Celebrate the coming of Christ. Celebrate Incarnation. Celebrate Emmanuel.
For Unto Us a Child is born. Unto us a Son is Given. Isaiah 9:6-7
May this completed Advent be the start of a fresh, new journey with Jesus for the coming year, an unfolding experience of Emmanuel.
Below are a few verbal and visual reflections on words from#AdventWord 2018.
#SINGing is my primary learning style. It is probably not in the educators’ official handbook of learning styles with auditory, verbal, visual, kinesthetic…but it includes all of those ways of learning. With melody and emotion thrown in, singing is a full-bodied way to import information into my entire being. Almost everything I know and remember about God, Jesus, and Scripture, I learned in Song. December 17
There are #SIGNS everywhere–portents of doom, promises of prosperity. We can read the signs in the news and on TV and claim that biblical prophecy is now being fulfilled in both the portents and the promises. This is not new news. People have been matching current events with biblical prophecy in a one-to-one correspondence for at least 2000 years. This exercise seems a little self-focused, a way to confirm smug beliefs and opinions about how the world works and what MY God will do. But God will do what God will do. More important for me than sign interpretation is to ask “What kind of sign am I?” How do people read me? Am I a sign of God’s love, compassion, and hope or am I a billboard slathered with words of self-righteousness, judgmental certainty, and despair? In John 4:48, Jesus says, ” Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.” Current events may be signs, but I believe Christians are called to be living signs and wonders. December 21
I #EXPECT a good meal and service when I go to a fine restaurant. I expect teachers to pay attention to my children and grandchildren. I expect my husband to make me happy. I expect to receive good things from God if I am a good girl. But these EXPECTATIONS have an unpleasant ring of entitlement to them. My expectations are not necessarily reasonable and often doomed to end in disappointment and resentment. I like the word EXPECTANCY better than EXPECTATION. Though the roots of the words are the same, the first feels like an attitude of wide-eyed openness and humility rather than a sense of entitlement and arrogance that the second implies. EXPECTANCY helps me to honor the possibilities beyond my limited wants and imagination. What I think I can EXPECT is a God who surprises, who may not give me what I want or expect but who makes all things new. December 22
For the first nine days of Advent I have really enjoyed combining praying in color with #AdventWord. Everyday #AdventWord (adventword.org) sends an email with a new word and a reflection on the word. The chosen words are based on the Advent lectionary from year C. Most of them are familiar, returning Advent companions. But Sunday’s word jarred me and my thoughts went wild. The word was WILD. Instead of just drawing, I started writing:
WILD
Jesus tames the wild, but Jesus also wilds the tame. For people like me who seek the safe, easy, and comfortable way, he discomforts. I choose the path of the good-girl Christian. She’s the one who follows the rules, wants to be perfect, memorizes the Beatitudes and Ten Commandments, respects authority, doesn’t make waves, tries to please, goes to church every Sunday, smiles…. I don’t think Jesus objects to any of those things; they are good things– except if they get in the way of following Him. For me, it’s easier to follow rules. It’s hard to follow the Jesus who calls for wild, sometimes risky discipleship.
“I am the Way,” says Jesus. Possibly, the wild way, the unpredictable way. Jesus steers me off the 8-lane highway of comfort and conformity, asks me to unbuckle my seat belt, and takes me onto the narrow path through a forest of thickets, roots, and brambles. The only navigation tool is Jesus Himself. My mother warned me about men who said, “Follow me.” “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:14 NRSV). (But this is Jesus, mom, okay?)
He is the Way. Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness; You will see rare beasts and have unique adventures. These are the stunning words of the poet W.H. Auden. This wild Jesus who calls me beyond my familiar boundaries is the one I want to follow–but I am so afraid to do so.
Monday’s word was CRY.
CRY
I almost never cry. Not at funerals, not at weddings. Except recently, at the drop of a hat, at the movies, at pictures of my granddaughter, at funerals…. I have wondered: “Why all the crying? Did I have a stroke? Or is my heart actually softening?” In one of those strong, rare, inaudible voices I heard: “Doesn’t matter. Trust the tears.”
Leslie Lepage is also combining #AdventWord with a calendar template. Here are her visual prayers/meditations on the words.
Besides drawing an Advent Calendar using the templates for this year (see the bottom of this post), here are several other ideas for creating a daily visual Advent calendar.
Draw your own calendar. My first praying in color Advent calendars were drawn one-day-at-a time. From one day to the next, I never knew what shape I was going to draw. I had a large piece of paper and prayed for a new person or prayed an Advent word each day. I loved paying attention to the improvisational inspiration of the new day.
Start with a large blank piece of paper. Every day, draw a shape: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, blob…. Write an Advent word or phrase in the shape. Or pray for a person. Add lines, arc, dots, squiggles, color….Let this be an opportunity for reflection and silence in your day.
Create an Advent tree calendar. Use paper shipping or merchandise tags. Each day write an Advent word, a “hope”, a thanksgiving, or a person’s name on a tag. Draw around the word or name as you ponder and pray. Add doodles and color. Tie the tag on the tree. This could also be an #AdventWord tree. See November 26 post about #AdventWord.
Make a clothesline calendar. Attach small envelopes to a rope or string with clothespins. Each day ask one family member to choose a word or name for the envelope. Doodle and color around it. Put dollar bills or loose change in the envelope of the day. When Advent ends, send the collected money to an organization or charity of your choice.
Make a participatory Advent Calendar/Wreath. Place a piece of white butcher paper or poster board on a table. Add four candles–four blue or four purple (or three blue/purple and a pink one).Use some artificial greenery or greenery from your yard to decorate. Each day invite someone (or everyone) in your home to add a word or name or piece of “artwork” to the calendar. Provide stickers, markers, ribbon, and colored paper. Give small children a chance to scribble or draw. At the end of Advent a wonderful, intergenerational collage of doodles, prayers, words, and designs will announce the arrival of Christmas.
Plant bulbs in stones or water. This is the time of year to buy Paperwhite narcissus and amaryllis bulbs. You can practically watch them grow. I like to plant them in a clear container so I can see the roots grow downward as the plant grows upward. This is a great way to teach children about waiting but not waiting in vain. Daily watering can be the task of a child.
Here are this year’s templates and the links to download them. For more information and instructions, see the November 12 post.
“#AdventWord is a global, online Advent calendar. Each day from the first Sunday of Advent through Christmas Day, #AdventWord offers meditations and images to inspire and connect individuals and a worldwide community of believers to the themes of Advent. AdventWord is a ministry of Virginia Theological Seminary.”
Last year I combined one of my Advent calendar templates with the daily word from #AdventWord. Besides having a daily word to think and pray about, I felt less alone than I usually do during Advent. I was part of a worldwide congregation of people making the daily journey to Christmas and anticipating the celebration of Christ coming into the world. A few times I posted my daily calendar entry on the #Advent word website and global calendar. I really enjoyed the words, the meditation, and the communal experience. I plan to do it again this year.
Here is more information about #AdventWord from buildfaith.org:
“You can stay up-to-date by signing up to receive #AdventWord emails here, visiting AdventWord.org, and following the project on Facebook and Instagram.
The words for #AdventWord 2018 are inspired by the Lectionary readings for Advent Year C and selected through a process prayerful meditation on the Word. For the first time this year, one word, #Ancestor, was selected through the larger community via an online voting. The words are intended to follow the arc of the season, preparing us to #Celebrate the birth of Christ. This year’s meditations are offered in eight languages and American Sign Language.”
Here is the list of words for #AdventWord 2018.
If you want to combine #AdventWord 2018 with a calendar template, here are six options. Click on the link below the images for the one you want. When the image appears as a google doc, click on the download button at the top (the square with the downward facing arrow). Download first; then print.
All of the words in blue above are directly from the Building Faith website. To read the complete article about 2018 #AdventWord, Click Here.
If I had to choose just one Advent discipline or activity, it would be a doodled Advent calendar. If you have never done this before, it is a simple, daily but satisfying spiritual practice. This kind of calendar is different from the Advent calendars you buy in a store. You create this one with words and doodles. Instead of opening the door of the day with pictures or retrieving small gifts or candies from pockets, the calendar marks the daily journey to Christmas with your prayers and simple drawings. I like to think of this calendar as a “count-up” to Christmas rather than a “count-down.” It is a building up, rather than a tearing apart. The finished Advent calendar is a colorful reminder of what was in your head and on your heart each day. It is a record of the daily spiritual journey through Advent.
Advent calendars are for adults and children. This year’s calendar templates at the bottom of this post are downloadable for free.
Ways to Use the Calendar Templates
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. Squeeze them onto the calendar in the shape or along the margins if they feel important. When you have finished with your daily entry, say “Amen” or recite a short passage of Scripture appropriate to Advent like “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” (Psalm 27:1)
2) Combine your calendar with one of the many wonderful Advent books of meditations and reflections. Read the entry for the day. Choose a word from the reading that jumps out at you. Write it in the shape and start to doodle and color around it. Marinate in the word. What is the word saying to you? What does God have to say to you about the word? Listening + doodling+ coloring = praying. Keep a computer or notebook next to your calendar so you can write any insights or “ahas.”
3) Write and ponder an Advent word––prepare, wait, pregnant, hope, watch, darkness, longing, light…—as you doodle and color.
4) Advent is a season of hope. Write something you hope for each day. Offer that idea to God as you draw, write, and color.
5) Advent means “coming,” and specifically the coming of Jesus. Write one of the many names for Jesus in the daily box. Here are a few of the many ways we refer to Jesus: savior, messiah, friend, Prince of Jesus, Emmanuel…. Use the Bible, Handel’s Messiah, Christmas carols, and hymns to uncover those names. Pray and ponder how that name for Jesus stirs, affects, annoys, delights, or inspires you.
6) For smaller children, print the calendar on 11″x17″ paper and just let them color. Light a battery-powered votive candle and give them a quiet, secret place to work. The Tree template might be a simple one for a child to use.
This is not supposed to be a great work of art. Enjoy the process. The words, marks, and color end up creating a beautiful tapestry in spite of your skill level! Advent calendars can also be just black and white. No color necessary. Here are some samples of completed Advent calendars from past years. Thanks to Cindy O. and Connie D. for their calendars.
Candles–Connie D, Box Calendar–Cindy O
Cindy O
Sybil
Here are six 2018 Advent Calendar templates in .pdf form.
Click on the links below the pictures for the one you want. When the image appears as a google doc, click on the download button at the top (the square with the downward facing arrow). Download first; then print. Feel free to share the calendar templates with others, for individual or group use.
Notes:
P.S. If you have trouble downloading the template, send me an email from the Contact page and I’ll send a calendar template to you directly. Sometimes school and church computers or accounts will not allow you to download things from unknown sites on the internet. If you contact me, use your home email instead of a school or church email. If you would prefer a .jpg, contact me.
Advent morphs into Christmas. The #AdventWord calendar is now the swaddled babe. The Advent tree becomes a Christmas tree. Equipped with the skills of Advent we become Christmas people, followers of Jesus—laying the groundwork and working for the emerging kingdom of God.
.Advent seems so short this year. This is the sixteenth day of Advent and already three Sundays of Advent are gone. Here are my two daily disciplines for this Advent:
1) I have been reading Walter Brueggemann’s Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent. The daily readings are challenging and loaded with fresh and surprising Advent words. Each day I choose a word that jumps out at me, write it on a small envelope, and doodle while I think about the word. I pin the envelope on the Advent tree (i.e. our future Christmas tree). Some of the words on the tree are: Relinquish, Solidarity,Protest, Welcome, Outrageous…. This collection of words and Brueggemann’s meditations remind me that Jesus’s coming into the world is meant to turn my comfy, tame life on its head, that “God’s rule of starchy justice and generous mercy will arise on the earth…” Coins and dollars we collect in the envelopes will go to some organization that witnesses to that starchy justice and generous mercy.
2) AdventWord is a worldwide experience of prayer using social media and images. A new Advent word is posted each day.Recipients reflect on the word and share images or photos on a worldwide Advent calendar.The Society of St. John the Evangelist started this four years ago. This year Virginia Theological Seminary is contributing short meditations with the word. I’m using the word they provide in connection with one of the Advent calendar templates I created. The words from the Brueggemann book have captured my spiritual imagination more than the AdventWords, but I love the idea of a worldwide daily discipline of prayer and collective visual response.
One of my favorite intergenerational Christian Formation tools is the echo pantomime. Echo pantomimes tell a story with words and movement. They are a playful, full-bodied way to learn a Bible story and to build community. Here’s how the form works:
1.Choose a leader–an adult or a child who can read.
2. The leader reads a line of the script and performs the indicated action at the same time.
3. The group echoes the leader’s words and gestures.
4. The leader says the next line with the action; the group copies the words and actions again.
5. The back and forth between leader and group continues until the story is complete.
Echo pantomimes can be used with a large group of people or even with a small family. Adults seem to enjoy the movement and playfulness as much as children. The Zechariah story below can be repeated over and over during Advent. With lots of repetition a group can eventually do it together without a leader, almost as a dance.
Below is the Luke 1 Echo Pantomime of Zechariah’s encounter with the angel Gabriel. It was first published in The Season of the Nativity: Confessions and Practices of an Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Extremist (2014) You can download a .pdf or .jpg version of this Zechariah Voice and Body piece.
There is still time to download an Advent calendar template. Advent starts this coming Sunday, December 3. This year is the shortest possible Advent season, only 22 days. Here are the possible templates. To download these free pages and for instructions about how to use them go to my blog post from November 7.
I made a cool discovery with the help of my friend Roy DeLeon. I have an art app on my IPad called Procreate. I imported one of the templates into Procreate and discovered I can doodle and color the template right on my IPad. I suspect there are other tablets and art apps that allow the same thing. Here is a practice run for couple of days on the calendar. I have a lot to learn–like how not to erase or smudge lines I want to keep.
