Today’s post comes from Michelle Ruetschle who lives and works in Manila with her husband Steve.
I confess that I am somewhat at a loss for words as I come to the blank page. I am writing from the ease of an arm chair, in a dry and spacious room, in our home in Manila. Not so very far away are the horrifying scenes being broadcast daily and hourly across newspapers and televisions around the world. We give, we pray, we organize relief efforts, but mostly, we feel guilty and helpless, drifting in and out of an awareness of suffering.
Last year around this time, we flew down to Tacloban, visiting a school and ministry there which now no longer has a roof. From there we drove several hours to Samar, to a small resort along the ocean. I fear that almost nothing of that resort, with its traditionally styled huts, remains.
As I hold the beauty of the memory alongside current events, I think on a reality that always exists, but that in recent days has landed more viscerally near to me. It is that bittersweet flavor of “already, not yet” that seasons all of our days, but is especially pungent during tragedy. These words are often used to describe the kingdom of God, a kingdom that is here and yet is not fully arrived. The words are a paradox, holding a mystery. “Already,” is the statement of faith, whose eyes can see the coming glory. We look at the present with those eyes, full of hope and trust, eagerly gathering up the abounding evidence, the shining scraps of beauty and magnificence strewn across the planet and scrawled across our human experience, traces so delicious they herald a living, loving God. We taste with our mouths the sweetness and believe that there is more. But then, there is the “not yet.” Replete with longing, the words acknowledge what we unwillingly swallow alongside the sweet, the bitter taste of senseless suffering, of selfish action, of outright evil in our world. Tasting it, we are forced to acknowledge that in our material realm all is not well.
Romans 8:22 says that all creation groans as if in the pangs of childbirth. It is not a static image but rather one of process. There is a fully developed and glorious child, but until the birthing is complete, we cannot hold it in our arms and smell the sweetness of its head or touch the softness of its skin or feel the warmth of its breath. There is movement on the inside that reassures us of its presence. We touch our bellies, and watch them expand with the certainty of the child’s arrival. And yet that beautiful outcome is brought forth with pain, a pain that is borne more easily because of the hope that what is at its end, its very purpose, is beautiful.
Just as the broader picture of the world is one of beauty and suffering mixed together – “already, not yet” – so our own lives reflect that reality as well. For Steve and I, we glory in the healing that he has, a taste of something beautiful, something more, while we also live with the daily reminders of what remains broken, of weakness and pain. You live it, too. We all do.
Faith is a hope in what we cannot see, that there is an “already” that lives alongside the “not yet”. We look at the evidence and believe that all will be made right, that one day something complete and miraculous and wonderful will come forth from our labors and the labors of the earth. When suffering challenges us, we are forced to dwell in the longing and trust that the process is not without meaning and purpose. Faith becomes especially strong here, where we cannot see, but still choose hope.
Today, we acknowledge the “not yet” for the southern Philippines, in the dead bodies and in the loss of homes and in the utter destruction. The “not yet” resounds in the images we see, but it will have deeper and darker echoes in the lives of those who truly suffered the loss. Groans are inarticulate. They acknowledge that we cannot in and of ourselves neatly explain what transpires. With gratitude, we can find and gather up the scraps of the “already” amidst the rubble, where beauty can be found, in love, in help, and in prayers answered. Where we can, we add our own sweetness to the mix. Mostly, however, as believers we can only submit ourselves to the process, trusting that as we groan alongside our brothers and sisters, we are borne together toward an ultimate outcome that is good.
My final Advent/Christmas resource list is for a Blue Christmas celebration an increasingly popular celebration at this season
For many this season is anything but cheerful, even when we have not had to put up with non stop Christmas music for days before hand. For all of us who have lost loved ones for whom we still grieve , lost a job, are struggling financially or with illness this not an easy season. And for those who have lost their houses and livelihoods due to the devastation of Hurricane Haiyan, the bushfires in Australia and other disasters this year, the season will probably be anything but cheerful, so why do we try to cover our pain and grief with Yuletide cheer?
Many churches have begun to recognize that Festivals of Carols, celebrations of Christmas, and children’s pageants do not meet everyone’s needs. To fill this gap churches offer a Blue Christmas service, a Service of Solace or Longest Night. People who are not having a very merry Christmas and friends who support them are invited to come and sit with one another in a liturgy that speaks of the love of God for the grieving.
First I have written my own prayer to help me through this season as I continue to grieve the loss of my mother.
On this long dark night we await the coming of Christ.
We long for the light of his presence,
With us and in us.
When our souls are deeply troubled,
and our hearts break with the weight of sorrow,
may our grief be seasoned with love,
and our sorrow be buoyed by hope.
In our our times of God-forsakenness and estrangement,
May we gaze on the innocent One,
made perfect through suffering.
and see in him our vulnerable God,
who saves in weakness and pain.
May our suffering empty us of pride,
and lead us to true joy,
our only security,
in Christ the infinite depths
of God’s grace.
Here are some great resources that could help if you want to plan or participate in a Blue Christmas service:
Text of the Week has some great resources for planning a Blue Christmas service. (scroll down the Advent resources until you get to Blue Christmas).
I particularly enjoyed this service from the United Methodist Church
re:Worship always has great resources and this list for Blue Christmas does not disappoint.
This site has some good song resources for your Blue Christmas celebration
I also like this simple but powerful Blue Christmas Service and the ideas for how to use it.
Another good outline for a Blue Christmas service.
This powerful liturgy was originally published in Candles and Conifers.
And this beautiful Liturgy of Remembrance for Advent and Christmas.
Let me end with this beautiful prayer by Ted Loder which appears in Guerrilas of Grace
O God of all seasons and senses,
grant us the sense of your timing
to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turn of the seasons.In this season of short days and long nights,
of grey and white and cold,
teach us the lessons of endings;
children growing, friends leaving, loved ones dying,
grieving over,
grudges over,
blaming over,
excuses over.O God, grant us a sense of your timing.
In this season of short days and long nights,
of grey and white and cold,
teach us the lessons of beginnings;
that such waitings and endings may be the starting place,
a planting of seeds which bring to birth what is ready to be born—
something right and just and different,
a new song, a deeper relationship, a fuller love—
in the fullness of your time.O God, grant us the sense of your timing.
This post is out of date, please see our latest resource here.
Establishing Christmas traditions
It’s time to update my Advent for Kids list. Obviously there are thousands of possibilities out there. I hope you find these helpful.
Last year I posted 10 Ways to Help Kids Give Back At Christmas which I highly recommend to you as you think about how to celebrate the season with your family. However Christmas is more than gift giving and I wanted to make sure that the other resources I recommend are updated too. These are some of the best resources that I have found.
1. Make an Advent wreath with your kids. This is a fun activity that prepares your child for this important season in the Christian calendar. This site has some great ideas for making an Advent wreath with kids . And here is another great Advent wreath idea from children’s handprints.
2. Start a new Advent tradition that revolves around the lighting of the Advent candles. Use your Advent wreath as a centerpiece . Every night at dinner, let one of your children light the candle and say an advent prayer or sing a song. As you become more comfortable with this tradition you may also like to tell stories from past Advent celebrations or about the story of Christ and what he means to you and your family. Alternatively have the youngest child light the candle the first week, the oldest the second week, the mother on the third and the father on the fourth.
3. Make or buy an Advent calendar. I love the suggestion from the post Celebrating Advent with Children to make an Advent calendar with matchboxes and placing slips of paper in each one with different activities to do each day. For example, one day you might read a particular book or Bible passage, make Christmas cookies for a lonely neighbor, or sing Christmas carols together. A couple of years ago MSA Board member Jill Aylard Young put together this Advent in A Jar resource which is still available through the MSA site. Another possibility is this recycle bin Advent calendar – what a great way to introduce kids to the season and to the need to be more responsible.The combination of inward reflection and outward caring is wonderful.
Countdown Christmas Traditions also has a fun kid friendly Advent calendar. As you click on each day of Advent you read about traditions in different countries of the world.
CAFOD: Just One world has some great Advent liturgies available as well as a downloadable Advent calendar for kids.
4. Set up a nativity set. There are several ways that this can focus your child on the real meaning of Christmas. Set it up with the manger empty and the wise men at the other end of the room or house. Throughout the Advent and Christmas season the wise men move closer to the manager and of course on Christmas morning the Christ child appears in the manger.
5. The nativity set is a great way to focus your children on gifts for Jesus too. You might like to consider some of the suggestions in my post from a couple of days ago 10 Ways to Help Kids Give Back At Christmas. Or you might like to consider this idea. On the first Sunday of Advent, each child in the family receives an empty manger. An oatmeal box covered with bright paper will do as well. At bedtime, the children draw straws for each kind deed performed in honor of Baby Jesus as his birthday surprise. The straw are placed in the child’s manger or box daily. It is amazing how much love a child can put into Advent when s/he is preparing for his redeemer’s coming in grace. On Christmas, each child finds an infant in his manger, placed on a small table or a chair beside his or her bed. Usually it is a tiny doll, beautifully dressed. This custom fills the child with a longing in Advent, and provides an image of the redeemer as the first happy glance in the morning and the last impression at night during the entire Christmas season.
6. Explore Christmas traditions from around the world with your kids and discuss the possibility of adapting some of these as part of your own celebration during the Advent and Christmas season. Christmas Around the World has a wonderful description of traditions from a variety of countries that you might like to discuss. The Worldwide Gourmet has a wonderful array of recipes associated with the Advent and Christmas season in many different parts of the world. Just reading through some of these had my mouth watering.
7. Memories for the New Year – Reflect on the previous year and capture children’s memories that can become part of your family and church story. Capture these on camera, draw pictures, write songs or have older children journal. I love this idea from the United Methodist Communications. You might also like to check out some of the resources they suggest. (I have not had time to do this yet.)
- Christmas Gifts That Won’t Break: An Advent Study for Children
- A Different Kind of Christmas: Living and Giving Like Jesus (children’s study)
- Pockets, devotional magazine for children
- Celebrating Advent in the Home
- Children’s Activities for the Christian Year
More resources for celebrating as a family here.
8. Separate Gift Giving From Christmas Day. When I was on the mercy ship Anastasis, we always celebrated St Nicholas day. I think that this is a wonderful tradition that can separate the celebration of Christ’s birth from the giving of gifts. Our friends Ricci and Eliacin celebrate another tradition where the giving of gifts is associated with the coming of the wise men on the Eve of Epiphany.
There are obviously many other ways to celebrate Advent with kids – we are only limited by our imaginations and by the imaginations of our children who are likely to come up with far better ideas than we ever could. So if you have creative ways of celebrating during this season I would love to hear from you.
9. Check out other resources:
Family Advent customs I liked this list because it incorporated customs, recipes and projects to do as a family.
Domestic church.com has some great links and offerings for kids of all ages as well as families in its fridge art section
And Paperless Christmas in the U.K has some wonderful (and quirky) videos for introducing kids to the Advent and Christmas story.
This post is out of date, please check out our latest resource here.
Christmas Cross (c) Andy Wade
Once again I am updating my Advent resource list. I love the opportunity to check out some of my old favourites and add new ones. This year I am posting three lists – this one which is general resources, Advent with kids and then resources for a Blue Christmas. Enjoy – and if there are must adds to this list please let me know.
I have already posted this introduction to Advent
The Voice has one of the most comprehensive explanations of Advent and the symbols we use during the season. They are also a great source for the daily scriptures of the liturgical year.
The Text This Week always has an awesome array of resources.
And the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese has some interesting icons and explanation of Christmas from an Orthodox perspective.
For those that want to make a traditional Advent wreath.
I love some of this ideas on this Ultimate Christmas list from the U.K.
Consider cutting back on Consumerism
And here is something to consider – A buy Nothing Christmas
And From Simple Living Works: Whose Birthday Is It Anyway? This is the index for all the past issues of this magazine – great to browse through before the season begins.
A couple of old favourites from last year
Advent resources from Ignatian Spirituality
Christmas & Advent _ Ideas, resources and Donkey Rides
Bosco Peters in New Zealand has wonderful Advent and Christmas resources.
The Billabong is a great Australian site with resources for both kids and adults
John Birch has the most wonderful Celtic Advent liturgies available. I posted these last year but think it is best for you to go to the source.
And from John Van de Laar in South Africa this wonderful Advent/Christmas liturgy
Think About Going Green This Christmas
Also consider a living Christmas tree this year. We have had the same tree for a number of years. Unfortunately we need to replace it this year.
Also some ideas for thinking about sustainability at Christmas time How To Have A Green Christmas
And Some Thoughts on Christmas Music
I will post hymns and songs throughout Advent but here are some great ones to start with.
Some beautiful songs for peace from Latin America
My favourite Gregorian Advent chants
And if you are not familiar with Gregorian chants this is a beautiful introduction from a group of Benedictine nuns in the U.S.
Last but not least you might like to check out the Mustard Seed Associates resources including last year’s Advent video (this year’s coming shortly)
You can purchase and download a high resolution copy here: Alleluia – The Christ Child Comes
Or you may like to download the entire series of Advent videos from previous years.
And our very popular Advent/Christmas Devotional Waiting for the Light.
Advent means coming, and the season beckons us towards three comings that should inspire and renew us as we move towards December 1st which is the first day of Advent
The first is the remembrance of Jesus coming in the flesh, an infant whose birth 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.
The second coming to which Advent calls our attention is the coming of the presence of God which makes Jesus present in our own lives today.
The final coming to which Advent points us is the coming of Christ at the end of time. This is a deep longing that whets our souls for the coming in all its fullness of the eternal world of God for which we should strive with every breath.
Our theme for Advent this year has really grabbed my attention, bringing with it longings for home and as preparation for the season I wanted to share with you some of the quotes and images it has stirred.
Yesterday I met with Ryan Marsh who will host a series of podcasts with me to kick off each week of Advent. Both of us shared our own longings for home and for the fulfillment of God’s eternal world. I hope that you will take time to think about this as you reflect on the following home coming images.
In order to make sure that you do not miss any of the wonderful reflections, prayers or podcasts I suggest you sign up to follow this blog or join the Facebook page Coming Home Uncovering Our Roots in the Advent Story. Or you might like to do both. The Facebook page will have additional material added to what appears on this blog.
First I love this this introduction from the movie Patch Adams All of Life is a Coming Home
And here is a beautiful story about an old man longing for home
I can’t get the island ( Great Blasket) out of my mind,” says Dr Mike Carney, with the strong accent of a man who grew up speaking only Gaelic and who has never let the language go. “I dream about the island at night. I dream about the way it was when we were young.” Such dreams of home are powerful. So many of us long for the place where we laughed and played with childhood friends and life was easier, simpler. Better. One of my own neighbours in London dreams of the Welsh valleys, another of the hills of Kashmir, a third of Jamaican sunshine. The world is full of exiles, although few of them ever make it home.
Read the story: The Last Islandman
And some of my favourite quotes about coming home.
“The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it.”
― Frederick BuechnerToday the heart of God is an open wound of love…. He longs for our presence. And he is inviting you-and me- to come home, to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we were created. His arms are stretched out wide to receive us. His heart is enlarged to take us in…. He invites us into the bedroom of his rest, where new peace is found and where we can be naked and vulnerable and free. It is also the place of deepest intimacy, where we know and are known to the fullest.
Richard Foster Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True HomeWhen we come home to the love of God everything changes, beginning with how we pray. Prayer is now at its foundation a contemplative soaking in the infinite love of God. All our intercessions and thanksgivings and wordless cries now issue from the molten core of contemplative prayer. Prayer has become the vital breath the heartbeat of divine energy without which we cannot live. (Elaine Heath The Mystic Way of Evangelism, 82)
I hope that you will take time to reflect on these images of coming home and ask yourself the question: What homecoming am I longing for as I think about the coming of Jesus this year?
The beginning of Advent is only three weeks away but many of us are unfamiliar with the season and its relevance to our faith.
Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year. It is a season in which we wait in hope and anticipation for the coming of Christ into our world. Here are two excellent videos I have found that help to explain in a few minutes the meaning of the season. The first is a short punchy introduction, the second a more traditional explanation. Enjoy and share them with your friends – and don’t forget to sign up on the Facebook page Coming Home: Uncovering Our Roots in the Advent Story and share the page with your friends. We are already posting about coming home to help focus our thoughts away from the Christmas rush and frenzy as we head towards the holidays. Will continue to post daily not just the posts from this blog but other prayers, songs and liturgies as well.
God be with those who have lost family and friends in the Philippines,
Comfort them, protect the vulnerable,
have mercy on them as they grieve,
Provide for them as they rebuild.
God be with those who respond to the cries for help.
Give them strength and courage as they work,
Surround them with peace, guide them through the rubble,
lead them to those who are trapped.
God be with those who co-ordinate relief efforts.
Give them wisdom and direction as they plan,
Help them distribute relief supplies justly,
keep them in the midst of pain and suffering.
God have mercy,
Christ have mercy,
God have mercy.
Amen
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