by Christine Sine
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:1-5 NLT)
I read these words as Tom and I took off from Seattle for an early morning flight to Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago. Then I looked outside the window and was awed by the sunrise over Mt Rainier – light emerging in the darkness. Such a powerful reminder, a bringer of hope and anticipation to my soul. Light DOES shine in the darkness, I thought and NOTHING will extinguish it.
I went on to read:
Our world, our lives, are punctuated and permeated by the divine presence. We need to live in the reality of this, rather than the illusion that the world, our inner world, is still in darkness. We need not feel like we are abandoned by God in a world of darkness… The Word which spoke from without now speaks from within …. For us, post-Incarnation human beings, this processionals (of transformation) has already begun” (Celtic Advent 732)
As we head towards Christmas this week through the last days of Advent it is so reassuring to know that nothing will ever extinguish the light of God, either in our hearts and in our world.
This year seems to have been filled with so much darkness- so many mass shootings that we have lost count; so much heartache for migrant families hoping for a new life in countries that do not want them; hurricanes, droughts, fires that have extinguished life before its time, the threats of climate change, political upheaval and animosity have all overwhelmed us, often with despair. The darkness seems to shroud our world and drain our hope.
Yet there is hope. God’s newness is emerging and will one day burst into our world like the sun rising in a new dawn. That is the hope of Advent and the promise of Christmas that still shines brightly in our hearts and in the dark dawn of our lives.
Sun setting over Puget Sound
Interestingly as we flew back to Seattle a couple of days later, we landed as the sun was setting and this was the scene outside my window. Wow — not only does the light shine in the darkness of the dawn but it also illumines the darkness of the sunset. So much hope and promise in these images.
Newness Is On The Way
As I thought about all of this, the following prayer bubbled up within me:
God of promise and hope and renewal,
God of love and joy and life.
Plant seeds of light within us.
Let them emerge from the darkness,
like the sun rising with the dawn,
giving new life,
where none seemed possible.
Newness is on its way.
Your Word, spoken from without,
Now flames within.
Your light birthed,
in the darkest places of our world,
and the hidden cracks of our souls.
Let the brightness of your Son shine,
In us, through us, around us.
Let your Spirit nourish and grow it,
until wholeness pushes up
through the broken surface of things,
and green shoots emerge
with the promise of life and hope and truth.
What Is Your Response
Watch the video below. Listen to the words and contemplate the new life within you and within this world that God planted through the incarnation of Christ. What does “newness of life” mean for your you? How have you planted seeds of light during and this Advent season and how do you anticipate living out this newness in the Christmas season?
by Christine Sine
As many of you know I love Christmas baking. It is a very contemplative practice for me as it gives me a chance to pray for all the friends who will receive these either as a gift or through hospitality.
This year I have tried a few new recipes that I wanted to share with you. I think that they could become as popular as my shortbread. Both of these use ingredients from our garden, which is an added delight that encourages me to look forward to next year and hopefully a bountiful year of produce.
Apple cranberry bars
Apple Cranberry Bars
PASTRY
3 cups All purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons custard powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 ounces butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
FILLING
3 cups stewed apples (or pie apples)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons honey
Method
1. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl, rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add sugar, mix well. Beat egg and milt together, add to dry ingredients, mix to a firm dough.
3. Knead lightly on a floured surface
4. Roll out 2/3rds of pastry to line a greased 13×9” tin
5. Put cooled apple filling into pastry.
6. Roll out remaining 1/3rd of pastry, cut into 1/4 “ strips and arrange in a lattice fashion over apple
7. Bake in a moderately hot (375F) oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and cook a further 20 minutes or until pastry is cooked
8. Dust with icing (confectioners) sugar. The apple absorbs the sugar leaving a snowy covering on the pastry
9. FILLING: Put ingredients into a small pan, stir over low heat for 3 minutes. Cool.
10. Cool in pan before cuttingSource:
Adapted from Australian women’s weekly Best Ever Recipes
Sweet Cherry Almond Bars
Sweet cherry almond bars
Fruit Filling
1 3/4 lbs pitted cherries, halved or rough chopped (about 2 1/2 cups) I used frozen cherries which tend to produce more liquid so increased cornstarch to 3 teaspoons. I know fresh cherries would have been better but in December in Seattle they are not available unless you want to go with ones imported from the Southern Hemisphere.
4 tablespoons sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Shortbread dough
2 cup flour
1/2 cup almond meal or almond flour
2/3 cup raw organic sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs (I hate to waste egg whites so like to use the whole egg instead of just the yolk as suggested in the original recipe.
2 teaspoon almond extract
8 ounces cold butter, cut in pieces
Topping
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Method
1. Set oven to 350F. Lightly spray an 8×8 baking pan.
2. Stir together the cherries with the sugar, lemon juice, extract, and cornstarch. Set aside, tossing occasionally to encourage some of the juices to start flowing.
3. Put the flour, almond meal, sugar, salt, and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
4. Add the yolk, extract, and butter, and pulse or process to combine just until the dough comes together, it will be crumbly.
5. Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of your pan to form the crust.
6. Top with the cherries. Then crumble the remaining dough evenly over the cherries.
7. Top with the sliced almonds and bake for about 40 minutes until the dough is just golden and the filling is bubbling.
Let cool before cutting.
Adapted from https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/sweet-cherry-almond-bars/
Advent Week Three Podcast
- Story by Mary September
- Music by Tracy Howe Wispelwey, In Mansions and Church of the Beloved
- Reflection by Rev. Karen Ward, All Souls Episcopal Church, Portland, OR
- Meditation by Christine Sine
- Produced by Ryan Marsh, Church of the Beloved, Edmonds WA
Listen Now
Listen to Mary September reflect on the pain of separation from her family and home. Join Karen Ward in her reflections on Advent and Tracy Howe Wispelwey’s beautiful song. The closing meditation comes from Waiting for the Light: An Advent Devotional.
Tom and I are hosting our annual Open House on Saturday. If you are in Seattle feel free to drop by!
One of my favourite recipes for this event is Scottish shortbread. I make at least 4 batches each year for the open house as well as for gifts. I only make shortbread at Christmas time, a tradition well in keeping with my Scottish heritage which linked shortbread with the Yule season (Christmas to New Year’s, called the Hogmaney). It was carried by “first‐footers,” those who visited from house to house in the wee hours of New Year’s morning. For good luck this first footer should be a dark haired person — a tradition I know my grandmother rigorously adhered to.
Memories and traditions are both very important at this time of year & this is one that though not explicitly “spiritual” is a rhythm of life that always gives me a wonderful sense of connectedness – to God and particularly to those who have gone before me. It also provides a very special connection to my mother who made shortbread every Christmas throughout my childhood & whom I always miss at this time of year.
Maintaining our spirituality is not just about reading the bible & praying it is also about rhythms like this that provide important anchors for our lives. What traditions do that for you at this time of year?
The Perfect Shortbread Recipe?
Surprisingly when I went looking for a recipe on line that I thought my grandmother would approve of I was horrified to see how there were so I thought “Time to post my own recipe” There are 2 secrets to good shortbread – there is no substitute for butter, and a little rice flour gives a good crunch. I prefer this to cornstarch which makes it “short” but not with the same texture that I love in this recipe. I also like to use real sugar (castor sugar in Australia) rather than confectioner’s (icing) sugar as I much prefer the texture. So here it is – passed down from my Scottish grandmother, a double quantity so that I never run out. It keeps well in the freezer too:
3 – 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground rice or rice flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 lb butter
(Note: Officially, a US Cup is 240ml (or 8.45 imperial fluid ounces.) This is slightly different from an Australian, Canadian and South African Cup which is 250ml. So in U.S. you might need slightly more flour.)
Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy in a mixer or food processor. Stir in sifted flours in two batches. The mixture will become quite stiff. If your mixer cannot cope combine the ingredients by hand. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly until smooth.
There are lots of ways to cook Scottish shortbread. I divide the mixture into quarters, and make 4 rounds in my 2 cookie sheets. (rounds are about 1/4″ thick) If you spread them too much shortbread will be crumbly. I prick the rounds with a fork and use the fork to decorate the edge. I cook at 300F for 45minutes to an hour until the shortbread is light brown. Cut immediately into wedges (the recipe says 8 but I cut into 12 ) Stand for 10 minutes then remove from tin to a wire rack to cool.
Alternatively mixture can be pressed into 2 greased 11×7 tins. Mark in squares and prick with a fork. Bake at 300F for 45 minutes. Cut immediately into squares but leave in tin for 10 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
I have also used Shortbread molds – I have several. They need to be well rubbed down with cornflour before pressing the mixture into them. This is really hard and very time consuming so to be honest I no longer use my molds. And guess what — the shortbread tastes just a s good.
by Lilly Lewin
The entire Christmas story is about Interruptions….
In the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Zechariah and Elizabeth had their lives interrupted…by an angel, which means nine months of silence and a baby born to two elderly parents. And even with the joy of having a child after so many years of being barren, and shamed by the lack of a baby, they had to be willing to allow God to tell them how this child should be raised. Not as a good Jewish son at home, but in the wilderness eating bugs and honey. A prophet.
Next, Mary had the ultimate interruption. An angel, a promise and a willingness to say yes to God’s plan above her own. Both Mary and Joseph allowed God to interrupt and intercept all they’d hoped and dreamed about for their lives together! Their entire lives were upended by the announcement of the angel that Jesus was on the way.
And later the Shepherds, minding their own business in the fields, were interrupted by the announcement of the Angels that a child had been born in Bethlehem. A child who would change not only their lives, but the lives of the entire world! They immediately leave their fires and their hillside camp and hurry to see the babe in Bethlehem that the angels have sung about.
Do you experience frustrating interruptions too? I hate interruptions! Even though my life is full of them, I’m learning to accept them.
I used to say that the person who works at a church, especially the admin of a dept, or the admin of the church itself, their first gift needs to be the gift of interruption.
Someone is always popping by the office in need of something, even if it’s just “to talk” to someone, and usually the people who call, or walk in, do not have appointments. But we have to deal with it, right? But what if the interruptions ARE the story. Because it seems that The entire Christmas story is about Interruptions…and how people respond to these “God-gifts” of interruption!
How about you? How do you feel about interruptions?
Do you receive interruptions as irritations, or can you see them as Gifts?
Are we willing to receive the “Gift of Interruption” this Advent? This Christmas?
Are we willing to allow God to interrupt our plans, our ways, our hopes,
And even our dreams?
Are we willing to be willing?
Are we willing daily to have God interrupt what we had planned?
What about us? Are we ….
Willing to leave our comfort zones? Willing to go where God sends us? Willing to listen to dreams …. God’s dreams, not just our own? Willing to change plans in mid-course?
I’m so bad at this…I want what I want, and I want it now!
I like change on paper, but it is much harder to live out in real life. I too often want to make my own path, and not trust Jesus for his plan.
Allowing God to direct our paths means we control freaks have to LET GO, and give control over to the One who can see beyond tomorrow, completely!
In 12 step programs we agree to be “willing to be willing.” Can we agree to be “willing to be willing” to allow Jesus to interrupt us, and direct us this Advent and Christmas?
Can we be willing to be willing to receive the gift of interruptions?
What do you need to do in your life today, this week, this season to receive the gift of interruption?
What areas of your life are being interrupted in order for you to prepare him room? Are you willing to see these interruptions as gifts rather than curses?
In what areas of your life do you need to have faith in order to Believe, to Go to go where he sends you…to go to Bethlehem?
Today I need to repent because I’m so not ready to obey…
I’m so bossy and think my ideas are better, and I am so unwilling to be interrupted, or to acknowledge that the interruption is from Jesus.
The beautiful thing about Advent is that God has the map! God knows the way to Bethlehem, and even beyond to Egypt! God plans ahead and knows the bits that will scare us to death. God just wants us to be willing to be willing! God wants us to have the faith to Go where God sends us, and to see the adventure in the interruptions.
As we light the third candle in our Advent Wreath this weekend, the candle of Joy, let’s practice receiving joy in the Gift of Interruption.
.
As a helpful reminder, put a gift bow somewhere you will see it daily….beside your bed, on the dash of your car, or on the mirror in your bathroom. Let the gift bow remind you to receive the gifts of God, even the interruptions as gifts from Jesus.
And, as you wrap presents, pray for each person to receive the gift of Jesus this Christmas and ask Jesus to help you receive the gifts he has for you this Advent season, even the gift of interruption!
Advent is half over. We still wait for the arrival of the Christ child. But to where will we welcome him? Do we really want him taking up residence in our homes or is easier to relegate him to the stable, to see him as an outsider, not really part of the family? Seeing Jesus in an out of the way place where disreputable people like shepherds can come to worship without us having to worry about them messing up our homes makes life easy for us. We get that glow that tells us Jesus is here but there is very little commitment required of us.
According to New Testament theologian Kenneth Bailey in his wonderful book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Middle Eastern cultures are known for their hospitality and Joseph was coming home with a new wife and an expected first child so there is no way they would have been relegated to the stable. The whole family was gathering, aunts and uncles, cousins and brothers and sisters. All of them coming home. Yes there was a census that brought them together but in a fun loving culture like this it would not have diminished the welcome or the excitement of a homecoming gathering. The expectation of a baby to be born in their midst would only have increased the excitement.
As Kenneth Bailey explains, the Greek word (katalyma or kataluma) translated as inn in Luke 2:7 does not mean a commercial building with rooms for travelers. It’s a guest space, typically the upper room of a common village home.
“A simple village home in the time of King David, up until the Second World War, in the Holy Land, had two rooms—one for guests, one for the family. The family room had an area, usually about four feet lower, for the family donkey, the family cow, and two or three sheep. They are brought in last thing at night and taken out and tied up in the courtyard first thing in the morning.
“Out of the stone floor of the living room, close to family animals, you dig mangers or make a small one out of wood for sheep. Jesus is clearly welcomed into a family home,” See the entire article here
It was to this simple village home that the shepherds and wise men alike came. Shepherds despised and regarded as unclean by their society, are visited by angels and invited to join the great home coming celebration that marks the coming of the child who will become the Messiah. That they were welcomed and not turned away from this home is remarkable. This is good news indeed for the outcast and the despised.
Then the wise men come, according to Bailey, rich men on camels, probably from Arabia. And they come not to the city of Jerusalem where the Jews thought God’s glory would shine, but to the child born in a manager around whom there is already a great light. The wise men come to find a new home, a new place of belonging that has beckoned to them across the world. This too is remarkable and good news for people of all nations who long for a place to call home.
Bailey tells us that the birth stories of Jesus “de-Zionize” the Messianic traditions. Hopes and expectations for the city of Jerusalem are fulfilled in the birth of the child Jesus. (p54).
The new family, the community that will be formed around this child, does not look to the earthly Jerusalem as its home, but to the heavenly Jerusalem which will come down from heaven as a gift of God at the end of history. (Revelation 21:1-4). And it is to this home, a place with no more tears, or oppression or starvation that all of us are beckoned by the birth of Christ.
I love this imagery. Even in the birth of Jesus we are called towards a new family and a new home. There are family and friends and animals. And special invitations by angels for the despised and rejected, and a star to guide the strangers and those who seem far off. The new family and the home envisioned in the birth of Jesus is inclusive of all accept God’s invitation.
What will it take for us to really welcome Jesus into our homes this Christmas season?
Let’s recognize Jesus as a part of our family.
I have friends who always leave an empty chair at the dinner table when they hold a festive meal. It is a symbol of the fact that Jesus is the unseen guest at all our meals, the family member who is always present even when we cannot see him. It makes me wonder if at this time of year we should set up the manager in the centre of our dining room tables in preparation for the birth of a baby into our families, a constant reminder that Jesus came to be a part of our family and welcome us into God’s eternal family.
Let’s be willing to invite all those who come with him.
They too are part of our family. We cannot welcome Jesus without also extending our hand of welcome to those who gather round the manger – the disreputable and despised, the foreigners and aliens.
These days when a baby is born many young couples keep it cloistered away for the first couple of months, afraid that it will be exposed to germs that it has no immunity to. Most parents would certainly not welcome those who came to see Jesus – first the animals and then the homeless shepherds who slept in the fields at night. Who do we exclude from our families because we are afraid they will contaminate us and the babies in our midst?
I love the French custom of santons, in which clay models of villagers are positioned around the manger bringing their gifts to the Christ child. Imagine all our neighbours, those we enjoy and those we don’t want to have anything to do with, clustered around the manger, invited into that place of intimate hospitality with God. I encourage all of us to consider creating our own “santons” this Advent and Christmas season, santons of words, photos, and actions, not figures of clay.
Emma Morgan adapted this idea for her church in Australia. You can read her account of what she did here
I am more convinced than ever that it matters a lot where we think Jesus was born, who was with him and how we relate to him.
What is Your Response.
Sit and think about what kind of Jesus you are waiting for this Advent season. Visualize this baby being born into your family. How would be be welcomed? Who would be welcomed with him? Who would not be welcomed into the family circle around him.
So as we light the first candle of Advent, the candle of hope, listen to Kathy Troccoli as she encourages us to go light our world because, as she says we are a family.
(This post is adapted from one I wrote several years ago after reading Kenneth Bailey’s book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes). As an Amazon Affiliate I will receive a small amount for purchases made when you click on this link.
The service includes Scripture, lectio divina, silence, and reflective worship. People were seated in a circle with a candle in the middle. A painting of Mary being visited by the Angel was also displayed.Responsive Reading
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