Celtic Advent starts today – may this be a season of blessing, anticipation, and preparation for you. Godspace has been gathering resources to help ground our spiritual practices in creativity, hope, and faithful attention to the Divine surrounding us and our lives. In these busy holiday times it is especially important to take time to prepare ourselves for spiritual growth. There are liturgies, prayers, practices, and perspectives on the season.
We have a whole page of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and New Year resources gathered over the years. This includes a large selection of resources specifically for Celtic Advent. My favourite is the Celtic cards which I use throughout the first few weeks of Advent. They also make great Christmas gifts. One of our most popular store items right now is a bundle of Advent items – Christine’s Advent book, Lean Towards the Light, a journal to go with it and Advent prayer cards. Along with spiritual practice resources we also have some fun resources for the session – Advent in a Jar and Color through Advent.
We also have a list of seasonal resources for gratitude, harvest, and Thanksgiving. In particular we have a list of Thanksgiving prayer resources and one of Christine’s favorite Thanksgiving prayers. We also have a list of harvest prayers and resources from 2015. Back during quarantine Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin recorded a wonderful virtual retreat for the Thanksgiving season which is still available online: Gearing Up for a Season of Gratitude.
We also have resources which are not specifically for Thanksgiving or Advent, but, are so appropriate for a season of hospitality and gift giving. First there is the Godspace Community Cookbook put together last year. It is filled with recipes and stories about them. Then, we also have Walking in Wonder prayer cards which make wonderful gifts or useful treasures to keep for yourself.
Finally we have two Advent virtual retreats, one download, Walking in Wonder through Advent, was recorded a couple of years ago and you can use it to hold your own personal retreat. The other retreat, an Advent Quiet Day, is happening on December 9 and will be led by Christine Sine. Don’t forget to sign up before December 9.
On December 9, Christine Sine 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.
Advent begins tomorrow, at least Celtic and Orthodox Advent. I rarely look forward to the beginning of this season of waiting, reflection and prayer as I am this year.. The violence of wars and mass shootings, the crisis of climate change and the devastation from hurricanes and droughts is overwhelming. We all need times of quiet contemplation, times to wait not passively but actively, times to grieve and pour out our anguish before God, preparing our hearts and our minds for the current over the next few weeks before Christmas and there is no better time to start then now. Why now you might ask? Celtic Christians always prayed and fasted for 40 days in preparation for any major life event, whether it be the planting of a new monastic center, the beginning of a new adventure as well as for preparation for Christmas and Easter. I think it is a great idea and I am not sure when Western Christians shortened advent.
One of the delights of adhering to Celtic Advent for me is that there are no set traditions or observances that we know of, so I feel free to use my imagination and create my own. This year spending time thinking about what I want my sacred space to look like and what practices I want to use each day nourished and brought joy to my soul. My circle of light is complete, with more candles than ever this year and it is a delight to light them each morning as I sit in the dark for my morning time of meditation. This year I have not created an advent garden as such. My whole desk looks like a garden though as I moved several cyclamens and other plants onto it to give me a sense of joy and delight. I looked for a Celtic Advent wreath, with space for six votive candles, but they just don’t exist. So instead I purchased a circular table centerpiece with space for 6 candles. I am still waiting for the Celtic symbol stickers to arrive with which I plan to decorate each candleholder. I also arranged all my Celtic style crosses around my space. Evidently the Celtic monasteries were often surrounded by a circle of crosses as a symbol of protection and I really find comfort in this addition to my space this year. I just wish I had a few more crosses. Finally I pulled out my Celtic prayer cards and additional Celtic prayers as well as my Spotify Celtic Advent playlist to use throughout the coming weeks. I will redecorate the space at the beginning of traditional Advent with some of my Advent icons and prayers.
This week I begin with a simple circling prayer:
God almighty, circle us,
Circle the poor with your justice,
Circle the violent with your peace,
Circle the broken with your wholeness,
God almighty, circle us.
Circle us with the wonder of your love,
Circle us with the beauty of your creating,
Circle us with the glory of your presence.
God Almighty, circle us,
One in three, three in One,
Circle us with the joy of your abiding.
On Godspacelight, my Meditation Monday this week focused on Palestine. Last week I found a beautiful plaque written in Arabic which says Christ/Messiah Saviour of the World. It stirred my prayers even more passionately towards the people of Palestine and also encouraged me to look more into the Christian history of the Palestinian people. I hope you find this as interesting as I did.
In her post for World Kindness Day on Saturday, Make Kindness the Norm, Kathie Hempel quotes Mark Twain “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Then comments: Jesus modeled this literally. Her post is quite inspirational. In her Freerange Friday: Lord remind Me Lilly Lewin posted another inspirational quote, this one from Wendell Berry “Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery.” So much to reflect on in what she shares. On Thursday Lauri Klein shared about a saint who was new to me – St Martin the Merciful who is often featured at autumnal celebrations. I loved the story about him sharing his cloak. On Wednesday, June Friesen’s What Time Is It? really had me thinking. Keeping a prayer journal and writing out my prayers each day is something I will consider for next year.
November is a busy month for all of us. Here in the U.S. we are getting ready for Thanksgiving and so I wanted to remind you of the Thanksgiving resources available at Godspace. You might want to consider using this Liturgy. In the liturgical calendar, we are getting ready for Christ the King Sunday, this year on November 26th. The beginning of traditional Advent is not until December 3rd this year, all the more reason to begin celebrating tomorrow. Check out our Advent and Christmas resources, and the Advent devotionals and other resources available in the Godspace store. And don’t forget it is time to sign up for the Advent Quiet Day, a wonderful way to make sure that you get those sacred pauses that we all need at this season.
Let me end today with a prayer by Father Paul Costello of Rosies which was given to me many years ago on a trip to Australia:
O Jesus,
Make our hearts so human,
That others may feel at home with us,
So like yours,
That others may feel at home with you,
So forgetful of self,
That we might simply become the place where you and they meet.
In the power of your love,
And the joy of your friendship
Amen
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by Christine Sine
Last week I cleaned out a cupboard that has not been touched since Tom and I were married over 30 years ago. It was a trove of long forgotten treasures. Amongst them was this beautiful plaque inlaid with mother of pearl. It is written in Arabic and says Christ/Messiah Saviour of the World. A couple of days later I met with a friends who spent several months working on the West Bank amongst Palestinian Christians. I too remember meeting many Palestinian Christians during my own visit to Israel/Palestine, especially in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
My heart aches these days for the Palestinian people and this plaque has triggered not just many prayers for the horrors of what is going on in Gaza at the moment, and for the Palestinian Christians caught up in the conflict but also a strong desire to know more about the people of Palestine and especially the Christian heritage of the area.
According to the Palestinian Portal, a site that I find is a great meeting place and resource for the churches organizations and faith-based communities – local, regional, national and global – committed to the justice movement for Israel/Palestine:
Palestinian Christians are often called the ‘living stones’ of Christianity as they can trace their history to the birth of the Church in this land 2,000 years ago. Ancestors of some families have been in the Holy Land ever since, while others migrated there in later centuries. Therefore they should be understood to be indigenous people of the Holy Land, not immigrants and not recent converts. In fact, they are the oldest Christian population on earth.
Unfortunately many Christians in other countries do not even know there are Christians in Palestine and view the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a religious conflict between Muslims and Jews, rather than the struggle over land it truly is. Yet Christians around the world owe much to these indigenous believers and their faithful stewardship of the holiest sites of Christianity.
That is what I remember from our time in Jerusalem and Palestine. The Christians we met with, mainly Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican, are very sincere in their faith and proud of their amazing heritage and the impact it continues to have on their lives and in our lives as well. They have often been the ones who helped maintain and protect the most holy sites including the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and other sites in Bethlehem. Many of us have olive wood Christmas ornaments and creches made in Bethlehem by some of these Christians. Bethlehem is on the West Bank, and is freely accessed by Palestinian Christians, however:
One of the most painful restrictions of the occupation are the limits on their freedom to worship. Tourists from around the world can visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, believed to be the site of Jesus’ burial tomb, yet Palestinian Christians who live only a few miles away cannot reach it without a special permit that they can rarely obtain, even during the Easter season.
Christians in Palestine now only constitute 2% of the population, down from almost 10% in 1922. There are also many Palestinian Christians who are descendants of Palestinian refugees from the post-1948 era who fled to Christian-majority countries and formed large diaspora Christian communities. Worldwide, there are nearly one million Palestinian Christians. I well remember meeting with several here in Seattle and hear the stories of injustice, not from the Muslim Palestinians who supported and encouraged their presence, but from the Zionists who pushed them out of their homes and their country.
Now don’t get me wrong. I do not condone the violence that Hamas perpetrated at the beginning of this current conflict, but the ongoing atrocities and violence, the devastation caused by the Israelis is just as bad, if not worse.
Interestingly, St George, the patron saint of England, was a Palestinian. Palestinians also reverend celebrate the early Christian martyr. For them he is a local hero who opposed the persecution of his fellow Christians in the Holy Land. “We believe he was a great martyr for his faith who defended the Christian faith and values,” says Greek Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna. St George was a Roman soldier during the Third Century AD, whose mother was Palestinian. It is said that he once lived in al-Khadr near Bethlehem, on land owned by his mother’s family. The saint is remembered for giving away his possessions and remaining true to his religion when he was imprisoned and tortured before he was finally executed. There are many churches in the West Bank and Israel that bear the name of St George – at al-Khadr, Lod and in the Galilee.
As we gather in church each week, we share a call to worship followed by the lighting of a Peace Lamp and a prayer before passing the peace. A couple of weeks ago Peter Lagerwey at our church composed the liturgy below. It is my prayer for all of us as we move towards Advent and Christmas and live in expectation of the coming once again of Christ/Messiah, Saviour of the World. It is my prayer especially as we look at Israel/Palestine and the many other place of violence today. It is a prayer of longing and hope:
As we gather this morning,
The Mighty One invites us to be quiet; to come near.
As we witness yet another week of unrelenting violence in a broken and fractured world,
The Mighty One invites us to remember we are beloved.
As we feel surrounded, suffocated, and seduced
by the false promise of security through military might,
The Mighty One invites us to remember we are indeed God’s own.
We cannot worship both the Mighty One
and the false gods of consumerism, militarism and nationalism
We must choose.
The Mighty One is our God. The mighty One is our God.
(Here we pause to light the Peace lamp. You might like to light a candle too.)
We long for a just peace, we pray for a just peace, we choose to live for a just peace. Peace be with you, and also with you.
The theme of this year’s World Kindness Day is simple. Yet making kindness the norm is not. I am not a fan of truisms that become catchphrases, as we tend not to consider them as deeply as we should. So let me start here: kindness is not an option. It is a covenant requirement.
1 Peter:4-7
…by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; to virtue knowledge; 6 to knowledge self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance godliness; 7 to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. (NKJV)
As people of faith, we are called upon to give “all diligence” to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Notice how what leads to love is kindness The greatest commandment in Matthew tells us we love God first and then Man. Again, this is not an option or suggestion. We are called to kindness.
How well are we doing?
Isaiah 54:10
“…For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you. (NKJV)
Kindness is directly linked to the covenant of peace. We need to think about that. We need to pray for that.
Jeremiah 2:2
Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord:
“I remember you,
The kindness of your youth,
The love of your betrothal,
When you went after Me in the wilderness,
In a land not sown. (NKJV)
God remembers and reveres kindness. Kindness in the wilderness we find ourselves in. We are to show this not only to those we know, who are our friends but everywhere in lands “not sown.” He sent his son into the world to sow the seeds of true faith which Jesus showed us through kindness.
Jesus’ last act was to leave us with his Spirit, sown into our very being so that we might have the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Kindness is at their center, it holds them all together within the bookends of love and self-control. All bequeathed to us by Jesus himself, so we might follow and represent his Father on earth.
Mark Twain wrote: “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Jesus modeled this literally.
“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness,” penned Seneca, born four years before the death of Christ, who died aged 65 in Rome. He was a philosopher, statesman, orator, tragedian, and Rome’s leading intellectual figure in the mid-1st century. When Paul was in Rome, Seneca would most assuredly have heard of his message of kindness.
I love what the Dalai Lama is credited with saying: “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Of course, it is! However, as Maya Angelou cautioned, “it takes courage to be kind.”
Courage to stand up, as Jesus did, against racism, antisemitism, bullies on any playground, and hatred, wherever it exists, even when shown by those who claim faith, moral or ethnic superiority, and who seem to thump a Bible very different from our own.
The covenant of kindness is not a one-sided gift to us. It is a commandment and is to be dispensed on behalf of a loving God through us.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop
Explore the Advent resources that Godspace Light has been collecting over the years. Liturgies, activities, music… all gathered to help you add meaning and beauty to your Advent season, Christmas and New Year.
I have talked to several people recently who aren’t really ready for Thanksgiving this year. It feels hard to get excited about celebrating when things feel so heavy and people are suffering. It’s not that we aren’t grateful, it’s the reality of all the grief.
The news in our world is so dark and the conflicts are so violent and controversial. My heart breaks and I pray for peace. I pray for a ceasefire and an end to war in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. I pray for our congress who cannot figure out compassion and condemn people for speaking their truth. I pray for the people who are adding to their stock portfolios because weapons of war make tons of money. I feel that war is always about money and power, not about what they say. And killing people breeds more violence and incites more revenge, not less. Not too mention the looming election and the campaign for president next year. I am honestly pre-dreading it all.
I need Jesus to remind me of his love.
We had another senseless killing in Nashville this week due to gun violence. A person shooting randomly at a car critically wounded a college freshman out taking a walk in a park near her campus. It’s easier for someone to get a gun than to get a passport in this state. It’s easier to get a gun than to get a drivers license. And the shooter was incompetent to stand trial for another gun violence incident but could still be out on the street and have access to guns LEGALLY! My friend author Bonnie Smith Whitehouse said yesterday on her instagram that she hadn’t worn mascara since March 27, 2023 because she never knows when she might start weeping. March 27th is when the Covenant School Shooting happened here in Nashville. Bonnie is a professor at Belmont where the college freshman who died was a student. These two places are with in 3-5 miles of my house. I drive by these places every week.
I need Jesus to remind me of your love.
Maybe you do too.
Yesterday when I was walking Jake, I found a random rose bush still in full bloom, filled with PINK ROSES. Pink Flowers are gifts from Jesus, reminders to me that God loves me AND is still in control! I sure needed this reminder!
Do you have a symbol or a thing that Jesus uses to remind you of his love for you? In Bonnie’s book Seasons of Wonder, she talks about Rainbows being her sign. She has friends who will call and text her when they see a rainbow and she will run outside to see it too! In Seasons of Wonder , Bonnie invites us to let the month of November POINT us to LOVE!
Seasons of Wonder
What are things that can remind you of the LOVE OF JESUS this month?
Who are the people who remind you of God’s great love for you?
Maybe make that phone call or go have lunch with that person this month and reconnect.
Maybe host Thanksgiving anyway and invite some extra friends.
There is a great song, it’s a Christmas song, but I ‘m listening to it ahead of time called “Lord Remind Me! ” It’s helping a lot. Here are the words and here are two versions of it to listen to.
I pray that you will find LOVE this November in the midst of everything.
Bonnie starts her November chapter with this quote from Wendell Berry
“Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery.”
LORD REMIND ME
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
christmas sacred space cover
Check out resources for ADVENT and CHRISTMAS Sacred Spaces at Freerangeworship .com
by Laurie Klein
Every November 11th, across the world, ancient, autumnal festivities honor St. Martin the Merciful. Gatherings may include lantern parades, bonfires, stories, wine tasting, and more.
Born in the 4th century, Martin radiated kindness lifelong. For a time, he served Emperor Constantine in the Roman army. One legend tells of the winter he met a man in rags, begging near the city gate. Martin drew his sword. The shivering outcast must have crumpled, expecting a death blow.
Instead, the saint-in-the-making slashed his military cape of wool, then wrapped half of it around the freezing man.
That night, Jesus appeared in Martin’s dreams wearing the poor man’s cape, telling the angels that Martin had clothed him, too.
Increasingly, Martin’s faith conflicted with soldiering, so he resigned his post. Denounced as a traitor, he was thrown into prison. Finally released, he moved to France, where his merciful care for those in need drew notice. Eventually, local townsfolk insisted he become their bishop. An old story claims he hid in a pen of geese to escape being tapped for holy office.
But those flustered honkers gave him away.
True or not, history confirms he became bishop, beloved by all.
Another popular account depicts Martin resting one evening among the dunes—where his donkey abandoned him. Local children, seeing the bishop limp back into the village, armed themselves with lanterns and gave chase. Finally, exultantly, they returned with the animal. In gratitude, so the story goes, Martin miraculously transformed the donkey’s droppings … into sweet rolls.
To this day, volaerens (Flemish for buns shaped like donkey turds) deck the shelves in Dunkerque bakeries.
Celebrants worldwide also light bonfires or roast a goose or bake gingerbread men. Some communities stage contests for the best “root print”: entrants carve beets, then ink and print the patterns to mark the year’s final harvest.
School children make lanterns to commemorate the rescue of Martin’s runaway donkey, then parade with them from house to house, singing carols about light.
Laterne, Laterne
Sonne, Mond und Sterne
Brenne auf, mein Licht,
Brenne auf, mein Licht
Aber nur meine liebe Laterne nicht.
Lantern, Lantern,
Sun, moon and stars,
Burn, my light,
Burn, my light,
But not only the light of my dear lantern.
Words like these suggest the radiant love of Christ among us, both today and long ago—the same love that moved Martin to intercede for the poor, viewing them as equals.
In 2007, on St. Martin’s Day, Pope Benedict XVI, perhaps reflecting on the Legend of the Cape, said this:
May St. Martin help us to understand that only by means of a common commitment to sharing is it possible to respond to the great challenge of our times: to build a world of peace and justice where each person can live with dignity.
I long to impart this ideal—along with some fun—to my family. And so I imagine my grandkids re-enacting the wintry beggar scene: the bitter cold, a light saber, small hands tearing an old sheet in two.
I’ve already bought lanterns with battery candles at the Dollar Store. Before parading through the neighborhood park, we’ll don mufflers and crazy hats, then belt out “This Little Light of Mine” and “I Saw the Light.”
Maybe I’ll teach the English version of “Ich geh mit meiner Laterne”
I Walk with My Lantern
I walk with my lantern,
And my lantern with me.
There above, the stars shine,
And we shine here below.
My light is off,
I go home,
Rabimmel, rabammel, rabumm.
Because . . . who wouldn’t want to sing Rabimmel, rabammel, rabumm?
My little ones will love the miraculous tale about donkey turds! I could even bake volaerens. After our procession at dusk, I just might win over the beet-averse with this great recipe: “Beet, Goat Cheese & Honey Tart” (directions below). For backup, I’ll also bake gingerbread men. The kids can decorate them with raisin eyes, a halo of lemon zest, and a crimson, half-cape of icing.
In this life we cannot know how much we owe to saints we have never heard of,
or to saints who live with us unrecognized, but there are a few saints
whose light sends such a beam through the darkness of this world
that the darkness not only cannot extinguish it
but is forced to recognize it and cannot forget it. —Elizabeth Goudge
Fellow celebrants, let’s light up a life. A family. A culture. The long, cold night.
***
Libby’s Exquisite Beet, Goat Cheese & Honey Tart (6 servings)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten
6 oz. spreadable goat cheese (or cream cheese)
1 can Libby’s Sliced Beets, drained
¼ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
1 T. crushed pistachios
3-4 T. honey
1 T. chopped chives (or green onion tops)
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Gently unfold pastry on baking sheet, brush with egg.
Spread cheese over egg wash. Layer beet slices on top. Add seasonings and nuts.
Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove and drizzle with honey. Garnish with chives.
Make a lantern https://www.theomaway.com/children/st-martins-day-lanterns/
Find the songs (with simple animation) here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Nl0beM6pc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f6StA8aduE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_yBTKBxZiI
Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash
As this season of gratitude, holidays and holy days begins, don’t forget to explore the resources here on Godspace. You can find liturgies, children’s activities and more seasonal resources here.
by June Friesen
Time – what is time? The online dictionary defines it as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.” As I consider time I am intrigued at how we as a human race embrace time in so many different ways. For some time is accepted rather easily, for others they wish that time would stand still for a while so that they could just be, still others wish that time would move more quickly as they want to get on to new things or experiences in their lives and then others just wish it would slow down. So I ask the question, ‘Is time any different than it was at the time when God created the universe?’ And maybe even a more important question to ask oneself is ‘what should I do with my time to make it more useful or more productive, etc.?’ But given all this discussion I have opened here I want to specifically address that as in the photo below it is time to bow one’s head from time to time and show gratitude and respect to God for everything it is that we have to enjoy, whether it is in abundance or just adequate or at times maybe it seems a bit inadequate.
I must admit that when I observed this bird for a while I was challenged as well as intrigued – what is he doing? Why is he sitting there with his head against his chest? I was not close enough to see if his eyes were closed or not, but he was sitting very still – as if showing respect and honor to his Creator. During autumn in the United States and Canada we find ourselves focusing on being thankful. It is the season of autumn or fall which is also our season of harvest. The produce of the labor and working of the farmers and farm laborers is gathered or being gathered and the land and plants are prepared for the season of winter rest which is ahead. Let us look at a couple of Scriptures as we direct our attitude towards gratitude.
O my soul, bless God! God, my God, how great you are! beautifully, gloriously robed, dressed up in sunshine, and all heaven stretched out for your tent. You built your palace on the ocean deeps, made a chariot out of clouds and took off on wind-wings. You commandeered winds as messengers, appointed fire and flame as ambassadors. You set earth on a firm foundation so that nothing can shake it, ever. You blanketed earth with ocean, covered the mountains with deep waters; Then you roared and the water ran away— your thunder crash put it to flight. Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out in the places you assigned them. You set boundaries between earth and sea; never again will earth be flooded. You started the springs and rivers, sent them flowing among the hills. All the wild animals now drink their fill, wild donkeys quench their thirst. Along the riverbanks the birds build nests, ravens make their voices heard. You water the mountains from your heavenly reservoirs; earth is supplied with plenty of water. You make grass grow for the livestock, hay for the animals that plow the ground. Oh yes, God brings grain from the land, wine to make people happy, their faces glowing with health, a people well-fed and hearty. God’s trees are well-watered— the Lebanon cedars he planted. Birds build their nests in those trees; look—the stork at home in the treetop. Mountain goats climb about the cliffs; badgers burrow among the rocks.
Jeremiah 5: 23-24 – ‘How can we honor our God with our lives, The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn and maintains the rhythm of the seasons, Who sets aside time each year for harvest and keeps everything running smoothly for us?”
As you read these verses what caught your spirit up in gratitude? Mountains, water, animals, trees, birds, the order of the universe, …… Or did you find yourself reading through the verses in anticipation of what was coming after the verses? So often I find myself reading things yet afterwards I cannot really remember what it was that I really read or at least what the full meaning of it was. For me that means that I need to take the time to slow down, the time to concentrate on what it is that I am reading, or maybe what I am praying. A number of years ago I was challenged to pray with a prayer diary. I faithfully wrote out my daily prayers as letters to God nearly every day for several years. Yes, I admit that I stopped doing it, picked it up for a while from time to time but have not been doing it consistently. One thing that was very meaningful to me in that practice is how and when God would answer my prayers. I have started a prayer diary again, not quite as extensive but none the less it is a discipline to get me to be conscious of my time sitting with God in prayer. You may want to try it – start slow at first – find someplace comfortable – or sometimes do it in nature (weather permitting), sometimes nestled snug and warm, sometimes at a table to stay alert….. Or another practice is a gratitude journal. It is a practice I did for several years and it literally changed how I looked at my life and the world around me.
TIME TO BE GRATEFUL
As I ponder the world around me today God
There is so many gifts that You have given to humanity (and I am included) –
Thank you for Your favor on all –
For some it is more and for some it is less – but we are grateful for what we have.
Thank you for the creation around us –
The universe out in space –
Well, we are kind of out in space as well
Just that we inhabit one of the planets You created to support human life
And so much more.
Thank you for the plants –
So many kinds that we are unable to count them all –
And for most of us we have not even seen them all –
But they are so helpful to sustaining our lives.
They help give us protection in the storms of life,
They give us shade from the heat of the sun at noonday,
They provide the atmosphere with extra oxygen in the night time,
And many of them provide nourishment for humanity and animals.
And then of course there are the bushes and plants –
Oh what a glorious abundance of things they gift to us –
Flowers of so much beauty,
Seeds that nourish the animals as well as humanity –
Vegetables and fruits –
So much variety – and ways to enjoy –
Right from the harvest, some cooked, some made to juice, and so much more…
The trees provide shelter, they provide shade,
They are a wonder at how they grow and give sustenance
And so much life.
God today we have been challenged to take time –
Time out to appreciate Your gifts to us in so many ways –
Help us also learn from creation around us the gift of taking time –
Just as the bird at the beginning with head bowed in the fullness of day
Saw it necessary to pause in ‘bird gratitude’ –
May we take the time to remember that You created each of us
To take time out to be grateful to You as well –
Just because……
photos by June Friesen, Scripture from The Message Translation.
Explore the Advent resources that Godspace Light has been collecting over the years. Liturgies, activities, music… all gathered to help you add meaning and beauty to your Advent season, Christmas and New Year.
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