Thursday 13- the Advent Edition

Celebrating Advent is one way to help me focus on the true meaning of Christmas and steer away from the hustle and bustle that puts me in a state of anxiousness at times! While I love gift giving and celebrations, I don't love the way the rushing around makes me feel.

So... I celebrate Advent. One small activity each day helps me to relax a bit and makes a space for me to ponder the important things. I know Christmas is only a week away, and advent is almost over, but that's okay. Start where you are. :)

 Here are 13 simple ways to incorporate a little advent activity into your life this year. If you'd like to learn more about Advent, check out the post I wrote last year.

1. Listen to advent music everyday, even for just a few minutes. There are some great lists on Spotify. My favorite is Simple Advent, but there are many more music lists.

2. Read a children's version of the Christmas Story.

3. Choose 4 or 5 candles. Light a candle at suppertime. Add one candle each Sunday before Christmas, so by this Sunday, you'd be lighting four . I add a fifth, which I'll be lighting on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

4. Read or sing the lines of a hymn or song that focuses on the waiting period. "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" is a good one, but there are many!

5. Read an advent devotional. Even if you don't read it each day or finish the book, it will help prepare you for Christmas Day. The Advent Door by Jan Richardson is one of my favorites. As well, check out Taste and See by Jan Johnson, which is focused on becoming part of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, using your imagination.

6. Light up your living space in the evening with Christmas tree lights and mini lights or candles and enjoy them.

7. Put up a Nativity Set where you'll glance at it each day.

8.   Read passages in the Bible that relate to the Christmas story.

9. Attend a Christmas concert or presentation.

10. Volunteer for an organization that brings hope to those who need it.  Ringing the bell for the Salvation Army Kettle Campaign, or helping to serve food at a shelter are two ideas.

11. Go out for coffee with a friend and have a chat about making Christmas meaningful.

12. Go for a walk alone and ponder the meaning of Christmas.

13. Watch a movie about the birth of Jesus.  My favorite one is The Nativity Story

May your Christmas celebration be meaningful this year! And fun!

Join in on Thursday 13!

Hope of all the Earth

1. Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
   Born to set Thy people free;
   From our fears and sins release us,
   Let us find our rest in Thee.
   Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
   Hope of all the earth Thou art;
   Dear Desire of every nation,
   Joy of every longing heart.
2. Born Thy people to deliver,
   Born a child and yet a King,
   Born to reign in us forever,
   Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
   By Thine own eternal Spirit
   Rule in all our hearts alone;
   By Thine all sufficient merit,
   Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
3. Charles Wesley

The Advent-ure begins

Advent has begun!

Years ago, my advent activities focused mainly on what was meaningful to my young children -- doing intentional activities which would bring us to the big day -- Christmas! These were simple calendar activities, including (cheap!) chocolates behind the doors as a way of counting down. We'd also read special books, make paper chains with Bible verses on them and remove one each day. We performed kind deeds,sometimes secretly, which meant we could add a piece of  "straw" (yarn) to Jesus' (posicle stick) manger. I guess it was my way of encouraging the children to be nice to each other!  We also had an interactive type homemade calendar where pregnant Mary on the donkey, led by Joseph,  would be moved one day closer to the manger (Dec. 25) each day.  I look back with fondness on our pre-Christmas activities. But I don't think I really appreciated or taught the real significance of advent.  I didn't really think about it beyond anticipating Jesus' birthday. In recent years, it has started to become more meaningful to me.

I think we miss a lot when we don't stop and ponder what was going on in the minds of people long ago, as they were waiting for the fulfillment of prophecy.. freedom from tyranny. A king was coming to save the people. But when? How long? Was this ever going to happen? It was about waiting. We don't seem to sing a lot of songs in church about waiting and longing, do we? I miss that.

 We may not be ruled by a tyrant where we live, but if we're honest, we probably all sometimes feel that the world and perhaps even our own little world has become unmanageable, out of control, perhaps disappointing,  and we're in a long season of waiting.  We lose sight of the hope we have. To me, that's what Advent is about. Remembering the promises of God.. promises made long ago and fulfilled (in very unexpected ways-- through a BABY born in a stable), promises for us today. It reminds us to wait with anticipation because the promises are being and will continue to be fulfilled.

This year I've decided to read Through the Advent Door-Entering a Contemplative Christmas by Jan Richardson. There are 24 "doors" to "walk" through. We'll see how many I enter! I am a realist, after all!

As well, I found a great Spotify playlist called Simple Advent,  beautiful music which focuses on longing and waiting. On December 25th, the celebratory music really starts!  If you're new to adventing (I made up that word!), check out The Art of Simple for some excellent free ideas and resources! If you are adventing, what are you doing this year?

 "Wherever you are, whatever is present in your life, may you welcome the Christ who welcomes you this day".  Jan Richardson

The End is the Beginning

The end of autumn
The end of the days of shortening daylight
The end of Advent
The end of the year

The beginning of winter solstice
The beginning of growing daylight
The beginning.. celebrating Love come down, God with us
The beginning of a new year

As I get older
I get surer
Man's heart is colder,
His life no purer.
As I grow steadily
More austere
I come less readily
To Christmas each year.
I can't keep taking
Without a thought
Forced merrymaking
And presents bought
In crowds and jostling.
Alas, there's naught
In empty wassailing
Where oblivion's sought
Oh, I'd be waiting
With quiet fasting
Anticipating
A joy more lasting.
And so I rhyme
With no apology
During this time
Of eschatology:
Judgment and warning
Come like thunder.  

 But now is the hour
 When I remember
An infant's power
On a cold December.
Midnight is dawning
And the birth of wonder. 
 

 Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season

The Advent--ure begins

Today is the first day of Advent. I purchased a wonderful book last year called Taste & See - Experiencing the Stories of Advent and Christmas by Jan Johnson. She encourages the use of our God given imaginations to place ourselves in the story as we do our daily readings. This book is written for small groups, but easily adaptable to an individual devotional time.

The daily advent opening prayer:

I will release the cares of the day, and open my eyes to the wonder of God,With an attitude of empathy to people of another time, I will open my heart and mind to God. I will prepare to experience God's Word to methrough the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

 If I recall correctly, my plans to read it daily last year didn't exactly materialize. Thankfully, the author wrote these wise words in the introduction, and I took them to heart:

Do the meditations as you can, not as you can't. 

I figure any advent readings, meditations, and journalling I do this year will be better than not starting at all.

This morning my church was decorated beautifully with lights and greenery and the advent candles were in place. I could feel myself beginning to anticipate Christmas, slowly but surely. I was disappointed that we didn't light the candles or sing even one Christmas-focused song, though. There are so many beautiful renditions of carols these days, both traditional and updated. Hopefully we will be singing those together more than just on one Sunday!

Thankfully, I have a wealth of Christmas CD's (I usually purchase one new album a year), and I will be playing them to my heart's content at home and in the car.  Come Dec 1st,  that is. That's when my celebrations officially begin--the tree goes up (undecorated for a few days) and the Christmas playlist begins. And on the first Saturday of December, we have our annual family brunch, tree decorating (girls), and outdoor light stringing (guys). I'm looking forward to that, although I will really miss two of my children this year who are too far away to make it. It won't be the same without them. *sniff*

Advent helps to bring me back to reflect on what really matters. Even if it's just a few minutes at a time, it is my way of being sure I do 'listen' to hear what God is saying to me this Advent season.

Hope your season of anticipating Christmas is meaningful to you!