by Christine Sine
Advent, at least in the Western church, officially started yesterday. This challenging season when we await the coming of the promised son of God is upon us, but some of us are confused as to what it means. Is it a time to get all our Christmas shopping done? Or should we be decorating our homes and making Christmas cookies? Or is it a time to plan our Christmas parties?
Advent is meant to remind us of why Christ came, of what is broken in me and my world and why God needed to intervene to bring wholeness. This is a time for deep and serious reflection on how we live our lives and commit ourselves to the purposes of God.
Advent Reminds Us That The Work Of Salvation is Ongoing
Advent bids us ask – What do we still need to be saved from? How can our world be made whole again? Salvation was not something that happened 2000 years ago and never needs to be repeated. Advent reminds us that the work of salvation is ongoing.
We still need to be saved, and our world needs to be made whole, just as the face in the statue above seems to need. I am very aware of this as I look at the news and contemplate the world around me. 70 million refugees, some of them starving as they search for a home. Climate change already devastating parts of our globe as we turn our backs and deny that human activity is responsible. Tax bills that redistribute wealth in favour of the wealthy and corporate interests. Racism sexism, violence and animosity towards those who are different. Walls on our borders to keep out brothers and sisters. The list goes on.
We still need to be saved from both our individual and societal sin. We still need to repent and move towards the birth of Christ with a resolve to commit to actions that lead us in a new direction – towards the ways of God not away from it. Towards healing and love and wholeness not brokenness and hate and divisiveness.
Christ Holds It All Together
The promise of Advent is that God is indeed in the business of making all things whole again and Christ coming into our world is the one who holds all the broken pieces together. Colossians 1:18-20 comes to mind:
He (Christ) was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
His death accomplished this, but his birth made it possible.
That reminded of the Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which broken pottery is mended with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. This art recognizes that the breaks are part of the history of the object and need to be preserved rather than disguised. I think Advent is a little like that. It reminds us that we live in a broken world, but through the life, death and resurrection of Christ all those broken pieces are properly fixed and fit together again. Advent gives us hope in the midst of our sorrow and despair. Brokenness is all around us, God is restoring, renewing and making all things whole again and asks us to be part of the process.
I had hoped to mend a broken plate and use it as an illustration here but was not able to, but suggest you sit for a couple of minutes as I did this afternoon and imagine a broken vessel that God is mending with gold and silver. Imagine that it is your hands God is using to bring that healing into being. Now, watch the video below and reflect on the meaning of Advent for you. What brokenness in the world around you is God asking you to help mend? What could you do over the season of Advent to bring that about?
By Jody Collins —
Have you ever had to move house during the Christmas season? How much fun is that, eh? Twenty years ago our family journeyed to a new land from California to Seattle during the holidays and I discovered something.
It’s impossible to celebrate a “normal” Christmas when your living room is crowded with moving boxes. That wasn’t my discovery. No. The good news I found was that surrendering my ideas of what Christmas “should” look like left space for God to surprise our family beyond what we could imagine. I was forced to adjust to a new season as I viewed things, not as I dreamed they would be, but the way they were. My ideas of what-was-to-come–a new home, settling in, making it my own–kept me going through those few months.
Oddly enough, as I looked around at our temporary rental, the empty walls and barely-furnished rooms greatly improved my mental state, making it easier to ‘see’ the future. Although I felt untethered and impatient, desperate to begin nesting in our new home, the emptiness created room for waiting.
The focus and intent of the Advent season is just that, providing space to wait—physically, spiritually and mentally—to celebrate the birth of Christ.
My faith background is tempered by an Evangelical perspective, so Advent and all it represents is quite new to me. I love the slowing down that the Sunday candle lighting affords my husband and I, along with its focus on Christ, not the day of All the Presents.
As a newcomer to this observance I was surprised to learn that Advent was originally a period of fasting in preparation for the feast of the Nativity (now Christmas) and was practiced in some form as early as 400 A.D. Unfortunately for us, Advent as a season of fasting and reflection has all but disappeared from many church landscapes. Advent has been defined, instead, as the number of shopping/party/activity days there are until Christmas, and thus, our gift-driven Advent ‘calendars.’ (Which are actually, December calendars, not Advent calendars, as a friend recently pointed out.)
The practice of fasting seems like a shocking suggestion prior to the rich celebration of Christmas. But it makes sense when you think about it. Letting go, putting off or making room for one thing makes space for something else. Like the empty walls in our new rental house all those years ago, extra space can help us “see” better without all the distractions. When the too-much of Christmas presses in, it helps to make room for the joy we crave by saying ‘no’ to what we don’t need.
Instead of the usual going without food, fasting during Advent can simply be a variation of giving up, putting off, setting aside or laying down. All these provide a way to make room for Jesus in our soul and spirt, where we are hungriest. Because, goodness knows, there are scores of things that want to “feed” us; too much of anything can fill me so full that I never know I’m hungry. Fasting is one way to make room for God to show up, and hunger can often provide a way for us to say no to our overstuffed senses.
So–what about fasting? Fasting doesn’t have to be just from food.
How About Fasting from Noise?
Turn off your screens—phones, tablets, computers—for 60 to 90 minutes and relish the freedom that quiet brings. Of course, it may be noisy now that you’ve got time to read one more book to your kids. But that’s a good kind of noise, the kind that feeds the soul—theirs and yours. Having young children and teens limit their visual media input is a way they can also fast. You might say, “Sometimes there’s noise we hear and sometimes there’s noise we see. All that makes it hard to hear and see God. Mom and Dad are going to spend less time with their phone/computer/tablet during Advent. When would you like to give up some of your screen time?” This phrasing frames the question in a way that communicates they will cut back, but it also gives them the power of making the choice of how and when.
I’m not talking about stopping all visual media but taking baby steps to help children adjust their thinking, too. The point is too make room for God to speak to us in that still, small voice; He will show up in the space that we give Him. That’s what Advent is all about–preparing room for the Saviour to come.
Fast from the “Shoulds”
The overwhelming amount of Christmas trappings even at the grocery store can be hard to ignore—everyone has to eat, and thus we are inundated with the visual overload of the holidays. It’s hard to ignore. “Decorate like this! Buy this! Your home should look like this!” Sometimes it feels like the displays are shouting from the aisles.
We can’t forego feeding our families, but we can take intentional break during the Christmas season from visual media channels that keep us focused on all those ‘shoulds.’ Facebook’s siren song or Pinterest and Instagram come to mind—whatever social vortex seems to suck you in. These platforms can be helpful for creativity but can also be a rabbit hole of, “Oooohhh, I should make this. No, I should try this.” Lay it down. Turn it off. Put it away.
Fasting from Food
Of course, your children will need their three squares a day. Growing children need fuel to stay well, keep growing, and continue learning . . . and to be happy. The practice of fasting from food when it comes to your kids is clearly fraught with questions. Should they participate? Will they even understand what they’re doing? What’s the point?
Consider this. If our children get everything they want whenever they want it, we all know this is not a good thing. One way to help children understand they cannot always have whatever they want is to practice even a simple fast.
What about fasting from certain foods as a family? saving your enjoyment for Christmas when you will break your fast together? Perhaps meats—ham, beef, whatever—sweets or a particular treat. Or, you could set aside Sundays, traditionally the “feast days” on the church calendar, as days to look forward to those special foods. (Chocolate totally counts.) My friend Kay says she and her family fast from sugar during the week and mark Sunday as the day to indulge.
Setting aside one day as different is another way to simply mark the time as special.
Fasting during the holidays doesn’t have to be cold-turkey (sorry), but more of a subtle shift in thinking about the way we look at Christmas with all its too-much. Consider taking out all the fake “food” that promises to feed our soul and replacing it with holy nutrition.
Honoring, adopting or adapting one of the earliest traditions of Advent is a simple way to make room for more joy and peace this Christmas season. And the best news? There’s nothing you need to add to your busy life, but something to take away. Literally.
Sometimes the best ‘yes’ is a ‘no.’ What a simple yet powerful gift.
~ ~ ~ ~
This post is an extract from Jody’s new book “Living the Season Well-Reclaiming Christmas”, a short & practical primer for families to slow down and simplify the Christmas Season. Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
By Lilly Lewin
The season of Advent is here and we are also preparing for Christmas. We are decorating trees and homes with festive lights and greenery. We get ready with shopping, baking, sending cards and hosting parties. But how do we get our selves ready for the arrival of Jesus? As December begins how are you getting ready for the Baby King?
When you prepare for a baby you have to get a lot of stuff ready…the room, all the diapers, the car seat, all the special gear necessary. Your house changes, you have less space because the baby stuff takes up lots of room. Your focus changes. Whether you are adopting or hatching a baby, you begin to focus your life around this little person soon to arrive. And once that person arrives on the scene you no longer need a TV because all you want to do is watch what he or she does. When a baby enters the world your time is no longer your own…now you have to think about the needs of someone else. You have to consider how what you do will affect the baby. Even before a baby is born the mom must consider what she eats, drinks and how she cares for herself.
What if we see the coming of Baby Jesus into our lives like this?
Like getting ready for a new arrival in our lives. Getting ready for a baby.
What would this look like?
How do you make space for Baby Jesus?
How do you get ready for his birth into your world?
Do you have to get rid of stuff?
Do you need to add special gear?
Do you need to prepare mentally or change your attitude?
What does this look like?
Consider this today.
Talk to God about this.
How can you receive the gift of Jesus as a baby, a baby who needs your time and attention.
Are you and I willing to accept that gift?
What are you willing to do to get ready for Baby Jesus?
How are you willing to change your life in order to give baby Jesus the attention and care he needs?
Consider this today and in the days ahead this December.
Talk to God about how you can receive and prepare for Baby Jesus!
If you don’t have a baby in your world at the moment as a physical reminder, find something to remind you to make room in your life for Baby Jesus. Maybe it’s a sippy cup or a bottle on your desk or bedside table. Maybe it’s a baby blanket or toy. Use this symbol to help you make space in your life for the Baby Jesus and prepare him room this Advent.
*This is one of the prayer stations found in the Christmas Incarnation Sacred Space Prayer Experience. You can download this at freerangeworship.com
by Christine Sine
As the beginning of Advent approaches, I wanted to share this prayer and Advent meditation video again. I wrote them ten years ago but as I watched it this morning felt that it was as powerful today as it was then. Jeff Johnson’s beautiful music really makes this a restful and centering prayer. I do pray that you will make time in your day to rest, refresh and recenter yourself as you watch it.
by Christine Sine
As Advent approaches and we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Christ let us remember the image of God within us and the promise of newness and wholeness that the birth of Christ brings.
It is a time when many of us want to find peace and quiet amidst the wild flurry of Christmas preparation. Find time and space today to watch to this video. Breathe deeply of the peace of God and rest your soul in preparation for the coming of the Christ child.
By Mary DeJong —
This is a practice of remembering, remembering and reacquainting with the presence and names of the plant-life within one’s homescape (1). This is a time when the seasons’ reveal who shows up and who has been there all along but whose shape has shifted as the months turn. This is an invitation to transform a stranger into a Thou by the practice of learning and saying their name. This is a process of knowing so that respect and love can emerge and transform how we live upon the land, for it has been said that one cannot love what one does not know.
Beyond the beauty that emerges from the creation of a nature mandala, there are deep truths, profound invitations, and mythopoetic metaphor that reside within the design as well. To discover these aspects, it is well worth the time to discover the names and characteristics of those with whom we share our landscapes—you may find you reconnect with neighbors in the process! When I was collecting plants for my November mandala, I could see the orange orbs of my neighbor’s persimmons above the tall fence across from my home. Sadly, this fence has created a sense of disconnection between our families. However, my desire for one of those persimmons for my mandala was strong enough that I quickly devised a plan that would hopefully find this fruit not only in my basket but also strengthen neighborly relationships. I went to my cupboard for a quart of raspberry lavender preserves, put up this summer from our yard’s bounty. My daughter and I crossed the street, basket and jar in hand, and unlatched our neighbor’s gate. In response to our knock on the door, our Cambodian neighbor Bhun answered, accepted our jar of jam in exchange for some of his persimmon fruit! Despite our language barrier, the joy of sharing the fruit of our land as neighbors was mutual.
——
The accompanying practice of naming the natural elements that form the mandala exercise the sense of seeing. You will find that once your mandala is complete, you will begin seeing the selected plants all around you! This is the beginning of a vital and fun interrelationship with creation; there is so much to learn from the natural world when we allow it to be our teacher!
My November mandala was created with the following plants, trees, and fruit found within my homescape, all of whom have much to offer by way of food, medicine, or cross-cultural understanding:
- Nootka Rose hips (Rose nutka)
- Japanese Painted fern (Athyrium niponicum)
- Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina)
- Pacific western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
- Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
- Common Sage (Salvia officinalis)
- American beauty berry (Callicarpa americana)
- Purple smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria)
- Japanese Persimmon (Diospyros kaki)
- Witch Hazel (Hamamelis)
- Wood sorel (Oxalis)
- Red and Yellow twigged dogwood (Cornus alba)
- Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea)
1. I define homescape as the natural landscape that makes up one’s home—yard, neighborhood, even local parks and open spaces. These are critical natural areas that create habitat for a whole community of life with whom we interact. Learning about our homescapes invites us into more intentional knowledge and understanding of those with whom we share life and resources.
By Mary DeJong —
“Tell me the landscape in which you live, and I will tell you who you are.”
-José Ortega y Gasset
I am in a forest phase of my life, where soul growth is related to both deep rootedness and profound interconnection. When we enter a forest phase in our lives we enter a period of rooting and a time of potential soul growth. Here it is possible to find what we have been cut off from, to remember once vital aspects of ourselves that required an interdependence with the natural world. We may uncover a wellspring of creativity and Sacred connection that has been hidden for some time underneath the trappings of a busy and overly domesticated life. In this time of recovering my more wild self, my understanding of who I am is expanding to use an ecological lens to discern meaning through interconnected relationships and a deeply presenced place. I find that what is driving my soul growth and understanding of holy mysteries are the questions: How do we be “of a place” once more? How do we become apart of the ecology of a place and of the planet? The answers to these questions come through a growing attunement to the rhythmic seasons of the natural world, and the phases of the wonder-filled sky, which ultimately invite me into insight and knowledge of myself and how I experience God.
Picture Description: Finding the seasonal color within the natural world begins to awaken the senses and is a fun activity for children! Here Mary’s daughter Anna finds and picks American Beauty Berry (Callicarpa Americana) for their November Monthly Mandala. (photo credit: Mary DeJong)
Irish theologian and philosopher John Scotus Eriugena understood that Christ was revealed through two forms of revelation: scripture and the natural world. He believed that “Christ wears “two shoes” in the world: scripture and nature. Both are necessary to understand the Lord, and at no stage can creation be seen as a separation of things from God.” I want to establish rhythms and personal practices that honor and cultivate richer connections with the interrelated biological and cosmic systems that have meaningfully existed for billions of years as a way to root my sense of self and the Sacred in the very real soil of my daily existence. I want to learn from the sacred scripture of creation.
I have started doing monthly nature mandalas as a spiritual practice, as a way of developing a framework for exercising my senses to awaken to the Sacred wisdom that resides within nature. Theophanies, or God-showings-are synchronistic signs that reveal significance and meaning, as well as reveal something of the character of God. By going outside to co-create a nature mandala, I have sought to develop the capacity to receive Divine symbols and experience the mysterious presence of God within the natural world. This practice, while relatively easy, has become a way that I attune to who else is residing and growing in my garden. As I slowly walk around my house and neighborhood, I begin to see with fresh eyes the vast biodiversity with whom I live.
Celtic Spirituality reminds us of our abiding interconnection with the natural world, and a perspective of God that allows for the Sacred to be completely imminent and within the other-than-human world. This mandala practice aims to provide a structure that supports my spiritual growth while acknowledging that this cannot happen isolated and independently within solely human practices and traditions. Spiritual director Marjorie Thompson maintains that within the patterns of “routine, regular, and repeated” practice one will discover transformation. In her words I see the invitation to seasonal rhythms that occur in nature and indeed, that the monthly nature mandala practice is a way that I can continue to grow and form my spiritual life.
Searching for and discovering seasonal plants, herbs, and fruits is a true visual delight! Once the natural items have been assembled, the creative mandala practice can begin. (photo credit: Mary DeJong)
Our November mandala is complete!
We cleared a circle within our Paper birch leaves (Betula papyrifera) to create the foundation for our mandala. My practice is to build the mandala around the four cardinal directions, which also correspond to the four season, and build into the design elements of twelve, which correspond to the twelve months of the year. (Photo credit: Mary DeJong)
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
When referencing or quoting Godspace Light, please be sure to include the Author (Christine Sine unless otherwise noted), the Title of the article or resource, the Source link where appropriate, and ©Godspacelight.com. Thank you!