This last week was a wonderful week of Thanksgiving celebration. Two delightful gatherings with much delicious food, good fellowships and very meaningful sharing of gratitude. Gratitude is a very special practice, and even if you don’t live in a country that has an official thanksgiving celebration I highly recommend a gathering with friends and family to share what you are grateful for.
Now I am getting ready for traditional Advent which starts next Sunday. This week I bring out some of my more traditional Advent symbols and arrange them around my desk. I am tempted to add Christmas symbols too but I realize these are not appropriate for another few weeks. I will also vary the music I play over the few weeks – adhering to Advent the spirit of Advent and only using Advent music, choosing from a number of Advent playlists; to my Celtic Advent playlist I will add Contemplative Advent, especially good, I find when preparing for or participating in an Advent Quiet day Retreat; Advent – Walking in the Darkness – particularly appropriate as we prepare for a Longest Night or Blue Christmas celebration. I also enjoy these Advent Carols from King’s College Choir London. With the increasing commercial hype of Black Friday, now a week and not just a day and the growing pressure to spend more as we move towards Christmas I find this kind of music helps me focus more intentionally on the real meaning of Christmas.
Each year I like to choose a word for each week of Advent. My apologies, I forgot to mention this last week when my word was preparation. This week’s word which I reflect on in my Monday Meditation – Waiting for a Vulnerable God was “vulnerable”. The Advent story in particular brings home to me how frequently God comes to us in vulnerability rather than power, speaking through those at the margins rather than those at the centre. It is reflecting on this God, not the powerful but distant one, that really gives me hope.
My other words for the coming weeks of the Advent season are Stretched, Unexpected, Welcomed, Loved. Some of you may think that these are rather unusual words for the Advent season, but as you realize, I love to approach Advent, Christmas and the whole gospel story in ways that stretch me beyond my comfort zone so that I don’t become complacent and passive in my approach to a life which is meant be motivated by the rebel Jesus.
I loved Ron Friesen’s pondering of The Gift of Hospitality not looking at God’s hospitality through people but rather through nature, especially through birds and where they make their nesting places. Lilly Lewin in Freerange Friday – Invited to Wait, does just that as she invites us to wait through the Advent season reflecting on who and what we hope for in the coming of Christ. On Thursday I contributed this prayer for American Thanksgiving. It began God may we live into the promise of your peace today, with grateful hearts and thankful spirits. Wednesday Lynne Baab reminded us of the difference between Thanksgiving and Optimism. As she said: “When we focus on the good gifts that are present in our lives, we do not deny the reality of pain, stress and challenges. Thankfulness involves turning our eyes to see good things even in the midst of those difficulties, and we take a moment to thank the giver of the gift.
Don’t forget that our Advent Quiet Day Retreat is coming soon. It is less than 2 weeks away. December 9th will be a great time to pause, rest and refresh yourself as we move towards Christmas Day. We hope you will join us for this important time of renewal. As well as that, if you have not yet accessed them, its time to look at our rich array of Advent and Christmas resources, including Blue Christmas, as well as lots of beautiful poems and prayers by people like Mary Oliver, Maya Angelou and Walter Brueggemann.
Today I wait for a vulnerable God,
My heart longing, yearning, aching
For the fulfillment of God’s promises.
I wait
in hope, in expectation,
Trusting that which is not yet visible.
I will not despise the vulnerability,
Of God and God’s beloved son,
By refusing to believe,
God’s desire is to see all things made new.
I will not deny the wonder of a God,
Who created all things in goodness and delight,
And saw them worthy to be restored and made whole.
I wait,
For in Christ God’s circle is complete.
What began in creation,
Finds its fulfillment in him.
I will not give up hope of the promise
For peace and justice and flourishing
Hidden in a vulnerable child,
Born in a manger.
Love will prevail.
God’s light will shine
All will be made new.
May God richly bless you as you prepare for the coming of the Christ Child.
Christine Sine
Photo by Felipe Cespedes on pexels
December 9, An Advent Quiet Day Retreat with Christine Sine.
Join Christine for a virtual retreat celebrating quiet anticipation and focusing on experiencing a meaningful Christmas. She will lead a morning of scripture reading and quiet reflection that will be for many of us a much needed oasis of quiet in the midst of this chaotic season. Register to participate here.
In this Advent time,
When the darkness seems to enter our souls,
And our longings settle deep within,
We wait.
And as we wait,
We return to the breath and the silence.
To the breath of God that gives us life.
To the silence where we hear God’s whispers.
May we weep for the brokenness within
And without.
May we cry out against our distractedness.
And return to the eternal One
Whose love fills every fibre of our being.
Give the Gift of Wonder this holiday season! Our newest virtual retreat experience, Walking in Wonder Through Advent, is partly inspired by but separate from The Gift of Wonder. Rekindle the wonder of the Advent season; experience renewal in an online course at your own pace. Look beyond the Advent season with our other Gift of Wonder resources! Explore 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. Embrace the gifts of Awe and Wonder; gifts that sustain us, practices that are relevant and important in these times. Find it all in our shop!
by Christine Sine
Several years ago I created an Advent garden with five words for me to meditate on during Advent. One of those words was vulnerable and it came to me again as I sat meditating this morning.
When I wrote it my thoughts centred on Mary’s vulnerability – powerless and open to attack in a world that did not look favourably on unwed mothers. I thought too of the Mary-like people in our world today who are also vulnerable because of their powerlessness – those caught in the grip of poverty, abuse, racial & sexual discrimination, refugees, the disabled, those caught in the horrors of war. The list of the victims of powerlessness is so long it is overwhelming. And to that I add the vulnerability of our planet – 1 million species that might become extinct in the near future, the hottest year on record, a fire season that now in some parts of the world is 12 months long.
This too is overwhelming, but that I realize is what vulnerability is all about – feeling powerless in the face of power and wealth. And that is how many of us feel today. We are all feeling vulnerable as we face the uncertainties of the future and it’s a hard place to be in.
What makes you feel vulnerable and uncertain at the moment? How do you respond to that vulnerability?
As I reflected on this over the last few days I realized that God too is vulnerable. Our Creator always comes to us in ways that open the possibility of attack, abuse, and woundedness. In fact that is very much the story of God revealed in Jesus Christ. An unexpected and vulnerable Messiah revealing an unexpected and vulnerable God. Why I wonder did the immense and magnificent Creator of the universe decide to be manifested in a child born at the margins of the empire, vulnerable not just to the usual scourges of diseases and poverty, but also to the possibility of death, even in his conception because his mother was unwed.
Is God Really a Rich and Powerful Leader?
My images of God as a rich and powerful leader was dismantled over the last few years by these images of the One who comes to us in powerlessness and vulnerability – not as a ruler but as a servant, not as an authoritarian commander but as a gentle leader, a companion and guide who is particularly concerned about the other vulnerable ones in our midst and who brings change not from the centres of power but from the margins where other vulnerable beings dwell.
I think of that as I contemplate the image above, a canvas print of which sits on my desk throughout the Advent season. It was given to me by my good friend Tom Balke who photographed it on a visit to the Taize community several years ago. It speaks to me of the vulnerability and well as the hope of both Mary and Elizabeth as they excitedly meet and share the joy of their respective pregnancies.
It is hard for us to understand a powerful God who comes in such vulnerability, yet in this God we place our hope. This is the God whose presence will one day fill our world bringing renewal and transformation.
I Wait For A Vulnerable God
As I wait during this season of Advent, I wait for this vulnerable God and I feel hope well up within me. Its important, I believe to live with a vision of hope, a vision of God’s better future in which all things are made new Without a vision like this we will never strive to see our world changed and that is very much the vision that fills my heart as I look towards Advent and Christmas this year.
Today I wait,
My heart longing, yearning, aching
For the fulfillment of God’s promises.
I wait
in hope, in expectation,
Trusting that which is not yet visible.
I will not despise the vulnerability,
Of God and God’s beloved son,
By refusing to believe,
God’s desire is to see all things made new.
I will not deny the wonder of a God,
Who created all things in goodness and delight,
And saw them worthy to be restored and made whole.
I wait,
For in Christ God’s circle is complete.
What began in creation,
Finds its fulfillment in him.
I will not give up hope of the promise
For peace and justice and flourishing
Hidden in a vulnerable child,
Born in a manger.
Love will prevail.
God’s light will shine
All will be made new.
Where do you see signs of our vulnerable God?
What signs of God’s presence give you hope for the future?
by Ron Friesen
Hospitality is a word that extends an invitation – an invitation to come in, to converse, to spend some time together. Hospitality is usually an invitation to someone to enter into their presence wherever they are at that moment.
As I pondered hospitality in the world, especially in nature, I could not help but think of the places where wildlife make their homes/nesting places. Birds are most often the wildlife that one spots in their home/nesting place. Although if one is on the alert as out and about walking through forests, woods, fields and gardens there are other animals that may lend a peak into their spaces – however most of them will not welcome the intrusion of any one of us. I remember a small wild rabbit that loved to build her nest behind our house on the farm in what she thought was a fairly hidden space in the grass. The problem was that it was also our lawn so once in while the lawn mower would uncover the nest, especially when the little bunnies were getting rather big for the tiny nest. Deer tend to nestle down in a deepened area at the base of a tree sort of hidden in the depth of the forest. If one chooses to hike and can do so with much quietness, there are amazing discoveries to be made when out in nature and the wild.
There are also amazing discoveries to be made as one hikes whether out by a lake, on a trail, in the woods, in a park, on a walk through the neighborhood, on a mountain trail etc. I am so amazed at all of the things that God created and I cannot help at times but to wonder, how in the world did God think of all the different plants, animals and people? And also how did God think to create humanity with the ability to enjoy all of this treasure.
In Genesis 1:
24-25 God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
And there it was: wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
God saw that it was good.
26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings, he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”
29-30 Then God said, “I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
And there it was.
31 God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning – Day Six.
Welcome friends and those who are passing by….
Come and sit for a spell in the shade of the tree.
Take off your shoes and socks and let the grass sooth the soles of your feet.
Lean back and take a beep breath – – – –
Listen . . . do you hear the coo of the dove?
Do you hear the rustle of the leaf?
Do you hear the buzz of the bee?
Do you feel the lushness of the green grass on your feet?
Do you feel the air brushing by on your face?
Do you feel how your body relaxes into the chair?
COMING SOON! Don’t forget to sign up for the third seasonal retreat! On December 9, Christine Sine will lead a morning of scripture reading and quiet reflectionthat will be for many of us a much needed oasis of quiet in the midst of this chaotic season.
Waiting…I hate it. I’m really bad at it. I am good at running ahead of God….not waiting on God’s perfect timing. I usually feel that God is late, never early. I will say that in recent years I’m improving. I have learned to pay attention to that desire to run ahead. I stop myself and remember that God’s timing is perfect even if it feels late to me! I stop and ask for directions a lot more often now. Advent is the season of waiting. It’s an opportunity, an INVITATION to wait and prepare for the arrival of Jesus rather than to run full steam to December 25th and his birth.
How do you feel about waiting? What emotions does waiting bring up? Are you good at waiting or would your rather just get on with life? Ask Jesus to show you.
Last week, I asked us to consider starting Advent early this year, and I asked what the invitation of Jesus was to us this year. What is Jesus inviting you and me to be about in the weeks ahead?
If you are like me, your inbox today is filled with Black Friday deals and the rush to get ready for December 25th is already on! What if you stopped for a few moments, made a cup of tea and took time to WAIT on Jesus? Could you get up a few minutes early before all the household work stuff starts up and make a choice to receive the invitation to WAIT ON GOD? to pause and just be with Jesus?
Today I picked a mug for my tea that reminds me that LOVE is the most powerful force for change in the world. It’s a mug designed for tea by Thistlefarms. It’s a great organization that helps women coming out of addiction and trafficking. I need the reminder that LOVE is coming into the World! That Jesus is that LOVE and is inviting me to bring that LOVE to the people and places I live in this crazy season and in this darkened world.
READ PSALM 80 from The Message Bible
Listen, Shepherd, Israel’s Shepherd— get all your Joseph sheep together. Throw beams of light from your dazzling throne So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh can see where they’re going. Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough! Come on the run before it’s too late.
3 God, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.
4-6 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano while your people call for fire and brimstone? You put us on a diet of tears, bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink. You make us look ridiculous to our friends; our enemies poke fun day after day.
7 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.
8-18 Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt, cleared out the brambles and briers and planted your very own vineyard? You prepared the good earth, you planted her roots deep; the vineyard filled the land. Your vine soared high and shaded the mountains, even dwarfing the giant cedars. Your vine ranged west to the Sea, east to the River. So why do you no longer protect your vine? Trespassers pick its grapes at will; Wild pigs crash through and crush it, and the mice nibble away at what’s left. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, turn our way! Take a good look at what’s happened and attend to this vine. Care for what you once tenderly planted— the vine you raised from a shoot. And those who dared to set it on fire— give them a look that will kill! Then take the hand of your once-favorite child, the child you raised to adulthood. We will never turn our back on you; breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name!
19 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation. AMEN
NOW READ ISAIAH 64:1-9
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins.
Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray.Else Berg A potter (MeisterDrucke 609625)
What do you notice?
What does the Holy Spirit Highlight for you?
What questions come up for you as you listened to the passage?
Maybe like the Psalmist you’ve felt like you’ve been on a diet of tears, or maybe you are weeping for the horrific violence happening in Israel and Gaza and in Sudan, Congo, Ukraine etc. Talk to Jesus about where you are and allow him to hold your tears today. Take time to pray for places of violence around the world and around the country. That the Prince of Peace would come down. That LIGHT will be seen in the darkness and that peace will prevail.
NOW grab your coffee or tea.
Sit for a few minutes and let God smile God’s blessing smile on you. How does that feel? Are you willing to receive it? Breathe in God’s love and peace .
Grab a dish cloth/tea towel and use it as a prayer tool .
Consider you heart today….what “filthy rags” have been getting in your way with Jesus? HOLD on to your rag/cloth and talk to Jesus about this. Allow Jesus to remind you to confess your sins and junk to him when you use a rag/clean up cloth this week. Ask Jesus to clean up your filthy rags as you use them to clean things!
Or
Maybe you’ve been feeling dried up like a leaf, or maybe you’re feeling like a lump of clay that is just stuck on the potter’s wheel or a lump of clay dried up in a corner of the studio. Which image resonates with you? Talk to Jesus about this. Allow Jesus to refresh you and mold you.
GRAB some playdough or clay, or plasticine and play with the Clay ask Jesus what he is molding you into right now. Or find some dried leaves and put them somewhere where you will see them regularly to remind you to confess your junk, your sins, and let God bring new life back to you.
“God came to us because he wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving toward the house of peace and joy. This is the great mystery of Christmas that continues to give us comfort and consolation: we are not alone on our journey. The God of love who gave us life sent his only Son to be with us at all times and in all places, so that we never have to feel lost in our struggles but always can trust that he walks with us.
The challenge is to let God be who he wants to be. A part of us clings to our aloneness and does not allow God to touch us where we are most in pain. Often we hide from him precisely those places in ourselves where we feel guilty, ashamed, confused, and lost. Thus we do not give him a chance to be with us where we feel most alone.
Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and to let him—whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend—be our companion.”
Henri Nouwen
We are not alone on our journey. Jesus is walking with us. You are invited not to be afraid. How does this make you feel? Talk to Jesus about this.
The first Sunday of traditional Advent is December 3rd. Those of us who celebrate Celtic Advent are in week 2 of 6. YOU ARE NOT LATE!!!! , just start where you are!
Start today to say yes to the Invitation to WAIT. And to the INVITATION to prepare HIM ROOM. What is on your INVITATION this Advent Season? What is Jesus inviting you to be about? What are you being invited to notice? How are you being invited to WAIT on God with us?
LISTEN
Lord God,
Calm us as we wait for the Gift of Jesus.
Cleanse us so we can prepare the way for his arrival.
Help us to slow down and prepare our hearts.
Give us grace today to love as you love, Help us to love with extravagance.
Help us to wait and take time to be with you.
Help us to be present to the gift of interruptions.
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)
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
I have two Sacred Space Prayer Experiences for Advent and Christmas that you might like to create for your communities. They are great ways to invite people of all ages to pray with ALL YOUR SENSES! Check them out at freerangeworship.com
You can also invite me to come teach you how to create Sacred Spaces and do experiential worship in your church or community! I will set up a Sacred Space and help you get started. Booking for 2024/25 now!
christmas sacred space cover
by Christine Sine
Thankfulness and optimism are not the same thing. Thanksgiving Day in America gives us the opportunity to think about the differences, and to remember the deep significance of thankfulness in God’s economy.
I wrote a book on pastoral care released in 2018 by Fortress Press. One of the people I interviewed talked about the difference between optimism and thankfulness. The context of the interview was a chapter on coping with stress. Caregivers in any context need to know how to deal with their own stress, and they also need to help care recipients cope with stress better. Research shows that optimism helps people survive stress better, because how we think about the things that are happening to us makes a difference.
My interviewee, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, said that optimism can be overemphasized when talking about stress. When we focus on optimism too much, she said, we can slide into denial, which is the refusal to admit the truth or reality of something. She said thankfulness can bring about the same good results as optimism in many difficult situations, but without any denial.
How does this work?
Thankfulness is a choice to focus our eyes on good gifts. Those gifts might come from the people around us – a stimulating conversation, an act of kindness, direct help that meets a need, an encouraging word, a doctor or other professional who gives help we need, or many other specific gifts, big or small, from people in our lives.
Thankfulness also enables us to see God’s good gifts that come directly to us – an answer to a prayer, a situation that works out well despite the odds, inner strength to do something difficult, or peace that passes all understanding. Thankfulness also helps us notice the good gifts in the physical world God created – a delicious meal, the clear eyes of a child, colorful fall leaves and beautiful spring flowers, a vivid sunset, dramatic mountains, and towering clouds.
When we focus on the good gifts that are present in our lives, we do not deny the reality of pain, stress and challenges. Thankfulness involves turning our eyes to see good things even in the midst of those difficulties, and we take a moment to thank the giver of the gift.
Thankfulness nurtures relationship. David Steindl-Rast, in his beautiful book Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer, writes, “When I acknowledge a gift received, I acknowledge a bond that binds me to the giver. . . . The one who says ‘thank you’ to another really says, ‘We belong together.’ Giver and thanksgiver belong together.” [1]
Steindl-Rast wonders if our society suffers so much from alienation because we are reluctant to offer thanks. I agree with him. It seems clear that our friendships and family relationships suffer when we feel uneasy acknowledging bonds with other people, when we hold back from expressing gratitude.
Steindl-Rast points out that everything is a gift, yet we find it hard to acknowledge gifts because we don’t like to admit our dependence. Thankfulness involves acknowledging that we belong with others and with God, and that we depend on the people around us and on God. We are not alone. We are not self-sufficient. We cannot navigate life on our own.
In contrast, when we feel pressure to be optimistic, we often feel we have to generate positivity within ourselves. Optimism can be quite individualistic, while thankfulness nurtures community.
Colossians 2:14-17 gives great advice for living in a challenging, stressful world. Note how thankfulness is woven into these words:
“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Paying attention to the good gifts in our lives is a choice that lays a foundation for joy and nurtures joy. May Thanksgiving Day give you the opportunity to notice many good gifts in your life, and may you continue to notice those gifts as Christmas approaches.
[1] David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer (New York: Paulist Press, 1984), 15-17.
COMING SOON! Don’t forget to sign up for the third seasonal retreat! On December 9, Christine Sine will lead a morning of scripture reading and quiet reflectionthat will be for many of us a much needed oasis of quiet in the midst of this chaotic season.
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