As many of you know, I tend to feel like the calendar just races by me! I saw my first Christmas tree this week in the window of a neighbor. While his porch and front door are decorated for Fall/Autumn. He now has his Christmas tree lit up in his window. I saw a blurb on Instagram that said that people who decorate early are happier….hum. I’m not sure that’s true. At least not for me. I definitely take decorating for the holidays slowly and I like to enjoy each season as it comes. I have been enjoying the colors of the leaves and the pumpkins. I just wish that it wasn’t so hot here in Nashville so it would actually feel like Fall/Autumn, but maybe next week. But as we turn the calendar page, I’ve started thinking about Advent. Celtic Advent starts in mid November. November 16th. This gives us forty days to prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus.
I think this year, with all the strife, suffering and violence, I need ADVENT more than ever. I need that slow waiting. Being still and walking slowly towards Christmas.
A group of youth leaders were in Nashville this week and I had the opportunity to set up some Advent Prayer stations to give them some ideas to take home with them to use this December. These are from the Sacred Space Kit called ADVENT WAITING. The one with the manger hit me hard.
kitchen counter manger
I invite you to create or find a manger ..it can be a basket filled with straw or a wooden bowl from your kitchen. The concept is to have a physical reminder of the place where Mary laid Jesus.
Consider these questions:
Who are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for as you move towards Christmas?
What do you need from Jesus?
Is your manger dusty, filled with spider webs and old straw?
Or, you might have never had a manger.
Do you need to find a manger or build one this year in preparation for the coming of the King?
Can you imagine your heart as a manger for Jesus?
WRITE on a piece of wrapping paper: your name and what you need this ADVENT.
PUT YOUR NAME & PRAYER IN THE MANGER… TELL JESUS WHAT YOU NEED.
I am waiting for peace
I am praying for peace and cease fire and for compassion AND THE END OF GUN VIOLENCE.
I desperately need the Prince of Peace to be central in my heart and mind. I have totally felt the cobwebs in the manger of my heart in recent days!
I am putting the manger on the kitchen counter to remind me to keep my heart open and allow my heart to be a manger this year. A place of birthing and safety, a home for Jesus. AMEN
You can purchase an ADVENT WAITING sacred space kit at freerangeworship.com
Take some time to consider what you’d like your Advent season to be like this year. Do you want to read a book? Rest? Ask Jesus to show you what you need this Advent and take time to prepare Him Room!