By Britni D’Eliso —
Luke 1:11-17: “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
At the age of 7, I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I often spent my free time playing “classroom” with my stuffed animals, spent every Sunday of my middle school years working with the children’s church classes and sought out a University with a reputable education program.
Though my desire to teach remained steadfast throughout my childhood and adolescent years, God pulled some strings my sophomore year of college and sent me on an entirely different career journey… and I must say that I am extremely grateful for his intervention and beyond satisfied with where I’m headed now.
Now John the Baptist had his “career” choice established for him, prior to his very conception. His life was to be set apart, with fairly strict guidelines given by Gabriel himself, and they didn’t seem to leave much wiggle room. Though his calling to continue the message of Ezekiel in preparing the people of that day for the coming of the Messiah was of the highest honor for him and his family, we don’t read of how he may have wrestled through a life of probable seclusion and questioning. John was a 14 year old boy at some point…what did he think of his set apart life then?
We read later in Luke that John grew and became strong in spirit and fulfilled his distinct purpose with fervor as he devoted his life to preparing the way for the Lord. His message of repentance and reconciliation could not have been an easy one to convey, but he did so valiantly, and as a result, the story of Jesus was made possible.
Though our calling may not be as direct or as unique as John’s, we have been invited to continue in his message. It’s a message that will alter our current course in life and will arrive in an inconvenient fashion and will require committed sacrifice; but let us not lose sight of the beautiful fact that when we engage in preparing the way for our Lord, we join a Kingdom-wide movement of restoration.
How lovely on the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace
And brings good news of happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Isaiah 52:7
by Christine Sine
Last week I set up a circle of candles around my sacred space where I do my devotions each morning. As I light them each day, a sense a special connection to the people, places and things that I feel God’s circle of light, revealed in the coming of Christ at this season, embraces for me. As I light the candle in front of a family photo I thank God for the light that surrounds my family and friends. I progress from there to a candle surrounded by air plants. That connects me to the circle of God’s creation without which there would be no life on this plant. Then the candle on my altar, reminding me that God’s circle of light embraces all that is sacred and special in our world. From there to my office desk – God’s light embraces my work, and last but not least my “I choose joy” Advent garden where I sense to divine presence in all the inhabitants of our planet.
I sit in the middle of this circle, surrounded by the wonder of God’s love. I thank God for the circle of divine presence which embraces not just me and my family but my neighbours near and far. In fact it embraces all the peoples of the earth past, present and future. It embraces those who have lost homes to hurricanes, floods and fires this year. It embraces those who have fled from war and conflict and violence. It embraces those of us who have warm and comfortable homes to dwell in and abundant food to eat. It embraces those who live in poverty and in wealth. People from every race and nation and strata of society.
What I love about the circle of God’s light is that excludes no one and no thing. God’s light, the Christ child who comes to us at Christmas welcomes all of us into the circle of God’s family inviting us to surrender not just to the loving embrace of our God but also to the embrace of each other. God’s circle of light invites us to find unity and learn to care for each other as one global family.
Lord I sit in this circle of light,
surrounded by your love,
embraced by your peace,
infused with your joy.
Lord I sit in this circle of light,
with all the people of this world
secure in the wonder of your presence.
by Christine Sine
As Christmas rapidly approaches and I survey our world with its pain and suffering I was reminded of this prayer that I wrote a couple of years ago. How do we make room at this season for all the marginalized people in our society and our world? How do we reach out to bring peace and not violence, healing and disease, wholeness and not destruction?
By Lilly Lewin
Read Luke 1:26-38 THE MESSAGE
26-28 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.
29-33 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.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”
35 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.
36-38 “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.
I cannot stand interruptions! I like being in control of my time and my day. I like having a plan and seeing it through. But honestly, most of us have lives filled with interruptions. Filled with texts and emails that change our day because someone needs something or someone has forgotten their lunch, gym bag or their instrument. Or someone gets sick and needs a ride to the doctor. Or the puppy poops on the floor. Sometimes bigger things happen like you find out that your test results were bad or your job is being terminated. Can we see even these interruptions as Gifts?
Mary was planning a wedding, just enjoying being engaged when the Angel showed up and told her she was going to be the mother of Jesus. Mary was shocked but she didn’t shy away from what was ahead. Mary allowed God to totally interrupt her life.
The entire Christmas story is about Interruptions….and how people responded to these God gifts of Interruption. Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, the Magi, they all were interrupted by the arrival of Jesus.
Think about the interruptions you’ve had in your life ….
Today, This Week, This Month, This Year….
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 Jesus to interrupt you and your plans?
Are you willing to be willing?
Consider how God has interrupted you this past year. How has this changed/affected your life? Take some time today or this weekend to consider the Gifts of Interruption. And as you are interrupted today, this week, this month, instead of freaking out, ask God to help you receive the Gift of Interruption and see where it leads.
“Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, in your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily newspapers. The Lord is coming, always coming. Be alert to his coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord… ” Henri Nouwen
by James Amadon
The news hangs from my shoulders these days like a heavy backpack, each story another stone to carry. I am tired of paying attention but afraid to stop, and it is taking a toll. My wife, Emily, says she can tell I am carrying the weight of the world when my shoulders start to slump forward. It is hard to stand up straight when each day brings new revelations of the terrible things that happen when selfishness and fear is wedded to power. Even now, as I write this in my local coffee shop, a young, white man with a shaved head is loudly pontificating to his companion about genetics and Martin Luther King Jr. I cannot tell for sure if he is part of the increasingly vocal ethno-nationalist movement in our nation, but it is a sad sign that this is my first guess.
One of the significant victims of our current cultural moment is joy, the deep sense that, come what may, the heart of the world contains an unshakeable goodness. This is what Jews and Christians hear in the opening poetry of Genesis, when God declares again and again and again, “It is good” (Gen. 1). Joy is rooted in memory and sustained by hope; neither comes as naturally to me as I would like. I take it as a great grace that, despite my inclination to forget the past and focus on all that is currently wrong with the world, hope wedges into my days like seeds in a cracked sidewalk, unexpectedly shooting up and blessing me with life-giving joy. This was true the other day as I watched the literal sidewalk in my neighborhood shimmer in the post-rain sunshine underneath a vibrant sky awash in greys and blues. It was a moment that transcended the moment, and it filled me with enough joy to lift my shoulders, shed my burdens, and open my eyes to something deeper.
Joy also came unexpectedly a few months ago when I was given the opportunity to become the Executive Director of Mustard Seed Associates, the non-profit from which Godspace was birthed. I am filled with hope as I help shape Circlewood, the name we have given to the new ministry focus of MSA. We will be working with Christ-followers, the Church as a whole, and any other friends who want to join in, to put care for creation at the center of who we are and what we do. To me, this is an absolute necessity if we are going to be faithful to Scripture and more aligned with God’s heart for the whole world. It is also, I believe, a gateway to joy, being rooted in the hope that all of creation is woven into God’s redemptive love and grace.
It is this hope that keeps me from allowing the news of the day to overshadow the good news of Jesus. This good news burst into the world two millennia ago, dazzling lowly shepherds in the Palestinian countryside with a message that reaches through time to speak the truth we need to hear this Advent: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10).
Great joy such as this often only comes after great sorrow, and those who follow Jesus know that the child in the manger becomes the outlaw on the cross, shoulders slumped in death from carrying the weight of the world. But Jesus, “who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the Cross” (Heb. 12:2), was buried like a seed in the cracked earth and burst forth as a sign of God’s new creation.
It is tempting this Advent to see only leafless trees, falling sunlight, and a darkening cultural horizon. But this is God’s pattern: death to life, bad news to good, sorrow to joy. Lift up your shoulders, shed your burdens, and open your eyes; joy springs up in unlikely places.
James Amadon is the new executive director of Mustard Seed Associates. He comes after serving for 10 years as the Senior Pastor of Highland Covenant Church in Bellevue, WA. In addition to his leadership skills and experience, he brings a passion for helping people see the personal, social, and ecological dimensions of faith and developing ways to integrate these dimensions into an integrated whole, an area he is also working on in his doctoral studies at Duke Divinity School. Feel free to reach out to James at jamadon316@gmail.com.
Here is an amazing post about sharing joy through bringing justice, hope and freedom to people around us. Greg has done incredible work in Fair Trade Gold one of the places in which there has been brokenness and where we can celebrate glimpses of God’s healing and wholeness during this Advent season. What he has accomplished is fantastic. This post is by Greg Valerio.
Yes, folks its true – prayers really do get answered. I unashamedly attribute the success in securing Fairtrade Gold Uganda to prayer. Not the prayers of an overly infantile Sunday school narrative, or the prayers of hands together eyes closed, the meek and mild deference of ‘you in your small corner and I in mine’.
I am speaking about the true prayer of faith, belief, courage, vision, fortitude, patience and resilience. The prayers of men and women who in their poverty, their exploitation, their weakness and the marginalisation of the post colonial African economic settlement, cried out for help, recognising that on their own they will not overcome the immensity of the unjust scales that are weighted against them.
The prayers that overcome a history, rooted in the darkest aspects of human horror, genocide, slavery, intentional cultural obliteration and the destruction of the human soul. Prayers that overcome the intentional endeavour of an economic system that seeks to forward the greed and avarice of luxury elites and militaristic empires. The nature of false power is to control, and slavery is the ultimate expression of a perverted human spirit.
Jesus of Nazareth talked about prayer as a mustard seed that grows into a mighty tree and yeast in the dough that causes the whole loaf to rise. Prayer is the active ingredient that generates hope, growth and ultimately gives life. The securing of certified Fairtrade Gold Uganda is an answer to a prayer that was breathed out in a simple conversation in 2004 in the rainforests of the Chocó Region of Colombia.

From Greg Valerio
As I stood in the rivers of this lush rainforest with my friends at Oró Verde, Aristarco and Ameriko told me their Afro-Colombian story. Generations of slavery, forced labour in gold mining, the fight to regain their cultural identity in the face of Colombian racial discrimination. The destruction of their rainforests by illegal gold miners and large scale corporate mining companies. The systemic polluting of their rivers with toxic mercury and rampant deforestation and soil erosion. They dreamed, nay prayed, for a sensitive, ecologically reverent, culturally appropriate way to extract gold and for an economic justice that would mean the money they earned stayed in their communities and put their children through school. This was the prayer of their voices, their sweat, their lived out daily lives. I recall, as if it was yesterday, Ameriko saying;
‘Do you think the way we are gold mining will ever travel back to Africa and bless the land we first came from?’
Let me be clear – this is a prayer, a simple, clear, innocent, pure prayer from the heart of man whose love and intention demanded a response not just from me, but from the very Creator from whom we all proceed. God hears our prayers, but not necessarily the way we would choose to see them answered. The gold I purchased on that trip became the small seed from which the tree of Fairtrade Gold would grow. This was a prayer of redemption.

One of the Fairtrade Gold miners emerges from the timbered mine shaft at SAMA in Busia district Uganda.
Today in November 2017 I stand on the red earth of Africa, in Busia District of Uganda, watching as a man emerges from a timbered shaft that has recently been dug some 70 feet into the earth. He emerges covered in the earth mud of the land from which he belongs. The gold that he and the Syanyonja Miners Alliance (SAMA) are mining, is certified Fairtrade Gold. This is the first indepentantly certified gold from Africa and represents an African first. A gold that in every way is an answer to the prayers of Ameriko and his Afro-Colombian community.
On its journey, this prayer has touched marginalised communities in Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Ecuador. In Africa it has taken root in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. It has inspired a Peace Gold response in the war torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3). It’s catalysed hundreds of progressive ethical jewellers large and small across all the continents of the world and redefined the narrative of an entire industry (beware green washing in the jewellery profession masquerading behind the word ethical). Designers have travelled to holes in the ground, reporters have reported on the challenges of child labour, gender exploitation and unfair terms of trade in gold, politicians have avoided and embraced and countless friends and enemies have been made. Arguments have been had, fights have been fought, NGO’s have clashed and coalesced, corporations have ignored, patronised, applauded and sought to co-opt. Fairtrade Gold has often been immersed in politically correct processes, ideological development theory, political structures and sought to be owned as an intellectual property right, and overcharged by mining consultants. It has inspired students, campaigners, activists, creatives to fashion and forge a better way in this most exploited of professions. As well as called out prejudices, racism and bigotry in those who have been so ardently wedded to the jewellery professions mantra of ‘No change at any cost’.
Fairtrade Gold sits atop Cathedral spires and hangs on the necks of award winners. In every way this simple prayer of redemption has called out the goodness, the greatness and the darkness that is present in us all and in the human structures we naively place our fragile faith in.
The power of a product like Fairtrade Gold Uganda rests not in its financial value, or in its inherent beauty. Nor does it rest in the designs of those who use it, or in the standard that verifies its honesty and integrity. The true power of Fairtrade Gold resides in its story. The best gold story in the world began as a prayer and took a life of its own that no-one, including myself (who was the first jeweller to conceive of the idea), owns the story. This is the power of prayer. It originates in the Creator, it flows from the creator, we are privileged to participate in the life it gives and it will ultimately return to the earth from which it emerged. No one owns it.

The first commercial smelted Fairtrade Gold Uganda button. It’s a beautiful thing.
So I come to the completion of a thirteen year journey¹ with Fairtrade Gold, what began in a hole in the ground in Colombia has led me to a hole in the ground in Uganda. As I look forward I am beginning to see a the bigger picture.
- A picture that transcends the secular liberal vocabulary of political correctness, process and structure.
- A picture that embraces a simple life affirming narrative of hope, fulfilment and redemption.
- A picture that embraces diversity within a unity of purpose, namely God’s justice for the poor.
This has been a global pilgrimage worth taking and one I will continue to walk, no longer as a jeweller, but as an advocate of peace, justice, reconciliation and redemption.
As I have said on many occasions before – please buy Fairtrade Gold, it is the best gold story in the world.
¹ The first commercial export of Fairtrade Gold Uganda Africa by CRED Trading Company aka CRED Jewellery represents a natural synchronisity with its first commercial export of Oró Verde gold from Colombia. The purchase that started the whole Fairtrade Gold story.
Photo Credits: Ronald de Hommel, Chichester Observer, Greg Valerio
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