfurl.
If I could concoct a cologne for awaiting our savior’s birth, I’d call it Soul Shift.
Perfumery 101
The formula for a fragrance comprises base notes, heart notes, and head notes.
Is it fanciful to liken my recent focus on giving thanks to those “base notes”? Foundational scents like vanilla, musk, or sandalwood linger the longest, up to six hours. Spiritually speaking, thankfulness also carries over. Our expressions of gratitude bless the receiver; they also leave a residue of tenderness in our spirit.
However, during protracted waiting, we feel restive. Stalled out. Sustaining active trust under stress requires we commit to faith, again and again. Thank heavens grace meets us, making our yielded, inmost being a modest Bethlehem. This, too, corresponds to preparing perfume. The “heart notes”—jasmine, cinnamon, or cardamom—comprise 70% of the blend. Lacking reapplication, they evanesce, lasting less than an hour.
With so much pending around us, staying present this season compares with the “head notes.” Orange, lemon, lavender, rose—these first-impression aromas seize our attention. Amid holiday distractions a quiet focus proves fleeting as citrus and herb, lasting only minutes.
Wise fragrance chemists rely on diverse, individual notes. Ideally, they come into harmony, known as the perfume accord. They also know a sample spritz from the tester alters, depending on time, temperature, body chemistry, and other factors. Perfume is mercurial.
For all who desire to pause—or find themselves conflicted within a forced pause—this time of year, waiting is layered. Complex. Costly.
Consider the Nativity. Mute Zechariah longs for his voice to return. Elizabeth and Mary daily make ready for John and Jesus. Joseph, seeking lodging, endures repeated delays. Herod paces and plots. The Magi ceaselessly watch the star. Simeon and Anna mark time in the temple.
Waiting permeates as well as perfumes the Christmas story. Birthday frankincense rubs shoulders with myrrh, a burial spice.
Birth. Death. Resurrection. We recall the details of the first Advent, engage with this one, and anticipate Christ’s return.
Once and already here. Ever arriving. Still to come. Base notes. Heart notes. Head notes.
The final synthesis
A memory launched this post: “Mama deserves a gift.” What will I offer my savior today? An outpouring akin to the woman with the alabaster jar? More likely, something well-intentioned, yet awkward.
Drawn afresh to the manger, breathe in with me the perfume accord: the tingling blue chill of starlight; summer rain captured in hay; the coppery tang of blood. In all ways, may waiting suffuse life with unparalleled fragrance: the knowledge of Christ.
To learn more: Fragrance Notes: Everything You Need to Know – FragranceX.com
Photo by Ulysse Pointcheval on Unsplash
God’s world is full of wonder–meditate on something beautiful and experience the awe. Pairing images with prayers, we offer many different types of artful focus for your quiet times. Prayer cards are available for different seasons and reasons from Advent to Lent or as Celtic prayers, Breath prayers, prayers of Wonder, or prayers for a Pause. Most are available to download, or in sets of 1 or 3–so you can enjoy in your own devotions and gift some beauty to a friend! Visit our shop to see our many selections!
by J. Thomas
“Children really like looking at pictures of other children,” Yevgeniya exhorts.
This is one of many tips she provides during our monthly accountability meetings. Yevgeniya is an accomplished poet, and I am an amateur writer. We both have projects we want to accomplish by Christmas.
“The bestselling books are about relationships. What people don’t understand is other people. Write about relationships.”
These were another set of exhortations. Along with “avoid getting one-star reviews on Amazon,” I appreciate the honesty.
Yevgeniya is a woman of her word. She’s not flaky. If we say we are going to meet once a month, that is going to happen. It’s a trust that we built over the course of a year.
By reading Yevgeniya’s poems, I see where that strength of character comes from. In her book, Christmas Child: Poems About Christmas and Motherhood, her journey mirrors the progression that Paul laid out in his letter to church in Rome.
He writes, “we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3,4.
Her suffering jumps off the pages in a way that cannot be captured by prose alone. We need art, music, dance, and poetry to capture the depths of the human soul when words fall short. I mourn and persevere with her during her season of pain and drought.
Perseverance is more than our response to the suffering of pain. It is our response to the suffering of spiritual drought – the endless season of waiting without any word from God.
It is in this crucible of waiting where God forges Yevgeniya’s character. She’s becoming a mother before she’s given birth. It’s all over the pages.
She’s becoming a mother before she’s given birth.
I’m so glad I met Yevgeniya through one of our church’s small groups. We have enriched each other’s lives. She kept me accountable so that I could finish my children’s book, The Daisybears and the Great Door.
The fact that we both finished our projects is really an afterthought now. Through the journey, we both grew in our heart-character. Heart-character is a term I use for our capacity to know and understand God. We observed the power for friendship and mutual agape love to lift us up.
Our containers enlarged. Paul continues that “God’s love has been poured out into the hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Hope springs forth from character, and we are not disappointed.
I’ve been doing a lot of solo writing over the last decade. Meeting with Yevgeniya was the first time writing became a true creative process for me.
I say that good ideas are like jokes. You may think that you have the best idea or funniest joke in your mind. You can cherish your amazing thoughts or make yourself laugh with your own humor. But you won’t really know if an idea is good or if a joke is funny unless you share it with another person. And even then, that is just one person’s opinion.
From Yevgeniya’s initial comments, I took my writing to pastors, moms, and their children. I opened my heart to the comments and criticisms of my peers. Each person shaped my thoughts and like so many books before me, the page for thanks and acknowledgments could be its own volume.
Who is the Christmas Child?
Who is the Christmas Child? It’s Jesus. It’s Yevgeniya’s son and it’s my daughter. But it’s me and Yevgeniya too. We met as adults with “very important things to do.” But as our goal was accomplished, our purpose for meeting ended. As with the friendships of our childhood, there is no purpose for friendship. We can meet to catch up, share prayer requests, or for no reason at all.
As I write on the dedication page of The Daisybears and the Great Door:
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,
That we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are!
Christmas Child: Poems About Christmas and Motherhood by Yevgeniya Przhebelskaya can be purchased on Amazon here.
The Daisybears and the Great Door can be purchased on J. Thomas’s website Dry and Barren Land: Walking Through Spiritual Drought here.
Feature Photo is the cover design by Tracy Dunham
As an Amazon Associate I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links. Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way
Looking for some inspiration or rest and renewal? Consider one of our courses! Most offer 180 days of access, perfect for working through a virtual retreat at your own pace. Find retreat with one of the Advent courses; perfect for a weekend Christmastime activity. Prepare for a coming season, or revisit Wonder. You can find them all right here! And did you know? You can give them as a gift! We also offer discounts if you have purchased a course or virtual retreat from us before or are buying for a group. Email us before check-out for the code!
by Gary Heard
There are signs of the Christmas season all around us, as decorations begin to fill the public spaces, the sound of carols starts to fill the retail spaces, and families decorate their houses inside and out with lights and other ornaments. “Tis the season to be jolly” echoes as a refrain through almost every aspect of this season in popular culture. Unfortunately, the way in which Christmas is celebrated drives out some of the season’s more important messages. The images of happy families sharing their time and gifts happily and with generosity masks the deeper meaning of the season, and in a strange way, serves to exclude the very people for whom the Christmas message is most important.
When we consider the central aspects of the story of the birth of Jesus, we find a much deeper and more embracing story. It is a story of a pregnant unwed teenager; a fiancé who discovers that his betrothed is pregnant and wonders how to respond; an aged couple finally conceiving after years of heartache and unfulfilled hopes. In addition, we confront a government mandate to return to a familial hometown, forcing the young couple into a lengthy and uncomfortable journey in the late stages of pregnancy, only to be stranded without accommodation and offered measly lodgings which most would reject. And then, following the birth, the young family are forced to flee to another country – refugees in search of safety from threats against the life of their infant child.
It is these aspects of the story that many can associate with – far from the happy family experience, it underlines that the Christmas embrace turns its focus to the marginalised, the alienated, and those who are struggling with the realities of life. Rather than finding joy in the exchange of gifts which more likely end up on the scrap heap within a few days, this story reminds many that, in the midst of their struggles, hope is born. Not in any way as a denial of their realities, but in affirmation of them.
The Christmas story is not an affirmation of those who have, and those who can afford more–and yet, ironically, need it less–but the story of a God who enters lives at their deepest vulnerability and need. Christ is not born in triumph, but in the ordinariness of life – into lives of fractured relationships, lives of deferred (or destroyed) hopes, lives of alienation and isolation. It is a reality which echoes throughout Jesus’ life, as he reaches out and embraces those who are generally excluded from society’s ideas of success.
Seeing a homeless man sleeping under a Christmas tree in the city streets is perhaps one of the best signs of Christmas, inasmuch as he represents those for whom the Christmas story expresses hope and embrace, and reminds us of God’s priority for those for whom society does not make a ready place. It reminds me that I need to show love and hope for such as these – and not only at Christmas. The challenge remains for us to make our celebrations of Christmas inclusive of such as these. That one of Australia’s leading health funds reported increased admissions over Christmas so that people would not be alone on Christmas day underlines the need for us to find ways to embrace those in real need.
photo by Gareth Harper on Unsplash
*** New for 2021!*** We are so pleased to announce this companion journal for our Advent Devotional Lean Towards The Light This Advent & Christmas! Last year’s devotional continues to be relevant to the pandemic times we are in; find refreshment with new eyes and opportunities for reflection as you pair your copy with the journal. Or perhaps your group or community is looking for an advent devotional this year? We offer savings on devotional bundles with the journal, and with the journal and our Advent prayer cards in both physical and downloadable forms. You can also order the Journal as a download. If you are ordering 5+ copies, we offer even more savings–Email us to get the code.
This is a scary week for me. Today I head in for a pre-surgery COVID test preliminary to a sinus operation on Wednesday. This is not my first nor is it my worst surgery, but there is something about the anxiety of the times in which we live that makes it the most unsettling. And like so many others my equilibrium has been further disrupted this weekend by the horrific tornadoes in Kentucky and other U.S states. Yet in the midst of the anxiety is hope for a future without excruciating headaches, sleepless nights and sinus infections where I can breathe freely. I hope too for that day when all creation will be made whole without the suffering caused by catastrophic weather events and wars and famines.
I suspect Mary lived with far greater anxiety than I do. “Be not afraid” the angel tells her. We imagine she was never afraid again, but I am sure that was not true. She was a very normal young woman with all the normal emotions of any young person. I suspect that from the moment she knew she was definitely pregnant the anxiety took root. How would her family respond? What about Joseph? Would they believe her story or would they want to stone her?
Then there were the anxieties of that trip to Bethlehem. A trip of 70 to 80 miles over rough roads, worried about wild beasts and bandits, is no fun. Nor is donkey riding. That is if they could afford a donkey. And who did they travel with? Probably others returning home for the census. Maybe a whole caravan of people, all of whom would soon have known the story of her pregnancy. How would they treat her? Then there was Joseph’s family. How would they feel?
There must have been anxieties about the birth. By then the angel’s visit must have seemed like a dream. Would she survive it? After all, at that time childbirth was a death sentence for many women. Then once he was born, how would her child Jesus be treated by Joseph, her family, her community?
The fears probably went on and on. One moment Mary was trusting in the promises of God for the birth of a new world of justice and peace through the baby in her womb, the next drenched with anxiety. Maybe both at the same time.
I am grateful for the ways that my own anxiety made me think more deeply about Mary and her anxieties this year. Trusting in the promises of God without fear and anxiety isn’t easy for any of us. And this Advent, 2,000 years after the birth of Mary’s child, we still wait for the completion of the promises God made to her.
How do we wait in this Advent season? How do we live into the promises without being overwhelmed by the anxieties? This is not a passive waiting. Waiting for a baby never is.
Several practices helped me maintain my equilibrium over the last couple of months.
First, I took regular quiet days in the midst of the frantic activity of the season. I suspect they will be even more important in my recovery period. I find the Quiet Advent Retreat we made available as a new free resource last week is particularly helpful. It renews and refreshes my soul and I have revisited the prayers and scriptures several times over the last week. Perhaps I will create another Quiet retreat for after Christmas. I know I need it.
Second, I protected my morning contemplative times. Reading prayers, scriptures and devotionals that focus me on the Advent and Christmas story is very therapeutic. My favourite books this year (yes I am reading several) are Lighted Windows by Margaret Silf, All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss, and Honest Advent by Scott Erickson. Each book shares a different perspective on the gospel story and I am very glad there are 12 days in the Christmas season because I know I will need all of them to fully appreciate these books.
Third, I have spent quite a bit of time re-evaluating my commitment to the promises of God, not just in thought but in action. What causes do we support financially? How do we highlight our concerns for justice and sustainability through Godspace? What else should we focus on this season? Living out the hope and promise of God’s new world is not always easy but it is extremely important and Advent is a great time to reaffirm our commitments.
One prayer that I wrote in 2012 has been a particularly helpful inspiration for me in this process:
Let us kneel in the darkness,
Until we see God’s light emerge.
Let us wait with hope-filled hearts,
As Christ’s image grows within us and shows us life.
Let him speak to us and teach us love,
Until we open our hearts to be his home.
(c) Christine Sine
I want to open my heart to be Christ’s home in new ways this year. I want to see God’s new reality emerge in new ways in my life and community. I am not sure what that will look like but this season of anxiety encourages me to think more deeply about what God is giving birth to. I hope it does the same for you.
To you I turn O God of Gods,
In you I trust.
In you I find my hope.
In the valleys you hold me close.
On the mountain tops
You keep my feet from stumbling.
You are light.
You are life.
You are love.
In you I find my rest.
(c) Christine Sine
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