The word advent comes from the Latin, which means arrival. It is a coming into view of something, usually referring to the coming of Christ, traditionally, into the mass of Christ or Christmas. In other words, it's getting prepared for a personal experience or visitation of the Christ. In a metaphysical sense, it can, and I think should mean to all of us, an expectation of and a preparation for the coming into our consciousness of our own divine potential, our own Christ self.
Christmas represents the divine child born in each of us and the divine attributes we can develop as we learn to express our God nature in human form.
we must take the risk of personal commitment to the discovery of a divine level within our being. It is this that we refer to as the great adventure of a lifetime.
When we talk about the adventure of life, we're not dealing with a flight into fancy, but with a very real process of harnessing the real energies of the universe as they come into focus in, and through, and as man.
other a words for Advent: aware, alive, attentive, alert, awake, are all appropriate! Advent is, above else, a call to full consciousness and a forewarning about the high price of consciousness.
The four Sundays of Advent proclaim aspects of our divine nature—hope and faith, peace, love, and joy.
“In this day, this season, miracles will grow within, unfurl, bear fruit. And the heart that makes time and space for Him to come will be a glorious place.”
Remember love is the only thing okay to do in excess.
“Out of the darkness, into the light: the time before Christmas is the time of light and mutual love.”
Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann
“Advent is not about a sentimental waiting for the Baby Jesus.”
Richard Rohr
“Advent is not about a sentimental waiting for the Baby Jesus,” Richard Rohr asserts. Advent is a time to focus our expectations and anticipation on “the adult Christ, the Cosmic Christ,” who challenges us to empty ourselves, to lose ourselves, to surrender.
Poem: Our Faith/Hope - Our Joy - Our Peace, By Deborah Ann Belka
May the God of our eternal hope,
fill you with endless love and peace
may you find your true happiness
for He is right within your reach.
May His joy descend around you,
like a beam falling from the sun
may you be bathed in the serenity
of the love from His begotten Son.
May His hope fill you to the brim,
with everlasting gladness and delight
may you join paradise’s jubilation
and come to know His saving light.
May you know the calm of His grace,
and the abounding sense of bliss
may you give your heart to Jesus
so heaven you’ll not miss.
May Jesus fill you with His strength,
and with the Holy Spirit’s power
may you come to know the truth
and accept His love for you this hour!
POEM 2: UNTITLED
Gift to me, O Lord, I pray
Fruits that only Thou can give
Fill my heart with grace and truth
Love, joy and peace
And all things good
POEM 3: The Mood of Christmas…” by Howard Thurman
I will light Candles this Christmas,
Candles of joy despite all the sadness,
Candles of hope where despair keeps watch,
Candles of courage for fears ever present,
Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days,
Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,
Candles of love to inspire all my living,
Candles that will burn all year long.
Sacred Text
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:22
The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”
John 1:9
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Science of Mind Reading
Story: Written by Calvary Ballard
Recently, my son came home from school asking me about his heritage. He had to do a project in a cardboard box with different symbols of family traditions (no, he is not in Elementary School, this is actually High School!) I promptly stated that his dad is more than one quarter Norwegian, as am I, so that would be a good place to start. I started sharing with him about all the Christmas traditions I had as a child, such as wearing a Norwegian apron that my grandma made me on Christmas Day , the Norwegian prayer I got to memorize and recite since I was the youngest grandchild, the opening of presents on Christmas Eve (this one was Mark’s), and the krumkake that was made every year (both of us), yum. I was a little bit taken aback by the fact that Isaac had no idea what I was talking about. His comment was, “How come we didn’t do that? What were our traditions?”
Guilt, guilt, guilt. As every parent knows, this is a total recipe for parental guilt. Why DIDN’T we carry on those traditions for Christmas? Did we do any traditions with the boys? What were we thinking? Were we thinking? And then I remembered ADVENT. Yes, we did have a Christmas tradition, and it was one that I loved, and I could also claim it was a tradition in Norway- a little bit of heritage.
Advent means “coming” and is the preparation for the coming of Christ. Our tradition involved lighting a candle on an advent wreath every Sunday, for the four Sundays before Christmas, with the 5th and central candle, being lit on Christmas Eve. It was a build-up to Christmas- to the ultimate celebration. For us it was family time. We put out our advent wreath on the Sunday, a week after Thanksgiving, and then made sure to sit down for a meal together, light that week’s candle and then have a short bible reading/discussion about what the candle symbolized. We started this tradition at a time when the boys were really small. Mark wrote a devotion for each week, talking about God’s character and His gift to us.
The first candle, lit on the first Sunday of December, symbolizes God as our Creator. We read Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” and Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them: male and female he created them.” We then talk about creativity and how can we be creative-creative in our work, our hobbies, our lives, and how this points others to our Creator.
Week two is a devotion about how God is our Father. 1 John 3:1 says “Behold, what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” John 1:2 “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” God’s love for us is overwhelming. He loves us so much that he gave His Son, Jesus, whose coming we are celebrating (for the entire month.)
God is our friend. John 15:15 says, “no longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” We have been entrusted with the message of Christ- not as servants but as dearly loved friends of God. He loved us first, and our relationship with Him brings joy, both to us and to Him.
God is our Savior, through Jesus’ birth and resurrection. John 3:16- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” And this is the gospel- the good news! Because of Christ’s birth and resurrection, we are forgiven and brought back into a right relationship with our God.
And finally, the central candle is lit on Christmas Eve, and the nativity story is read. The culmination of what we have been looking forward to. We talk about God’s present (Jesus) and then open our presents. And eat cookies and drink hot cider. Of course.
I’ve seen many wonderful meanings of the candles when looking up advent online. The weeks may symbolize hope, preparation, joy and love; or the colors represent different things-3 purple candles for prayer, penance and preparation with the pink representing rejoicing. And there were others, but they all point to the same thing- the birth of our Savior.
Rumination
God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.
Rumi
Benediction
May you Be people of faith.
Let faith live in your heart and share the faith of Christ with all you meet.
Share faith by noticing someone else’s humanity.
Share faith by listening to someone’s story.
Share faith by praying for our world.
In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share faith.
As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share faith with those you meet.
May you Be people of peace.
Let peace live in your heart and share the peace of Christ with all you meet.
Share peace by acting out of compassion and not fear.
Share peace by listening to all sides of the story.
Share peace by praying for our world.
In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share peace.
As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share peace and hope with those you meet.
May you Be people of joy.
Let joy live in your heart and share the joy of Christ with all you meet.
Share joy by seeing the good in each other.
Share joy by remembering good times and trusting for good times to come.
Share joy by praying for our world.
In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share joy.
As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share joy, peace, and hope with those you meet. Amen.
May you Be people of love.
Let love live in your heart and share the love of Christ with all you meet.
Share love by loving those you see regularly. Start by loving your community.
Share love by loving those you do not know. How do your actions affect the rest of God’s creation?
Share love by praying for our world.
In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share love.
As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share love, joy, peace, and hope with those you meet. Amen.
Song: Lift up your eyes by Danny Gokey