Today is December 1st and the first day of my online Advent calendar. I created this last year as a gift to my community in hope that we could all walk together through the path into the deep of winter. Advent is traditionally the four weeks before Christmas, but all of us, no matter our religious affiliation, can use the weeks leading to the darkest day of the year to align, reassess and ponder. It is my wish that all of us are able to find meaning in the changing of the season and the way humans have experienced this change over the centuries as well as today.
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"A king is coming but he is not the kind of king people thought was coming. This king had no army, no great house and no riches. This king was a baby, born in a barn. The king who was coming is still coming. This is full of mystery. You know, a mystery is hard to enter sometimes. This is why the time of Advent is so important. Sometimes people can walk right through a mystery and not even know it is there. This time of year you will see people hurrying through malls, buying things and doing this and that. But they will miss the mystery. They don't know how to get ready or maybe they forgot. The church learned a long time ago that people needed a way to enter or even get close to a mystery like Christmas. They set aside four weeks to get read. This is such a great mystery that it takes that long to get ready. During this time we are all on our way to Bethlehem, we are all on a journey, making the journey we are all getting ready to enter the mystery of Christmas. So let us go with the prophets, the Holy Family, the shepherds, the magi and all the rest to make the journey that was not just back then, it is also now. "
My Quaker meeting uses the spectacular program Godly Play for our children's activities. Godly Play is based on story telling with the understanding that children have a sense of spirituality, they just lack the language to talk about it. The stories are deep and meaningful and I have seen them be immensely helpful to adults as they try to figure out just what this god thing is all about. Even if you are pretty sure the baby Jesus is not an important part of your holiday celebrations I recommend you watch this video. The story has been told for 2,000 years for a reason.
At the end of a Godly Play session the Storyteller asks a number of "wondering questions" to get the children to reflect and start to process the story. I wonder, friends and readers, what is important about this story? I wonder what we could leave out of this story and still have the same story? I wonder where you, best beloved, are in this story?
Christmas Carol : People Look East
Carols have always been an important part of preparing for Christmas. One of my favorite Advent carols is People Look East, words by Eleanor Farjeon set to the tune of a traditional French carol. Eleanor Farjeon also wrote the words to the very popular hymn Morning Has Broken and like this more popular song, People Look East uses simple words and potent images to tell a deep and beautiful story. The first verse ends with the line, "love, the guest, is on the way." This speaks so deeply to me about Advent as a time of preparation for a great event. The video here is the most beautiful version I could find on YouTube, but I also like this version with a simple melody and lyrics on the screen. Enjoy!
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