The entire Christmas story is about Interruptions… and how people responded to these God gifts of interruption.
Think about the interruptions you’ve had in your life in 2020. There have probably been a lot of them!
Make a list.
How can these be seen as GIFTS rather than just frustrations and pains? Read Luke 1:26-38 and consider the gift of interruption Mary received.
LUKE 1: 26-38 THE MESSAGE
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary.
Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you. She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.
He will be great, be called ‘Son of the Highest. ’ The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob’s house forever— no end, ever, to his kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”
The angel answered,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; Therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God.
“And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.”
And Mary said,
Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.
Then the angel left her.
READ this in OTHER Translations
The Annunciation
How did Mary’s life change after she had the encounter with the angel, her gift of interruption?
What if Mary hadn’t said yes? She was willing to have her whole life disrupted by God. How about you?
Are you willing to receive the gift of interruption? Are you wiling to allow God to interrupt your plans, your ways, your hopes? And even your dreams? Are you willing to allow God to interrupt you?
Are we willing to be willing? Talk to Jesus about how you view interruptions.
Consider how God has interrupted you this past year? How has this changed/affected your life?
Mary visits Elizabeth
Read the rest of Luke 1 and the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. How were their lives interrupted? How was this a gift to each of them?
What have been the gifts you’ve received from the interruptions of 2020? Talk to Jesus about these interruptions.
At the end of Luke 1, after the Angel’s Interruption, Mary goes to see Elizabeth for comfort and understanding. Who has helped you during this crazy season of Covid-19? Who are the people who have been your gifts in 2020? Spend some time thanking Jesus for them. Take time to send them a note or make a phone call to thank them!
Find a Christmas Bow or a gift box to use as a reminder to be grateful for the interruptions. Place the Bow or the Gift Box where you can see it on a regular basis as a reminder that God is with you in the interruptions! And that God is still at work even in these unlikely gifts!
Gift of Peace
More ways to RECEIVE THE GIFT this ADVENT.
Take time to receive Advent, make time to receive these days before Christmas a gift… you might put a gift box or wrapped present in the center of your dining room table or on your coffee table or a small gift box on your desk to remind you that these days before Christmas are gift to be enjoyed and treasured. Use that gift as a symbol of this gift of Advent and as a representation of your willingness to receive the gift of interruption this year and the gift of Jesus.
Set aside a specific time each day to thank God for the gifts God has given you in that day. You could set your phone alarm with a reminder “today is a gift remember to receive it!” You can text your friends and family with that message too.
Each person in the Christmas story received the gift of Jesus in a different way… as a community or family prayer exercise you can write down and/or run off the names of people from the nativity story (everyone from Mary and Joseph, their parents, the shepherds and innkeeper and guests, to the Magi , Zechariah and Elizabeth and even King Herod). Write or copy these names on small pieces of paper and fold them in half. Place these names in a Nativity Scene, or better yet an Empty Stable for a Manger Scene. Ask each person in your group to take a name and carry it with them during this season of Advent, between now and Christmas. Allow God to show them how this person received the gift of Jesus. Ask God to show you how this person changed as a result of this gift of interruption, and allow God to open your life/heart to change and growth as you receive the gift of Jesus too.
Receive the Gift
Until December 14th, our prayer cards and online courses are on sale! Both make great Christmas presents. We are delighted to offer these to you at a discounted price during this season. We will ship the prayer cards for you to the address you provide, so no need to deal with the post office lines! Additional discounts may be available for bulk orders, please email us if you are interested!
- Our Advent Retreat Online experience offers 90 days of access to move through at your own pace.
- The Gift of Wonder Online Retreat include 180 days of access so you can begin after the holiday season.
- Spirituality of Gardening Online Course is a great course to begin now as December and January are the dreaming months for the garden in the Northern Hemisphere. You will receive 180 days of access upon purchase.
These courses make great gifts as well! Here is how to gift a course:
- Click on the course page you wish to gift.
- Click “Purchase” button
- Create an account using the email of the person to whom you are gifting and password.
- Input your payment information.
- The recipient of the course will receive an email letting them know they are enrolled. Be sure to share the password you created with them!
by guest writer Bettina Schuller, all images by Bettina Schuller
Glory to thee, Thou glorious sun, Face of the God of life. —Traditional Celtic prayer
Every year I look forward to Advent. I still remember those quiet Sunday afternoons of my childhood in Germany when the Advent wreath candles were burning and my mother and I would sing Christmas songs. It grew dark early in Northern Germany and we would sit together for hours, singing, praying, enjoying the silent moments, while gazing at the light of the flickering candles.
I miss the peace and joy of my childhood Advent. Every year, I promise myself to create quiet time during this season and connect with God in a deeper way.
This year I will celebrate a quiet Advent and lean every morning towards THE Light to come. More than any other year, we need to lean into the Light and also discover the light within ourselves.
If you are like me, having a daily morning routine is essential and I created a beautiful morning ritual for this time. Since I relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1989, my childhood memories are not easy to replicate in the warmth of the sunny Florida afternoons.
Let me take you into the beautiful light of my sunrise mornings:
I get up around 5:30 am, when it is still dark. With a cup of green tea, I watch the darkness turn into light, slowly but with assurance that with every minute the light will become brighter. Still in the dark, I light a candle and I breathe deeply into the new day and say my breath prayer: “I am the light of the world.”
I invite you to my Breath Praying Pause and to come into the presence of God right now:
Praying Pause
You are the light of the world. …let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:14-15
~Breathe a calm and slow breath in… and out… You are the Light of the world…
~Breathe in… I am a light… breathe out…in this world… stay with this for a few breaths…
~Breathe in… I am shining… breathe out…I am shining… stay with this for a few breaths…
~Breathe in with a smile… I am a light… breathe out with a smile… I am shining… smiling… shining…
~Breathe in God’s Light within you and all around you…
Nothing can dim the Light that shines from within. —Maya Angelou
As I see the light getting brighter, I put on my walking shoes and drive down to the water to watch the sunrise. I am blessed to be able to watch the sunrise over open water.
Every morning is different and reminds me that beauty is as variable as life itself. Some mornings the sky is clear and the sunrise is completely visible from the first red glow to its full round beauty. Other mornings, it is cloudy and the sun peeks out behind a layer of clouds and goes back into another layer of clouds as soon as it is risen. Sometimes the sky is completely overcast and the sun cannot be seen at all, but I know that the sun rises every day whether I can see it or not.
Can you imagine what life would be like if the sunrise looked the same every morning? We would not appreciate it as much or know the beauty in diversity.
The sunrise is a wonderful metaphor for God’s work in our lives. Sometimes we can see God’s work clearly, while at other times it is hidden behind a cloud of pain, to peek out again when we least expect it. As surely as we know that the sun rises every day, we can also be sure that God is present in our lives every moment—whether we can feel it or not.
A quote from Anthony De Mello comes to my mind as I am breathing deeply and with gratitude:
“Is there anything I can do to make myself Enlightened?”
“As little as you can do to make the sun rise in the morning.”
“Then of what use are the spiritual exercises you prescribe?”
“To make sure you are not asleep when the sun begins to rise.”
- If you enjoyed the Praying Pause, please join my Facebook group: This is Living. Practicing the Presence of God.
- You can also find me at my website.
- You can find my book: This is Living. Practicing the Presence of God. A Prayer and Mediation Guide for Daily Life on Amazon.
I am filled with gratitude and love as I connect with you during this special time and I pray that the Light of Christ will illumine your Advent season 2020!
Bettina’s Bio
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By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:78-79)
Advent recalls the story of a weary world longing for hope and for freedom, and how God came to us right here in this world, in flesh, in the form of a little child. Advent calls us to reflect on the truth that when our lives are most impoverished, when it seems that all possibilities lie fallow and hope is dim, God draws close to us.
2020 has been a year that has certainly tested our courage and our hope. So many of the folks with whom I talk each week carry a weariness of soul and a weightiness of grief that stems from so much change and so much loss. This year we are limping into Advent with a new level of thirst and hunger on so many levels and in so many ways.
In truth, it has been sobering to watch the mile-long lines of cars as families await meals from food banks. It’s hard to see the tears of medical personnel who comfort those who are dying alone, isolated from their loved ones. It’s difficult to hear of the thousands who are losing their homes. It’s been challenging to socially distance well, when our hearts are dying for connection. It’s heartbreaking to watch so many funerals online. We grasp at any crumb of normalcy we can get—our turkey dinners, the deals on Black Friday, the strange sports schedules, a favorite singer offering a concert on Facebook. We want things to get better, to get back to “normal” and for life to go on as it should have been. Conversely, we may lower our eyes in denial, especially if our lives have not been as deeply disrupted as other’s have been. Even so, our longing hearts groan during the wait for this to get better.
But can this painful longing be a gift? Could it be that what we truly long for is finally rising to the surface? Do we dare stay awake to it?
Throughout scripture we see that suffering reveals what is most deeply true in the human heart. I believe that what is being awakened in this time is a hunger and thirst for righteousness— that is, for a weary, fragmented world to be set right.
And it is the same longing that is in God’s own heart for us, and that is reflected in the inaugural words of Jesus:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
We long for the new world in which those who have been forgotten over and over again are given the finest seat at the banquet table, where those crushed by the traumas of life and sin can be free, and where wealth and power do not presume to deserve the most honor nor to have the last word, rather, a world where they, too, can finally see a new way of being. We long for Jubilee. Ultimately, it is a longing for God. If there were no God, this sad world would be acceptable to us just as it is. But by the grace of God, in our hearts we know it is not.
And so, the Spirit continues to speak Good News over the earth. We have seen the pattern all throughout the scripture—God continues to bring forth new life into places of loss and brokenness, and we can trust that something new is coming forth now. Therefore, now is the time to enter our Advent work more earnestly than ever as we take a fearless inventory of the darkness. Now we let our deep longing break through our grief and numbness to open us to the new world that God is creating among us. Now we awaken to our addiction to comfort and a status quo, to our selfishness and blindness. Now, let us allow the hunger and thirst for righteousness to open us to renewal and transformation, that we may truly be the people who exude Good News, people who are the light of the world and bearers of Living Water, as Jesus foretold. Now, let us draw courage to enter into this new world unfettered by our creature comforts, rejoicing in the tender mercy of our God, for now, we act in accordance with God’s future, the one for which we truly long.
For indeed the night, the darkness, is holy. It readies us for the coming of the Dawn from on high.
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born.
O night, O holy night, O night divine.
Amen, God is with us.
by Diane Woodrow, photo above is the View across Dublin, sunrise March 2016 taken by Diane Woodrow
The days are getting shorter, darker, wetter and colder as they lollop towards the end of the year. It is a time when we should be slowing down and reflecting on the year. If we tapped into our pre-industrialisation roots, this was the time when our ancestors in the North would stay home and wait, wait to see if the sun would rise again, if the days would get longer or whether things would just get darker and darker. Sounds a bit familiar that – wondering if it is just going to get darker and darker? Solstice means “sun stands still” and it is almost as if the sun is thinking about whether it will start to climb again, in fact. But 4 days later, it appears that the sun decides to stay around for longer, which is why Celtic Christians pick 25th December as the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth so show that when there is a fear of darkness fully encroaching over the world the Son of God came to turn back the darkness. It was also a way of showing Jesus to be the fulfilment of a pagan festival.
Our bodies still remember this but we fight against the natural reaction of our bodies with our warm centrally heated, light houses, and the commercial extravaganza that this season has become. Even in Church we make it into a busy time and a buying time.
In “normal” times I would be at my wits end at this time of year planning Christmas plays where I never seemed to get the cast until the day before, planning a nativity skit with 2 or 3 close friends who “got it”, as well as planning trips off to see friends and family down south and who was coming up to visiting us. Much more into my 21st Century busy boots rather than my ancient roots.
I am a planner who doesn’t like plans which means that I start my Christmas planning around October. I make lists that I then leave all over the house on the kitchen table, on the notice board, in my study, in my pockets; lists for this Christmas play and the skit and for other things I would have been roped into in church; lists for presents I think I should be buying; lists for the food I wanted to get for the “big day”; a timetabled list of our trip south.
I buy my Advent books, which this year is Christine Sine’s Lean Towards the Light this Advent & Christmas, which I bought ages ago, and has been sat on the arm of my sofa so I don’t forgot to use it, looking battered and tired, and I’ve signed up for a couple of Advent writing courses. Then because I don’t like plans, I’d lie in bed and worry about the play, the shopping, etc but not get things done.
Of course, this year we don’t know if we are going to be able to see any friends or family because of Covid rules. The weather is too unpredictable and days so short, meeting outside will be difficult. Church can’t have lots of people in it so there’s no Christmas plays. I can’t go rushing round shops or Christmas markets buying things for people who probably don’t want them anyway! [Note: gift giver is very low in my love languages!] Should I get lots of food? Will anyone be coming to visit us? I know my kids are hoping to but…
My body is feeling sluggish and unmotivated, which have be to do with Covid rules and guideline, or could be because I can’t get out much because my ribs aren’t mending as fast as I would like. I’m sure they are mending as fast as they think best. But I do wonder if this year I am accepting my ancient roots more because of the restrictions, because I have had to slow down, had to spend more time inside just resting and thinking. At this time of year, our ancestors would be resting from the busyness of harvesting and the preserving of the harvest; salting, pickling, bottling, making into wines, etc.
Maybe winter is a time to feel a bit low, to hibernate, and to ponder whether this year the sun will forget to shine and things just will get darker and darker. Perhaps this year, God is saying that we all need to accept that feeling of lowness, examine its origins, to not try to rush around making it go away and trying to make things like they were last year. Maybe we need to hunker down and pray that the sun will rise again, that the light will return and that in the coming year as the days increase so will our energy, our productivity, our joy. And that the darkness will flee.
by Christine Sine
Who is your favourite New Testament figure? Mine is the apostle John and he is one I think a lot about at this time of year. The transformation that occurs in him throughout the gospel story is remarkable. We are introduced to him as a son of thunder, but in the end, he becomes the apostle of love. He is transformed by the example and love of Christ and that gives me more hope than anything else I read about in the gospel story.
I think we often forget about this radical transformation that seems to have occurred in his character and one of our few clues to that transformation is our knowledge that he was “the disciple that Jesus dearly loved” (John 13:23). It’s one of those almost throw away lines that holds so much meaning. Because he was dearly loved by Jesus, he could be transformed. In 1 John 4:11, John himself calls us “delightfully loved ones” (TPT) and I wonder if as he says that he is fondly remembering his own transformative journey and the love of Jesus that made it possible. In my head, I hear John saying: “You are all dearly loved disciples of Jesus and are all capable of that same transformation.” What a hope-filled message this season of Advent holds for us.
As we look towards the birth of Christ this year, it seems as though we all need to think long and hard about the radical transformation into apostles of love that God still wants to bring about in our lives and our world. The possibilities are so remarkable, and so hope-giving. This year has uncovered so much hate and so much chaos. Yet, transformation is possible. The seeds of Christ’s love planted within us can be birthed and grown.
7 Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him. 8 The one who doesn’t love has yet to know God, for God is love. 9 The light of God’s love shined within us when he sent his matchless Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins.
11 Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life! 12 No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us. (1 John 4:7-12 TPT)
I am constantly awed by the depth of God’s love, never more obvious than at this season. It is now that we are invited to enter fully into the love of God as we celebrate the birth of Christ. In the baby Jesus, love is being birthed into our world wanting to make a permanent home in us. The wonder of the Christmas story is not just of a baby born 2,000 years ago. It is the wonder of love being birthed once more, in us, today, in the midst of the hate and the chaos of our world. It is the wonder of love becoming a way of life for us just as it became for the apostle John.
Take some time to reflect on the impact that the love of God has had in your life. How has it transformed you and your ways of interacting with the world? How has it enabled loving one another to become a way of life for you?
Watch this fun video below and allow God to speak to you of new aspects of that love that God wants to birth in you this Christmas.
Each Sunday I love to start the day with the beautiful contemplative services provided by St Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle. In this season of Advent, I begin by lighting the appropriate candles and sitting back to enjoy the refreshing beauty of these services. I hope that you too will take time to refresh yourself with this contemplative offering.
A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the Second Sunday of Advent. 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.
“Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus” – was written for The University Of Notre Dame Folk Choir by Steven C. Warner, released on the album “Prophets of Joy.” Copyright 1996 World Library Publications.
“Within Our Darkest Night (Dans Nos Obscurites) – Taize song by J. Berthier — copyright 1991, all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé.
“Watching, Waiting, Hoping,” and “Kyrie for December 6” – music and Lyrics by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
“When He Cometh” (Jewels) – public domain hymn, written in 1856 by William Orcutt Cushing, who was a Methodist minister and advocate for the education of blind children. Originally, the lyrics were written as “make up His jewels”, but my mother always sang it to me as “take up”, so that’s how I sing it. I like the image of God collecting his scattered treasures, like the woman seeking the lost coin in Luke 15. –Kester
“Prophetic Indigenous Voices on the Planetary Crisis” is being promoted in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion and emerges from Anglican communities. We use the Maori & Polynesian Lord’s Prayer each week, from The New Zealand Prayer Book. The Anglican Maori community is featured in the first webinar. You can view it here
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