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Archives for November 2015

More Advent Calendar Ideas

November 27, 2015 by Sybil Macbeth Leave a Comment

Advent, the time of preparation before Christmas, begins on Sunday, November 29. During the twenty-six days until December 25, we study, pray, meditate, and immerse ourselves in the story of the longed for Savior, Jesus. Advent calendars count the days until Christmas. I like to think of the calendars as a countUP to Christmas because each day I write, doodle, and color. I add a daily patch of prayer to the emerging Advent quilt.

With plain white stickers–round or square–children and adults can create an Advent Calendar. Use a piece of wrapping paper or poster board as the backdrop. Each day, write an Advent word to ponder or the name of a person to pray for. Doodle or draw around the word or name. Add color. Pray with words and/or with the marks and color. You can also just doodle or draw on the stickers with no words. When you are finished place the sticker on the wrapping paper and watch the countUP to Christmas.

Here is an example from a few years ago–the finished version and a closeup of some of the 3.33″ stickers. I used Advent words and phrases on this calendar.

Advent Caledar 2009 collage resized

Advent calendar templates and ways to use them are available on my November 6 blog post. Below are the templates for this year. You can download them from the .jpg or .pdf links on the November 6 post.Advent Calendar 2015 Collage resized


Make an Advent calendar clothesline. Pin twenty-six small envelopes on a strong piece of string or ribbon with clothespins. Each day ask someone in your household to pray in color on the envelope. Use an Advent word or a person’s name as described above. At the end of the day gather your loose change (or dollar bills) from pockets, wallets, and countertops and put the money in the envelope of the day. At the end of Advent make a family decision about where you will donate the money–a local or national charity, your church….

Clothesline Collage Resized

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: Advent, Advent Calendar Templates, Advent calendars

Happy Thanksgiving and Gratitude Gobbler

November 26, 2015 by Sybil Macbeth Leave a Comment

“For the Beauty of the Earth, Sing, Oh Sing Today
Of the Skies and of our birth, Sing, Oh Sing, always.
Nature, Human and Divine, all around us lies,
Lord of All to Thee we raise grateful hymns of praise.”

These simple and beautiful words are from the “Canticle of Brother Sun” from the Missa Gaia by Jim Scott and Paul Winter (Litchfield, CT, Living Music Records, 1982). This is one of my favorite thanksgiving songs.

This year’s turkey is a gratitude journal of all of the things I am grateful for from this unique year in Colorado. As I wrote, drew, and prayed, more and more things kept coming to me. It was as if gratitude was an exponential function. First I was grateful for one thing, then two more, then four more, then eight more, then sixteen more, then thirty-two more…. Lest you think I am a pious pollyanna who reeks of gratitude, be not deceived. I am a grateful person, but I am equally an ungrateful, cranky, and cynical person. Maybe I should do this visual gratitude list more often. I could think of so few things for which I was ungrateful. But I notice how much space and energy those few things can take up in my mind and life.

If you want to try your hand at filling in the blank Gratitude Gobbler, here are the two versions: .jpg  OR  .pdf.  Just remember to download first, then print.

Happy Thanksgiving and God’s Peace.

Gratitude Gobbler 2015

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: Canticle of Brother Sun, Gratitude gobbler, Missa Gaia, Praying in Color, Thanksgiving

Advent Wreaths–Local, Improvisational, Messy….

November 24, 2015 by Sybil Macbeth 4 Comments Leave a Comment

Over the years wreath-making in parish halls on the first Sunday of Advent provided me with two things: 1) a circular metal or styrofoam form with fresh, fragrant greens and four candles and 2) a serious sense of failure when I couldn’t assemble them into a beautiful or even tolerable-looking Advent wreath.  Finally I trashed the form and gave myself permission to place four candles in a circle or in a row on a table. I scattered greens and wove ribbon around the candles. The result didn’t look bad at all.

The four purple or blue candles of the Advent wreath mark the four Sundays and four weeks before Christmas. Some people like to use a pink candle for the third Sunday to mark the halfway point to Christmas. The traditional color for Advent, purple, represents reflection, repentance, and royalty. Many churches and people use blue instead as a symbol of hope, joy, expectation, and Mary.♦

Here here are some examples of some not so fancy Advent wreaths. All you need are four candles in holders and a few other things. Remember to be careful with the lighted candles. Clear away greens and paper first and never leave the lighted wreath unattended.

The “Go Local” Advent Wreath
Since I’m away from home for Advent and Christmas this year and have none of my usual ornaments and decorations, I treated our family to some special, funky Advent candles.♦ Outside of our condo, typical Colorado foliage and plants grow. I found sage, grasses, and evergreens to place around the candles. Some interesting stones, old pine cones, and a hunk of dead wood from outside are also scattered about. 

Go Local Wreath

The Messy, Participatory Advent Wreath
Give children or adults the opportunity to make the wreath. Place a piece of white butcher paper or poster board under the candles. Provide stickers, markers, ribbon, colored paper and let them create. This could also function as an Advent calendar. Each day add a doodle or something purple or blue from around the house.

Blue Votives Resized

The Indecisive Advent Wreath
If you’re not sure which color candles to use–blue or purple and/or pink– use all three. The greens around the candles shown here include rosemary and tarragon from the refrigerator, sprays of greens and pinecones from a branch that fell from a tree, and cuttings from Christmas trees found in a trash can near our local grocery store.

Indecisive Wreath resized

 

Paper Chain and Recycled Candles Advent Wreath
This wreath uses one of the dreaded circular forms but just as a candle holder. The candles are left over from previous years and paper chains serve as a an inexpensive replacement for greens.

Wreath Chains 10Light the first candle on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29. Say a prayer, recite a passage of Scripture or sing a song. There are many sources online for what to say. The website Building Faith posted some nice ideas last week in a post called Advent Wreath Prayers for the Home. With small children, a short and repeatable scripture verse might keep their attention and help them to learn some words of Advent. Use the same prayer or line of scripture all during the first week. On the second Sunday of Advent light the second candle as well as the first. As the weeks pass and more candles are lighted, the darkness of Advent is infused with the anticipated brighter light of Christmas.

♦Click Here for a post I wrote last year about blue versus purple for Advent.
♦ The funky candles are the Ripple version from http://www.geocandles.com/. They are expensive but what I purchased instead of a Christmas tree this year.

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: Advent, Advent Wreaths, Building Faith, Purple or Blue

Gratitude Gobbler Template

November 18, 2015 by Sybil Macbeth 2 Comments Leave a Comment

“Let us come before God with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” (Psalm 95:2 NIV)

Here is a template to use for a Thanksgiving prayer. In the spaces within the turkey and on the sides of the page, write your “gratitude list.” (Or if you are feeling grumpy, throw in your grievances as well)  In the center of the turkey I usually write my name for God: “Loving God, Gracious God, Holy One….” Sing or hum or recite the above Psalm as you write and color.

If this gratitude gobbler is a little too goofy for you, trace around your hand to make your own template. If I could have drawn a beautiful cornucopia of autumn vegetables as a template I would have. (not in my skill set)  A Blessed Thanksgiving to all.

Download first choosing the .pdf or.jpg version below the template. Then print. Feel free to make copies.

Turkey Template

.jpg  or .pdf

Below are two examples of gratitude turkeys from previous years.

Turkey Collage Resized.jpg

 

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: Gratitude Coloring Page, Gratitude Turkey, Praying in Color, Thanksgiving, Turkey Template

Despair Prayers–France and All of Us

November 15, 2015 by Sybil Macbeth 2 Comments Leave a Comment

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken us? Why are you so far from saving us, so far from the words of our groaning?* These are some of the few words I can find right now. I know that the terrorism in France is not about God forsaking us. But like the Psalmist did, throwing those words at God keeps the pathways open. God can handle it.

My prayer below is a release of feelings. The words are mostly about my fear and powerlessness with a smattering of love and hope thrown in. As someone who lives in her head, it’s important for me to pay attention to my heart and gut and quit the constant analysis. I think it was Richard Rohr who said, “What gets buried gets buried alive.”

*Variation on Psalm 22:1 NIV

France Prayer resized

 

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: France, Praying in Color, Psalm 22:1, Terrorism in France

Advent Calendar Templates–A CountUP to Christmas

November 6, 2015 by Sybil Macbeth 4 Comments Leave a Comment

Advent calendars are not just for kids! Instead of opening daily doors with pictures or retrieving small gifts or candies from pockets, adults and children can mark the day-by-day journey to Christmas by daily praying/drawing with a calendar template. When I draw, color, and doodle my own Advent calendar, I feel like I’m building something rather than tearing it apart. It is a countup to Christmas, not a countdown. At the end of the 20-some days, the finished Advent calendar is a colorful reminder of what was in my head and on my heart. It is a record of my spiritual journey through Advent.

Here are some examples of calendars from previous years:

Advent Collage 2015

 

Ways to use your calendar:
1) In a space or shape on the calendar, write the name of someone for whom you are praying. Doodle around the name, add color. Think of each stroke of color or each doodled mark (line, dot, arc, spiral…) as a wordless prayer. If words come to you as you draw and color, pray them. When you have finished with your daily entry, say “Amen” or a short passage of Scripture appropriate to Advent like “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” (Psalm 27:1)

2) Write and ponder an Advent word—prepare, await, hope, pregnant, watch, darkness, longing,…—as you doodle and color.

3) Since Advent is a season of hope, write something you hope for each day. Offer that idea to God as you color and draw.

Here are three Advent calendar templates in both .jpg and .pdf form. There is also a version of one of the calendars that is already doodled, so it is more like an Advent calendar coloring page. Click on the words .jpg or .pdf below the version/s you want. Download first; then print. I like to enlarge the 8.5″x11″ format to 11″x17″ card stock. It gives me more room to doodle and color and consequently more time and space with the person or word.
Advent 2015 Trees and Chains Resized

.pdf  or .jpg

Advent Tree Calendar 2015 Resized

.pdf  or  .jpg.

Advent 2015 Trees and Chains Coloring Page Resized.jpegResizedpdf or .jpg

Box Calendar 2015 Resized

.pdf or .jpg

Thanks to Cindy O for the box calendar template for 2015 and for her finished Advent calendar from last year. Check out Cindy’s blog called Mostly Markers.
Thanks to Connie Denninger for her finished candle calendar. Check out her blog called Vintage Grace.

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: Advent, Advent calendar, Advent Calendar Templates, Doodling and Prayer, Doodling prayer, prayer and doodling, The Season of the Nativity-- Confessions and Practices of an Advent-Christmas and Epiphany Extremist

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