Last year we produced a series of podcasts on the theme Coming Home Uncovering our roots in the Advent story. I enjoyed these so much that I have been listening to them again this year and thought that some of you would enjoy them too and so decided to repost them.
Advent Podcast #1
Story by Christine Sine
Music by Tara Ward, The Opiate Mass and Church of the Beloved
Reflection by Dr. Chelle Stearns, Seattle School of Theology and Psychology Seattle WA
Meditation by Christine Sine, Mustard Seed Associates. This meditation contains the text for last year’s Advent meditation video Come Home to God
Produced by Ryan Marsh, Church of the Beloved
Listen now:
Or right click this link and save to your computer: Advent Podcast Week One
This is the first of a series of podcasts produced by Ryan Marsh of Church of the Beloved, that will be posted at the beginning of each week of Advent.
The first podcast focuses on the coming of Christ as an infant. This is the first coming that Advent invites us to experience. The remembrance of Jesus coming in the flesh as an infant. It captivates our hearts yet makes few, if any demands on our souls. For many the story is nothing more than a children’s story, a soothing tale that is little more than an add on to the secular celebration of consumption and overindulgence.
As you await the coming of Christ what are you hoping for? Join us each day this week for additional reflections, liturgies and prayers on our theme.
And don’t forget our other Mustard Seed resources including these beautiful prayer cards that we have put together. Your purchase of these resources is one way to help support the Godspace blog and the ministry of Mustard Seed Associates.
We hope that you will also join us next week for our second podcast:
Week Two of Coming Home
Story by Jim and Donna Mathwig
Music by Aaron Strumpel, In Mansions and Church of the Beloved
Reflection by Dr. Dwight Freisen, Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, Seattle WA
Meditation by Christine Sine, Mustard Seed Associates
Produced by Ryan Marsh, Church of the Beloved
Week Three of Coming Home
Story by Jim and Donna Mathwig
Music by Tracie Whisperly, In Mansions and Church of the Beloved
Reflection by Rev. Karen Ward, All Souls Episcopal Church, Portland, OR
Meditation by Christine Sine, Mustard Seed Associates
Produced by Ryan Marsh, Church of the Beloved, Edmonds WA
Week Four of Coming Home
Story by Mustard Seed House
Music by Lacey Brown, In Mansions and Church of the Beloved
Reflection by Tom Sine, Mustard Seed Associates
Meditation by Christine Sine, Mustard Seed Associates
Produced by Ryan Marsh, Church of the Beloved, Edmonds WA
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Scripture readings: Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 1 Corinthians1:3-9; Mark 13:24-27
Opening Prayer
Here we are again, Lord,
your children at your feet.
May this be a blessed time,
a precious time,
a getting-to-know-you-better time,
a family time,
Here we are again Lord;
bless us as we meet.
Adoration
A light shines
through the darkness,
and hope comes to those
who wait patiently
for their salvation
to be revealed.
For your promises
will be fulfilled
both in this world
and in the next.
Human wisdom
withers away,
but your word,
once received,
endures eternally.
Confession
Here is a fire
within our hearts
ignited by your love and grace.
which we carry with us
on our walk with you:
Forgive us
when that flame is dampened
by the temptations
of the day.
By your Spirit’s breath
revive us.
Lord of light and life,
we pray.
Thanksgiving
In this season
of Advent and expectation,
may the lives we live
and the words we speak
be focused on thanksgiving,
even if this world,
as in days gone by,
would rather choose to ignore your coming.
Let our witness and testimony
be a compass,
pointing toward a different
and altogether more glorious destination.
Today’s prayers are written by John Birch and are published in his excellent new book The Act of Prayer: Praying Through the Lectionary. which contains over 700 lectionary linked prayers. Used with permission
Our invitation to shape Advent this year around the theme Who Will You Invite to the Manger? is bearing fruit. Emma Morgan at Eastern Hills Community Church in Sydney Australia has shaped their Advent services around this theme and I thought that some of you too might be inspired by what she has put together. All images are from life at Eastern Hills Community Church.
Weekly Advent Nativity Activity – Santons in the Church and Home.
Each week we will bring a Nativity scene, made from fabric and paper mache figures of Christ’s family and other figures of different ages.
Each week the church community will add new objects of welcome to the scene as part of the ‘Santons in the church prayer activity’. Each week the community will take home a print out of the ‘santons in the home’ prayer activity.
Introduction to read in church for the ‘Santons’ prayer activity
There is a traditional French custom in which santons ‘little saints’ from the local village are placed in a traditional Nativity scene. The little saints come wearing their work clothes to visit the Holy family. They bring the Christ child presents they have made or grown, hunted or sold. They perform of offer simple gestures of thoughtfulness. The shepherds summon all the villagers.
The baker brings a special loaf marked with a cross baked only at Christmas time, the vegetable merchant, soap maker, cheese vendor, and wine grower bring their produce. The grandmother has knitted socks for baby Jesus and a woman brings soup for Mary’s recovery. A gypsy often despised as a thief brings her baby and a tamborine to sing to Jesus. The humble boy brings only a bundle of sticks for a fire to keep the baby warm. A poor old man, who thinks he has nothing to give the Baby, holds his lantern and offers to light the way for others. Santons come from all occupations and all classes of society, all ages of people, are represented.
Each week as we gather in worship we will reflect on whom we welcome to manger, who we invite to share in this good news. As we leave this place into everyday lives we will bring a unique offering of thanks to God from our humble week. We are all shepherds of welcome, we are all santons with a gift to bring.
Advent Week 1 – Nov 30 – Keep Awake
Reading: Mark 13:24-37
Santons in the church Advent week 1:
Leader brings a fruit bowl and place in manger scene. Provide a small piece of plasticine for each person and print ‘Santons in the home’ for each person.
All times of the day are sacred. Our reading from Mark today talks of the possibility of God returning at any possible moment; Evening, midnight, before dawn or in the morning. This reminds us of the meals of the day, the times where we reach for a cup of water or tea. God is alongside us, working out his purposes in all moments, resting with us when we eat and drink.
This is the first week of our ‘santon’ Nativity scene. As a church community we ask ourselves ‘Who do we welcome to the manger?’ We will begin our Nativity scene by inviting those close to our heart, people in our family or close friends. Those we might share a meal with.
We ask the Spirit to remind us of someone close to our heart – a family member or close friend who we want to bring to this manger of hope. Consider them as you make a piece of fruit from the plasticine and place it in the bowl here at the manger. As you make this fruit you are praying welcome for them.
Santons in the Home Advent week 1: Offer a meal to God this week. Be mindful and prayerful as you prepare it or purchase it for yourself or others. May it be a blessing to those close to your heart. May they know that Christ is near, Hope is near, Love is near with every mouthful.
To read at home: 1 Corinth 1:1-9.
Advent Week 2 – Dec 7 – New Things
Reading: Mark 1:1-8
Santons in the Church Advent week 2:
Leader brings a dish or large cup and place in manger scene. Provide a plastic shot glass of water for each person and print ‘Santons in the home’ for each person.
It is hard to imagine the coming of Jesus and the Holy Spirit into our human experience, into our history. Our reading from Mark today shows us that such an amazing new thing was announced by a wild and wonderful man. He offered one type of cleansing but Jesus and the Spirit were about to bring something altogether new.
This is the second week of our ‘santon’ Nativity scene. As a church community we ask ourselves ‘Who do we welcome to the manger?’ Today we add to our nativity scene by inviting those who may be new to our lives or those who aren’t so new but where a new relationship might be growing. People God may be drawing us closer to.
We ask the Spirit to remind us of a new relationship in our lives that we want to bring to this manger of hope. Consider them as you pour some water into this cup here at the manger. As you pour this water you are praying welcome for them.
Santons in the Home Advent week 2
Offer a drink to God this week, be mindful and prayerful as you pour it, bottle it or buy it for yourself or others. May it be a blessing to a new relationship in your life. May they know that Christ is near, Hope is near, Love is near with every sip.
To read at home: Psalm 85:1-2,8-13.
Advent week 3 – Dec 14 – Hope here with us
Reading: John 1:6-28
Santons in the Church Advent week 3:
Leader brings a basket and places it in the manger scene. Provide a small flower for each person and print ‘Santons in the home’ for each person.
Gods ways of love and provision spring up gently around us. Our reading from John today shows us that through the daily kindness of Jesus we saw the truth of God. Daily we see the truth and provision of God, in kindness, in faithfulness and service.
This is the third week of our ‘santon’ Nativity scene. As a church community we ask ourselves ‘Who do we welcome to the manger?’ Today we add to our nativity scene by inviting those from our daily life who serve us with kindness and faithfulness. Our trolley pushers, our coffee pourers, our librarians, our teachers, farmers and check-out workers. People who bless us in service.
We ask the Spirit to remind us of someone who serves us that we may take for granted, who we want to bring to this manger of hope. Consider them as you place a flower in this basket here at the manger. As you place the flower you are praying welcome for them.
Santons in the Home Advent week 3
Offer a good thing from your life to God this week. It might be books from the library, a coffee, nice fruit, a full wardrobe, a good education. Consider this thing, be mindful and prayerful as you enjoy it and be open to how you might bless those who made it possible for you to enjoy it. May it be a blessing to a person who serves in your life. May they know that Christ is near, Hope is near, Love is near with your appreciation.
To read at home: Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11.
Advent week 4 – Dec 21 – A song I sing
Reading: Luke 1:47-55.
Santons in the Church Advent Week 4
Leader brings a violin case or instrument case and place it in the manger scene. Provide a small piece of paper with “Then He appeared and the Soul felt it’s worth” written on it for each person and print of ‘Santons in the home’ for each person.
We worship a God of justice. Our reading from Luke today is a song that shows us that God brings mercy to everyone who worships Him. God uses his power to bring justice from high places and thrones to low places where there is hunger and thirst. We rejoice in being a part of this song of love in the world.
This is the fourth week of our ‘Santon’ Nativity scene. As a church community we ask ourselves ‘Who do we welcome to the manger?’ Today we add to our nativity scene by inviting those on our hearts who thirst for God’s justice and provision. People who feel forgotten, estranged, desperate, unable to manage.
We ask the Spirit to remind us of someone or some people who need God’s mercy, welcome and justice. Consider them as you place a song here in the violin case at the manger. As you bring the song you are praying welcome for them.
Santons in the Home Advent Week 4
Offer a song to God this week, be mindful and prayerful as you listen to it, sing it or write it. May it be a moment that draws yourself and those who you pray justice for into God’s presence. Listen to anything God sings back to you. May they know that Christ is near, Hope is near, Love is near with every note.
To read at home: Psalm 89:1-18
Christmas Day – Dec 25 – Here is Peace
Reading: Luke 2:1-20
Santons in the Church Christmas Day
Leader brings a cloth and place it in the manger scene. Provide a small piece of paper cut out as a person and a pen for each person and print of ‘Santons in the home’ for each person.
Our reading from Luke today is a noisy, smelly and colourful gathering around the birth of a child. The shepherds considered outcasts, exhausted family and animals all gathered in wonder, surprise and confusion around this tiny baby, this fragile gift to the universe.
This is the fifth week of our ‘santon’ Nativity scene. As a church community we have been asking ourselves ‘Who do we welcome to the manger?’ To this place of hope. Today we add to our nativity scene by bringing ourselves. We come here to celebrate something we will never fully understand but something we desire to draw close to in some way anyhow.
We ask the Spirit to take our wonder and blessings to God this morning as we draw a picture of ourselves. Bring this picture of you and place it on the cloth at the manger. Everyone is welcome, from the angels to the animals to the birth of something wonderful.
Santons in the Home Christmas Week
Offer God your arms this week. Arms that are perhaps tired from all the responsibilities of this season.
Be mindful and prayerful as you sit for a moment with your arms at rest. Picture all the people your arms have to care for or things they have to do for others. Be open to God’s blessing and arms holding you.
May you know that Christ is near, Hope is near, Love is near with every breath.
Read: Hebrews 2:5-12
Christmas 1 – Dec 28 – Lights
Reading: Luke 2:22-40
Santons in the Church Christmas 1
Leader brings a book cover and place it in the manger scene. Provide a small piece of paper that fits in the book and a pen for each person and print ‘Santons in the home’ for each person.
Jesus with us causes some to fall, some to kneel and some to stand. Our reading from Luke today shows us the amazing faith of our Christian family. A people who have been passing down to us all that they have seen of God with their own eyes. The bible and other writings of faithful Christians are a treasure for us. A light to us.
This is the sixth and final week of our ‘santon’ Nativity scene. As a church community we have been asking ourselves, ‘Who do we welcome to the manger?’ Today we finish our nativity scene by bringing saints of the past and present who have been faithful in passing on God’s word to us. We ask the Spirit to remind us of someone or some people who have been teachers and role models to us in our Christian journey. Those who have shown us how to follow Jesus, who have encouraged us.
Consider them as you write their name or draw them on a page and place it here at the manger. As you place the page here in the book you are praying blessing and thanks for those who have welcomed you here, to this place of hope.
Santons in the Home Christmas 1
Offer a time of reading to God this week, be mindful and prayerful as you set some time apart to read a passage or part of a book that has been an encouragement to your faith in the past. May it be a moment that draws you into God’s presence and brings you close to the Saints who been light to you. Be open to where your light may shine this week. May the Earth know that Christ is near, Hope is near, Love is near with every star above them.
To read at home: Psalm 148.
I have been posting thanksgiving prayers and quotes on the Light for the Journey Facebook page all week and thought that you might enjoy some of my favourites. Don’t forget to check out my thanksgiving liturgy for this year too.
Let me start with my favourite thanksgiving scriptures:
And some other inspired prayers:
Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life… a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year — and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God. ~Ray Stannard Baker
Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more–a grateful heart:
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose Pulse may be
Thy Praise.
~~George Herbert 1593-1633
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
From the Book of Common Prayer:
Accept O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendour of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side. We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us. We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen
A Catholic blessing (adapted from the liturgy and prayers for Thanksgiving Day):
Father, we join all creation, in heaven and on Earth, in praising you, our mighty God. You made man and woman in your own likeness and set them over your wonderful creation. You gave them a destiny, when you brought them out of bondage to a land of freedom, as they carried with them the promise that all would be blest and free. What the prophets pledged was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
It has come to pass in every generation, as it happened to our parents, who came to this land as if out of the desert into a place of promise and hope. It happened to those pilgrims and Native Americans who gathered in thanksgiving on that first Thanksgiving Day for the bounty of this land. And it happens to us still, as you call us to a vision of peace.
And so on this Thanksgiving Day, with hearts full of love, we give thanks for all the blessings we have received this past year. We offer this prayer of praise and thanksgiving through our Lord, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
A beautiful Jewish Thanksgiving Prayer by Rabbi Naomi Levy.
For the laughter of the children,
For my own life breath,
For the abundance of food on this table,
For the ones who prepared this sumptuous feast,
For the roof over our heads,
The clothes on our backs,
For our health,
And our wealth of blessings,
For this opportunity to celebrate with family and friends,
For the freedom to pray these words
Without fear,
In any language,
In any faith,
In this great country,
Whose landscape is as vast and beautiful as her inhabitants.
Thank You, God, for giving us all these. Amen.
I love this beautiful Native American Thanksgiving prayer:
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.
Now our minds are one. Read the entire prayer
Some of you may remember that last year I started an Advent garden. I found it such a stimulus to my daily meditations that I encouraged you to join me in the practice this year. I have replanted the garden, repainted my signs and started with fresh candles. It now sits on my office desk as a reminder of the season. I am lighting the gratitude candle each day this week as a focus for my prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving. Next week I will add the hope candle then the peace candle, followed by joy and in the last week of Advent the candle that represents love.
I am also working on a Come to the Manger Wreath and am finding not just that it is drawing me closer to God but also to those whose photos I am adding to the wreath. I hope to unveil the wreath, at least in its initial stages tomorrow.
All of us need a focus for our reflections and prayers at this season and I think it is particularly helpful to have some symbol of the season that decorates our workplace or that travels with us. Here in the U.S. we are constantly barraged with images of the consumer culture and with Black Friday only a few days away the intensity of the onslaught is overwhelming. Images of our faith refocus us. When we have created those images ourselves they are even more powerful.
It is good for us to remember at this season that happiness does not come from what we have. According to Catherine Sanderson, the James E. Ostendarp Professor of Psychology happiness comes from exercise, giving to others and getting out into nature. Her number one recommendation for increasing happiness is to keep a gratitude journal something that I think is well worth emphasizing as we head towards Thanksgiving and then into Black Friday.
She also suggests that we figure out our strengths and find ways to use them, another great suggestion for the holiday season. What are the strengths you have that can be used at this season to bless and encourage the lives of others? Finding ways to use our time and our resources at this season to reach out to others is far more satisfying then spending it on ourselves. The success of my post What About Simplifying This Christmas tells me that I am not the only one who is disgusted with the commercialization of the season.
What are you doing to make this a more Christ centred, less commercial Christmas? What are the symbols you are using to focus your heart and your life on what really matters? I would love to hear from you. Our sharing so often helps others find a focus too.
Yesterday I drew this trinity spiral. I hesitated before I wrote Father on the stone because I know that for many of my friends calling God father speaks of a patriarchal God they are not willing to accept. I too have eagerly embraced non patriarchal images of God – Creator, Eternal One, Holy One being some of the terms I prefer.
This morning as I grappled with this I realized how often I leave my own father out of the picture and I wonder if I do the same with God. My own father was a violent and an unapproachable man. He had known little love in his own upbringing and I think was incapable of showing love to his family. We all lived in fear of his rages and leaving home was a way to escape the fear and the violence.
My early images of God were very much of an unapproachable Father, an emperor figure on a throne, distant and uninterested in the pain and suffering of humankind. Even our Christmas images often leave the father out. Pictures of Jesus with his mother we are very familiar with but I cannot think of a single picture of Jesus with his father. Yes I know, Joseph was not really his father, but having watched the pride of some of my male friends who have adopted children I know how loving and caring an adopting father can be. Joseph must have loved Mary very deeply to accept her pregnancy. He cared for this adopted son so much that he uprooted his family and fled into Egypt because of him. And he passed on his skills as a carpenter to him. Joseph spent a lot of time with this adopted son teaching him these skills.
Gradually my own ideas of God as father have changed. The God who is love, is as much an image of a caring, compassionate, protective father as it is of a nurturing, warmly embracing mother. This God I want to call both father and mother but at the moment I particularly want to call him father. I have known that protecting, providing father love and I sit in awe of these aspects of God.
As I thought about this today, I found myself weeping, grieving for the love I never experienced from my own earthly father. At the same time I found gratitude welling up within me for aspects of who my father was that I never appreciated. He was a good provider. He allowed me equal opportunity with my brothers which I did not fully appreciate until many years later. While my cousins went to university to find husbands, I went to train as a doctor.
One of the Facebook groups I belong to has encouraged us to honour our ancestors this week. It is my father’s family that I am honouring and thanking God for. My maiden name Aroney is probably a rendition of Aaron. My father’s family probably left Israel in the early Christian era. I wander if it was because they became Christians. They fled to Byzantium and then to the island of Rhodes and finally to the island of Kithera off the coast of Greece. There appear to be many Orthodox priests and strong Christians in my heritage. I am proud of who they were and am grateful to God for the opportunity to get to know them, at least a little, at this stage of my life.
So as we move through this week of gratitude I wonder Are you too missing the father heart of God? Is there room in your manger scene for Joseph as well as Mary. And is there room in your images of God to embrace the father love of God as well as the mother love?
It is only a couple of days until American Thanksgiving, and like so many I am getting ready for a feast. I have so much to be grateful for and I look forward to sharing this with friends. My thanksgiving begins with these words from Psalm 92 and I ask you to begin this day by offering your praises and thanksgivings to God too.
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to the Most High.
2 It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,
your faithfulness in the evening,
What is your response?
Repeat these verses out loud several times and sit quietly for five minutes allowing God to bring to mind those things that you have to be grateful for. Write them down. Offer them as prayers of thanksgiving to God. Repeat the exercise each day during this week. Don’t worry if the same thought comes to mind each day. At the end of the week read back over your list. What are the recurring theme? What else could you do to stir gratitude in your life?
Unfortunately even in our thanks and gratitude I am aware that we live in the tension of God’s kingdom now and not yet. The glimpses of God’s kingdom that fill us with awe and wonder, that bring us to our knees with shouts of praise and gratitude are unfortunately just that, glimpses of a world that we desperately long for but do not yet see fully realized. Our thanks and praise are uttered in the shadow of pain and suffering. School shootings in Florida, and continuing deaths from ebola in Africa devastate me. The ongoing turmoil in Syria and other parts of the Middle East oppress my soul. The hottest global season on record and growing concerns about climate change and environmental degradation, degrade my spirit.
It is good to praise and thank God but our celebrations at thanksgiving, our gratitude and praise to God for the many blessings we see in our lives should not blind us to the suffering of others. In fact it should inspire us with the desire to see others rejoice and celebrate in the same ways that we can.
What is your response?
In the midst of your thanksgiving celebration, what are you doing to bring thanksgiving and gratitude into the lives of those who suffer, are oppressed or marginalized?
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