Advent begins on Sunday, if you can believe it.
This season of getting ready for Christmas doesn’t have to be co-opted by Amazon and the mall. To help minimize the consumer insanity, may I suggest a few resources for thoughtful living during the coming weeks?
First, a Jesse Tree Devotional.
The Jesse Tree is a way to prepare for the coming of Christ. That word coming? In Latin, it’s adventus, where we get our word Advent. Through the weeks of Advent, the Jesse Tree helps us tell the stories of faith, so we can see the whole Story that culminates in the birth of that baby in Bethlehem all those centuries ago.
Last year 40 artists of all ages from our church contributed art for the Jesse Tree ornaments. I wrote the devotions. For each day of Advent and Christmas (because Christmas is a season, not a day), there is a story from Scripture, a prayer, a question for reflection or discussion, and an activity (though I highly recommend only doing one or two of the activities each week so as not to make yourself crazy).
Made by and for our church community, it’s a family-friendly little booklet, a gift from our community to you and yours. (And yes, it’s free. A gift always is.) In order to make a Jesse Tree, you’ll also want the ornament template.
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Second, a book of meditations compiled by Christine Sine.
Each year, Christine asks a number of writers and bloggers to reflect on an Advent theme on her blog, Godspace. She’s collected many of these pieces (including two of mine) into a lovely book called Waiting for the Light. In addition to a meditation for each day of Advent and Christmas, the book also includes a liturgy for each week of Advent and for the Christmas season.
A print version of Waiting for the Light is available through Mustard Seed Associates for $18 (including shipping). You can also get a Kindle version or a PDF version for $10 each. All proceeds go to support MSA’s mission work.
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Finally, an article by Rodney Clapp that I’ve returned to almost every Advent for 15 years.
Published in Christianity Today in October 1996, “Why the Devil Takes Visa” provides a helpful look at the history of American consumerism and offers several case studies of ways that Christians have attempted to live in this cultural milieu without being absorbed by it.
If you only read one thing this Advent, please read this. It’s thoughtful, thought-provoking, and more than worth every minute you’ll spend.
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My whole goal during Advent is to keep the craziness away so that I can focus on getting ready for Jesus. This is why I offer only three resources: because I don’t want overwhelm you any more than I want to be overwhelmed myself.
May God bless you with silence and wonder and joy as you prepare for the coming of Christ.
I look forward to Advent. My family has more sacred traditions for Advent than for Christmas because it’s an honor to be able to wait hopefully–knowing what happened thousands of years ago, what happens every day because of the Incarnate Christ, and what will happen since we trust he will return. So we bake treats that have to wait for breakfast the next morning, listen to Handel’s Messiah to hear the promises and prophecies, set out the Advent wreath (and the Advent calendar when I was a child), and put out the first figures of the nativity scene–adding a few each week until the Christ child on Christmas day. Now, as an adult without children yet, I look forward to sharing these traditions with the 7th grade girls that I lead in small group. What a joyful season! Wishing you blessings in yours 🙂
Rachel,
What wonderful ways to get yourself ready for Christmas. I admit, most years Advent sneaks up on me. I love having this week after Thanksgiving to turn my thoughts toward Advent, rather than being plunged immediately into it 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing these traditions with me and others who stop by here. I love the Messiah–we even have an illustrated libretto that I keep in our box of Christmas books. Opening that box is one of my favorite moments of the season 🙂
I always want Advent to be a quiet time for reflection but it’s so hard to keep the craziness out, even without children at home. I’ve always told my guys that life is all about choices and it’s seldom about a choice between good and bad. Rather it’s about making choices between two or more good things. It’s never harder than during Advent, is it?
Yes, Glyn, yes. So hard to choose the good that is best–hard often to even know *which* good is best. May we each have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to follow the Good That Is Best in this season of preparing for Jesus to come.
Thank you for these (other) resources…I will add them to my list and peruse when able. Mindful of being slow and quiet. Working on that.
This helps. 🙂
Hi Kimberlee! Please forgive me for taking so long to respond to your comment on my blog. Thanksgiving arrived on the heels of an unexpected hospital stay and I’m still trying to catch up and reorient my days.
Oh, how I love Advent. For at least a decade we have attended a church that is not liturgical…an element of corporate worship I was surprised to miss. But it has made us more intentional to include Advent and Lent devotions in our worship at home. Thank you for making your devotions available to all of us…and may the joy and wonder of Christmas bless you and those you love, as well.