Today is the first day of Celtic Advent, and once more I am relishing this early taste of Advent. I love that Celtic Advent begins 40 days before Christmas Day. Celtic Christians always prayed and fasted for 40 days in preparation for any major life event, whether it be the planting of a new monastic center or the beginning of a new adventure, as well as for preparation for Christmas and Easter. Beginning now gives us an opportunity to focus on the real meaning of the season before the consumer culture ramps up to a pre-Christmas frenzy.
Over the weekend I completed my new Celtic-themed contemplative garden which now sits beside me as a focus for my morning meditations and a reminder to pause and pray at intervals throughout the day. I also pulled out my set of Celtic prayer cards which I will use as prayer prompts each morning. As well as that I intend to revisit Brenda Griffin Warren’s wonderful online pilgrimage Celts to the Creche that provides a Celtic saint to walk us through each of the 40 days of Advent. Tonight as part of our community meeting we will light our beautiful oil lamp and small tea lights (adapted from Lilly’s Corporate Advent Wreath idea), and share some of our Celtic prayers. We will perform a similar ritual each week throughout the Advent season, possibly adding some Celtic drawing or rock painting one week. I look forward to this fun way to celebrate our extended Advent season.
This is such a rich and beautiful way to begin Advent and set our hearts intentionally towards our celebration of the birth of Christ. But it does require a great deal of intentionality. As you can imagine my Celtic-themed garden did not just emerge. Over this last week I spent quite a few hours dreaming, imagining and then creating my garden. As usual I used mainly recycled supplies, pulling out some of my favourite Celtic crosses and painted rocks, including the beautiful Celtic cross painted by Joyce Winthrow at one of my Celtic workshops. I loved incorporating the driftwood and small plants, then at the last minute inserted the owl planter. These all reminded me of the Celtic love of creation and their belief that creation is translucent and the glory of God shines through it. Gazing at my garden and reminding myself of that brings a smile to my face every time.
The Celts approached God with awe, reverence and wonder–but also saw God as an essentially human figure intimately involved in all creation and engaged in a dynamic relationship with it. This interweaving of intimacy and mystery embraced the Trinity as a family and each family unit–be it family, clan, or tribe–was seen as an icon of the Trinity. The Trinity was a very real presence in all aspects of life and creation, and an almost tangible comforter and protector who could ward off evil forces, as we see in this simple prayer.
Three folds of the cloth yet only one napkin is there,
Three joints in the finger, but still only one finger fair,
Three leaves of the shamrock, yet no more than one shamrock to wear,
Frost, snow-flakes and ice, all in water their origin share,
Three persons in God, to one God alone we make prayer.
I love the Celtic belief that only a thin veil separates this world from the next. They took seriously Hebrews 12:1 “Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses” and had an almost physical sense of the great company of heaven which surrounded God, embracing not just saints and friends who had died but the whole host of angels and other heavenly powers. When you raised your eyes to heaven you raised them to a vast host. The Celtic Christian at prayer was consciously a member of the great company that stretched from the persons of the Trinity through the powerful angelic throngs to the risen saints. They were regarded very much as friends and companions in this world and addressed almost as one would neighbours or members of the family.
Scottish theologian Prof John Macquarrie observed that ‘the Celt was very much a God-intoxicated person whose life was embraced on all sides by the divine Being.” I long for that same intoxication and intimacy with God, which is one of the reasons I am so enarmoured of the Celtic saints who thrived in the fifth to eleventh centuries.
I pray that you too are desiring this intimate and intoxicating presence of God this Advent. I suggest you take time today to prayerfully consider how you could encourage this to happen as you walk through Advent this year.
Watch John O’Donohue read his beautiful blessing BEANNACHT and sit in silence considering how you could enter into Advent today. Is there a prayer or Celtic symbol you could use as a daily prompt? Is there something you could create to help you focus? What new commitment is God asking of you today?
Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin THIS Saturday, November 20th 9:30-12:30 PST (check my timezone) for an interactive, multi-sensory, creative retreat focused on the WONDER OF ADVENT! This retreat will be LIVE via zoom, but if you are unable to join live, you can sign up to watch the recording and participate later! Come with a creative heart, be inspired, have fun, and reconnect with the WONDER of the season. And did you know? If you have purchased a course from us before, we offer a discount. We also offer a group discount for groups over 5. Email us to get the code!
Today’s contemplative Taize style service from St Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle. Enjoy!
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“Maker Song” Music and lyrics by Kester Limner, 2019
Shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“La Ténèbre” Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756.
“On Christ the Solid Rock” Public domain hymn, arrangement and additional verse by Kester Limner
Shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“Kyrie” Text by Kester Limner, music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY)
“in Silence We Wait” Text and Music by Susan Masters
Copyright and all rights reserved by Augsburg Fortress Press
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756.
Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org
photos and writing by Melissa Taft
My favorite season is autumn. There is a richness of beauty amongst the gathered bouquets of jewel-hued trees; every year the leaves return in fiery embers and golden strands that keep cheer defiant against darkening skies. Before the cozy sleep of soil and sun, the streets and yards where I live become papered with a patchwork quilt of purple and orange. My Japanese maple turns from russet to electric red. It’s so bright that when the light catches, it glows. The spectacular display draws my eyes up, then reminds me to slow down and let the dead things fall away–even in the fading of the old, there is new life and loveliness.
I find much to be thankful for during this season, and over the years have enjoyed incorporating the colors and themes of autumn into gratitude practices. One of my favorite ways to do this is to create Trees of Thanksgiving. Often in November I will start a list of things to be thankful for each day, and sometimes I have recorded these things on leaves that I display. Sometimes I use this as a countdown to Thanksgiving, other times I go the whole month. And sometimes, I find ways to incorporate both ‘thanks’ and ‘giving’ into the adventure–often including others.
One year when my two children were small, we were part of a larger homeschooling program that brought bonding with a group of families. Over shared meals and talents, we parents curated community events and craft projects. My contribution that year was to create a tree of Thanks and Giving. Little hands were traced, and then cut out shapes of hands and hearts, brown construction paper pieced together into trunks and branches, and a sign to guide the community. I set up opportunities to give, such as a box to donate food. When gifts were given or received, they were recorded on the hands. When a reason for being grateful was found, it was recorded on a heart. By the end of November, our humble little tree was covered in preschooler hieroglyphs, neat cursive, and various pictures and writings expressing gratitude and gifts. Friends or a community participating in gratitude goals can accomplish mighty things!
For many years, my church participated in a thanksgiving meal program. Several years in a row, they hung up a tree of some kind and placed the food needs for the meal baskets on leaves that we were encouraged to adopt. It was very exciting to see the full tree divested of leaves and the baskets under it filled with food for hungry bellies! Corporate trees of gratitude and giving can be encouraging expressions of God’s love in us and through us.
But my personal favorite Trees of Thanksgiving have been the ones created in my home. I’ve often included my little family in my gratitude practice of naming at least one thing a day to be thankful for. Sometimes we did this in a list, but it was always a lot more fun to make a craft project to display. I so enjoy bringing the ephemeral beauty of autumn inside, and my kids enjoyed creating art. We have made posters, we’ve pressed leaves and words and crayon shavings between wax paper to display on our sliding glass door, and one particular year I came up with a plan to both express gratitude and encourage my now teenage offspring.
Lashing some fallen branches together with decorative twine, I secured my ‘tree’ in a vase filled with decorative rocks. I cut out leaves from leftover scrapbook paper, counting out the days until Thanksgiving so that each of the four of us would have one leaf per day, then writing down an initial on each leaf. The weekend before November started, I divvied up the leaves so that each of us had an equal amount and tasked them to come up with reasons to be grateful for those named. This was done in secret; no one knew what was being written about them. I gathered the leaves, then each day in November added one leaf per family member. Four little leaves suspended on a twig, representing a weekend’s worth of heart work. Each branch represented a day until Thanksgiving.
And thus, every day a new reason someone was appreciated appeared. A little love note of gratitude from father to child and child to father, or sibling to sibling, or mother. A mix of silly and sweet, surprising and deep. When the branches were full, and our Thanksgiving meal finished, we took down the leaves for each to keep, and each read out loud the 20 odd things that someone in the family appreciated about them. I still have these treasures. After all, as lovely as it is to let things go, my favorite pieces of autumn remain with me always.
‘Tis the season to celebrate the Reason–the Light of the World born in a humble manger. Explore Advent and Christmas alongside Christine Sine and others in one of our Advent devotionals, bundled with beautiful Prayer Cards! Waiting for the Light: An Advent Journal + Prayer Cards is more than a devotional; it is a complete guide to the Advent and Christmas season, providing liturgies, weekly activities, and daily reflections to equip and nourish us all through the season. Lean Towards the Light This Advent & Christmas is our newest resource, perfect for the times we are living in, and comes in several bundles, including downloadable forms and bundles that include a journal to enrich your quiet time. A Journey Toward Home: Soul Travel from Advent to Lent + Prayer Cards approaches the rich seasons of Advent to Lent playfully, yet with yearning and determination, providing daily reflections from many theological and cultural perspectives, shared family activities, and recipes that will enrich the season for all seekers. All these Advent resources and more can be found in our shop.
photos and writings by June Friesen
As I prepared to write this post, I decided to do some research on the internet first. I was fascinated to learn that it was the result of a worldwide convention in Toyko, Japan in 1997. Another little detail I picked up is – it is usually celebrated with the sharing of yellow flowers with others, hence please enjoy the photos from my collection of yellow flowers.
The reason for World Kindness Day is detailed by the World Kindness Movement: “To highlight good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness which binds us.” (copied from Days of the Year – World Kindness Day.)
I find it interesting that Toyko is the origin of the first discussion of this practice of kindness. In 1989 I had the privilege of spending three weeks in Toyko as a part of a homestay exchange program. One of the things that impressed me was the incredible kindness of people. I remember so vividly the importance of everyone making sure I had everything I needed. One family had a notebook with Japanese sentences translated into English as they knew little English and I knew little Japanese. This to me is a great picture/illustration of how we should treat each other without making excuses. It should not matter what language one speaks, what country one lives in, or what country one comes from, or the color of one’s skin, what occupation one has, or whether one is poor or rich. When we go to the Scriptures we are encouraged to ‘love others as God has loved each one of us.’ I am reminded of one of the first Bible verses I ever learned as a child:
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
The Message translation reads: 31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. I included both verses from the Message as I believe that it is a good explanation between how one is kind and how one is unkind.
Colossians 3:12-14 (The Message)
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
As I have considered these verses as well as some readings on kindness I reflect on the contrast of kindness and unkindness. I realize that there are those of us who are called to different walks of life that bring us into contact with many different kinds of people and many different kinds of situations. When I first met my husband 53 years ago, I became aware pretty quickly of his tender, compassionate heart for people. During our 4 years of dating before marriage, of which two separated us by over 2,000 miles, he challenged me at times about my actions and words. You see I had grown up with sarcasm being ‘normal’ and I also caught and adopted a very judgmental attitude from my home/family and religious life through my childhood and school age years. After we were married and we were immediately active in the church he had been attending, I began to learn that kindness was a more acceptable way of reaching people with the love of Jesus. Oh, there were times when Jesus and I had to have what I now call ‘Come to Jesus’ talks when I was frustrated or angry or confused…..but patience on God’s part and especially patient teaching, caring and forgiveness on my husband’s part helped me learn what it really was to practice kindness and forgiveness like God has done for me. So, if you are discouraged today or find yourself saying – ‘There are just people I cannot be kind to’ or ‘why should I be kind after what someone said/did to me’ – I was there and I have changed. Am I perfect at it all the time – no; but I continue to seek God’s forgiveness when I fail, and then move forward, sometimes with baby steps, sometimes with just one or two steps at a time….but trusting God to help me and He has and does. I would also like to say here before I go on that there are situations where we need to remove ourselves; if someone is abusing us and/or others and is unwilling to change one may need to sever that relationship. I believe that God also wants us to be kind to ourselves.
THE KINDNESS OF THE SUN SHINE/ SON SHINE
As I ponder the beauty of the yellow flowers around me,
I cannot help but feel my spirit warmed as if by the sun;
The yellow rose invites one to breathe deeply its sweetness
Just as the Spirit invites one to breathe deeply Its presence –
Aaaahhhhhhhhhh……
Allow the sweetness, the freshness bathe your inner spirit
With cooling peace and gentle love……..
As I ponder the beauty of the sunflower(s) upon my pathway,
What wonder they bring to my spirit,
I see them dancing as the breeze trickles through the field,
I see them continually slowly moving always to embrace the sun,
I see the bees playing within their blossoms gathering pollen
As well as scattering pollen from one flower to the other
Providing that necessary cross-pollination relationship necessary for seed to grow.
I see the many other yellow flowers along my pathway –
The gladiolas, the daisies, snapdragons, and so many more
All delightfully displaying their beauty in the world
Calling to me – come and ‘be with us’ a moment or two….
Let us kindle a warming kindness within you dear friend,
To carry and share in the world where you will be this day.
Yes, God calls us through His beautiful creation to come…..
To see with our eyes His beauty around us,
To hear with our ears His cheerful sounds of birds, rippling waters, and fluttering wings,
To feel the gentle breeze touching us with peace,
To taste the purity of the air as we open our mouth to inhale a breath,
To touch the flower petal, the tree leaf, the blade of grass, the fur of an animal,
To embrace this full circle of kindness around us with our senses –
Ahhhhhhh………
Kindness embraced is kindness received –
Kindness received is kindness to share –
Let us go forward into this day and every day –
Doing kind deeds and blessing the world.
Amen.
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!
I’m working on a series for Advent this year for thinplaceNASHVILLE that I’m calling “RECEIVE THE GIFT.”
God is giving us gifts along the way as we prepare for the arrival of the ultimate gift, Jesus.
The first thing we want to do is to make sure we don’t miss the gift!
Advent is the beginning of the church year, so we start a new gospel and this year it’s the gospel of Luke.
We begin the gospel of Luke learning about Zechariah and Elizabeth, the aunt and uncle of Jesus, the parents of John the Baptist.
Let’s read Luke 1: 5-25 ( and you can read it in other translations HERE)
LUKE 1: 5-25 THE MESSAGE
5-7 During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old.
8-12 It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.
13-15 But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.
15-17 “He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”
18 Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”
19-20 But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”
21-22 Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and couldn’t speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people.
23-25 When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home. It wasn’t long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. “So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!” she said.
Zechariah almost missed the gift because he wasn’t ready for it. He thought he was too old. He had given up on his dream. He wasn’t expecting the Angel Gabriel.
What dream have you almost given up on? What things are you thinking you are too late for in your life? How might God surprise you? Are you willing to ask?
WHAT things are keeping you from receiving the GIFT this year? Fear, anxiety, busyness, exhaustion, frustration…what else? Talk to Jesus about this.
God gives Zechariah a different Gift while he waits…He gets the gift of SILENCE. What do you think he learned from this? What do you think he learned in the Silence? What if you tried more silence as you waited on the Gift of Jesus this Advent? How can you add SILENCE into your Advent season? How might this help you receive the Gift of Jesus and prepare your heart?
Zechariah got to go into the Temple and light the incense, a rare gift, a special honor. When have you experienced a rare honor from God? Remember and reflect on a time when you were given an opportunity to do something for God that you didn’t expect…or a time when you knew the “thing” was a true gift from God. TAKE TIME TO REMEMBER AND THANK GOD FOR THIS GIFT!
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ALTAR OF INCENSE HERE
Who in your life might be missing the GIFT like Zechariah? TAKE TIME to pray for people who might be missing the GIFT of JESUS this year. Ask Jesus to show you how you can share the love of Jesus with these folks in the coming weeks.
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)
Archangel Gabriel struck dumb Zachariah – Alexander Ivanov Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
If you’d like a PDF of this gathering, or to learn more about thinplaceNASHVILLE, please email me at freerangeworship@gmail.com
**Main art piece “The Angel Appearing to Zacharias” by William Blake 1799-1800
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
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Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin on Saturday, November 20th 9:30-12:30 PST (check my timezone) for an interactive, multi-sensory, creative retreat focused on the WONDER OF ADVENT! This retreat will be LIVE via zoom, but if you are unable to join live, you can sign up to watch the recording and participate later! Come with a creative heart, be inspired, have fun, and reconnect with the WONDER of the season. And did you know? If you have purchased a course from us before, we offer a discount. We also offer a group discount for groups over 5. Email us to get the code!
by Rodney Marsh
“I thank you God for the gift of life, a wondrous gift so freely given”
“Open my heart and fill my life with tenderness.”
In her Sept 20 blog Christine introduced a “season of gratitude” by sharing her new mantra “I thank you God for the gift of life, a wondrous gift so freely given”. Christine said, “each morning as I sit in my sacred space with my cup of tea in my hand, I recite these words and relish the thoughts that come to me. I am amazed at what has welled up from the centre of my being. God has placed so many gratitudes within me that need to be expressed.” Here I wish to look at the use of a ‘prayer word(s)’ or mantra.
The Sanskrit word “mantra” combines two words: ‘mind’ and ‘tool’. This reveals that a word or saying can be used as a tool to concentrate our scattered, distracted, erratic minds and bring our body, heart and mind into union and communion. Words, like those Christine recited, are learned by heart then experienced in the heart. Like poetry. Words, used as a means of communication, necessarily have a shared, defined and limited meaning; but when words begin to live in our heart and not just our head communication becomes communion. When one heart communes with another the words live and grow to have infinite depth and meaning. Prayer words, said with love and repeated, descend from the head to the heart where they live and grow. From there the Spirit of Jesus will begin a lifelong transformation.
I used one such mantra when I was, in a school context, working with 12-18-year-olds. In 2019, I used a daily Middle and Senior Schools’ class reflection which combined a reading from Luke’s Gospel with stillness and silence using this mantra/affirmation/prayer: “Open my heart and fill my life with tenderness.”
The origin of this mantra is to be found in Dr. Kent Hoffman’s TEDx talk (here) about his work with homeless teenage girls, aged 13-15. These girls had given birth and wanted to be ‘good’ mums, but were struggling. They had, understandably, a poor self-image. They could not see themselves as loved or loveable and it was difficult for them to tolerate, let alone meet, the demands of a baby. These girls are, in reality, like us all – deeply significant, loved and valued persons. They did not, however, feel significant or valued. Being valued was not part of their experience of life. Others told them “you are worthless/a failure” etc. So, their own minds constantly repeated an internal mantra: “You are worthless.” It was this mantra that descended from their heads to their hearts and began to yield its bitter fruit in their lives.
One strategy Dr. Hoffman recommended was a Daily Presence Practice: “Upon awakening, say something like: “Deeper than any happiness or suffering I will experience this day, I am held with Tenderness” (You do not have to currently believe this).” I shared and discussed Dr. Hoffman’s talk with the senior students and it quickly became clear that there exists an urgent need for this Holding Tenderness to be experienced in their frenetic, fragmented lives too. Indeed, we all need “to know ourselves to be lovable and allow ourselves to be loved” (John Main) and a mantra is one way of discovering the communion of prayer in which we experience love. This is not new knowledge, but it is urgent that this mode of prayer be taught by the church in the world.
It was Dr. Hoffman’s assurance that “you do not have to currently believe this” that attracted me. Why don’t you have to believe it? The reason must be that, whether you believe it or not, the reality is that you are held with tenderness. Tenderness underlies and infuses all reality. The feeling “I am worthless” is unreality. “I am loved” is reality, and, “unreality has no power over reality” (John Main). The good news is that the deep-down tenderness that is at the centre of all reality is also at the heart of each person’s life.
It is faith that enables us to know that we are always held with tenderness. It is prayer that enables us to know tenderness in our experience and a ‘mantra’ prayer such as the ones above is one way to begin to allow that tenderness to hold us and thanksgiving to rise within us. However, a mantra is not magic nor are the words magic. Jesus said that if we seek to save our life we will lose it and if the ‘words’ of the mantra are said with the intent to wrest something from God (eg; a feeling of thankfulness or tenderness) for our advantage a mantra will turn to dust. However, if, when saying a mantra, we give up our ‘life’ (as Jesus said) then a mantra enables us to discover our life in Jesus, who is already praying in our heart. A mantra reminds us that to experience thanksgiving, tenderness or any other gift from God, we must stop doing and start being who we are in God’s wonderful world.
Remember – God ALWAYS hears the prayer of a sincere heart and the Holy Spirit only needs us to open the door to our hearts just a crack for her to enter and begin her loving transformation.
Sit still, breathe quietly and say under your breath:
“I thank you God for the gift of life, a wondrous gift so freely given”
“Open my heart and fill my life with tenderness.”
Perhaps more now than ever, Awe and Wonder are important practices for a thriving life. Follow along with Christine in her latest book as she explores what childlike characteristics shape us into the people God intends us to be. Be encouraged to develop fresh spiritual practices that engage all our senses and help us to live a new kind of spiritual life that embraces the wonder and joy that God intends for us.
“Can you imagine a God who dances with shouts of joy, laughs when you laugh, loves to play, enjoys life, and invites us to join the fun?”
For many years, I dreaded the seasons of autumn and winter. I objected to the denuding of trees and the harsh cold; the dark days and the long nights. I held onto my discomfort for dear life-like leaves that should have surrendered to the ground long before the first frost.
In those days, I wondered if creation felt pain as she watched her leaves turn from green to the brilliance of color fading to brown and then falling to the ground? I wondered if creation suffered like I did as I watched her cycle through birth, growth, decay, dying, death?
I had a change of mind and heart when I discovered Celtic spirituality. The Celtic worldview has helped me to appreciate the natural flow of darkness and light, cold and heat. As I tuned into the changing seasons of the year, I came to see these cycles as natural and began surrendering to both creation and the similar changes taking place in my own body and life. Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest, I find it a joy to follow the lunar and tidal cycles and celebrate the ebb and flow of life.
Winter has taken on a whole new meaning as I now understand that it is not a season where everything dies but regenerates. I give myself permission to regenerate as well. For me winter is really Sabbath—a gift to savor.
Winter Sabbath
During this season of gestation, I am incubating and in discernment wondering what is yearning to be born now that I am retired. I am holding a quote by Joseph Campbell who wrote, “You must be willing to leave the life that you planned in order to find the one waiting for you.”
I look for the divine light in all things. That is not to say that I am loss, grief, and pain-free, any more than all of us living through this ongoing pandemic and poverty of both of body and Spirit. Yet, rather than giving in to fear and resisting what is, I try to surrender, daily in prayer and meditation to a divine grace who is beyond my understanding, but always there, loving and standing watch with me. I practice what Teilhard de Chardin called, “trusting in the slow work of God.”
As we move into the coming holy seasons of Advent and Christmas, perhaps your daily practice might include meeting and praying with God in and through creation. Perhaps taking an extended Sabbath will enable you to discover new soul seeds asking to be nurtured. Perhaps you will deepen your practice of witnessing the presence and light of God in all things.
In a book called The Circle of Life, by Joyce Rupp & Macrina Wiederkehr, I echo their invitation, “This winter let this become your prayer, “I am the one for whom God waits! I am awaiting the One who is awaiting me! Embrace the season of winter with hope. It is a good teacher. It will lead you to your inmost depths where God is contemplating you.”
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*** 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!!
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