Faith in Progress

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the busy-ness of the world during the Advent season.  All around us the world is pushing materialism and the idea that we need more stuff.  But what we really need is so much deeper than that.  Delving deep into Advent will help us to more fully enter into the true mystery of Christmas.  Here are some ideas that might help to make your Advent more meaningful. Create your own Advent chain calendar Instead of toys or chocolate, mark each day of Advent by adding a new link to an Advent chain of your own creation.  Cut 25 strips of purple and pink construction paper.  On each strip, write a prayer, short Advent scripture passage, or an idea for your family to do that day to prepare to enter the mystery of  Christmas .  Ideas might include writing a letter to a friend or family member, bring cookies to a neighbor, or telling everyone in your family why you love them.  Advent Wreath Create or buy an Advent wreath to have on your table.  Light a n

Yesterday instead of a sermon I created a series of prayer stations.  We are on the cusp of Advent, the start of the Church year, so it seemed like a great time to take a walk through the seasons of the Church calendar. Advent Advent is a season of waiting and hoping.  At this prayer station, people could create a different kind of Advent calendar.  We each chose 25 strips of purple and pink paper and write a prayer, scripture passage, or idea of something to do on a day of Advent on each strip.  Each day, a link is added to the chain until it is complete for Christmas. Christmas During Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  At this prayer station were gathered multiple nativity creches.  People were invited to read the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew and walk through the story, imagining what it might have been like for its participants.  We had on hand the People of God figures from Godly Play so we could even place ourselves into the story. Epiphany During Ep

November 15, 2015 Hebrews 10:11-25 I’ve always had a problem using nice things.  When I was in college my sister sent me a set of paints from Russia, where she was studying.    Having never used tubed paint before, and certainly never with cyrillic lettering on it, the paint seemed too special to use for just my ordinary artistic dabbling.  I wanted to take painting classes to learn how to use them.  25 years later, I finally broke out the paints to use with my daughters.  We had the best afternoon, squeezing the tiny tubes and mixing our own colors and experimenting with different techniques.  It didn’t matter at all that our art wasn’t perfect or technically correct because our experience was full of beauty and joy. I think we often do that same thing with God.  We think we have to be perfectly clean or put together or sin-free before we go to God.  We think the circumstances have to be perfect - our minds calm and our hearts full and ideally a flickering candle near