Participating in Advent

Advent is the liturgical period preceding Christmas, beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.  The focus is the coming of Jesus at the Incarnation and observed by many Christians as a season of prayer, fasting and penitence.

Participating in Advent is a wonderful way to put the focus on what Christmas really is all about.  Jesus was born to be a savior to the world.  God come to earth, incarnate.  Emmanuel.

I've never really focused on Advent in a personal way.  Sure, I've seen the church pick a family to come up to the front during Sunday service and light a candle on the wreath and read a Bible verse and pray a prayer.  This is usually quite entertaining as the small child lighting the candle brings all the suspense and tension of a disaster movie and the verse and prayer is usually inaudible and guessing what is being said makes the imagination wander into areas best not brought into the sanctuary.  Advent always seemed, to me, to be made for children.  I've seen Advent calendars with little doors to open with candy treats inside.  It always looked like the countdown to Santa's arrival rather than the coming of the King.

I've discovered Advent reminds us to focus on the second coming of our King and reminds us to keep Jesus at the center of our lives.  I know this is something I need to do.  I've found myself at the center of my life for far too long, lately.

I've found an Advent app for my iPhone with a Bible study to guide me through Advent.  I hope to learn more about Advent.  I'd like to learn what the candles mean and why there is a pink candle.  I'd like to move Jesus into the center of my thoughts and my life and, certainly, my Christmas.  The first day begins with Simeon and Anna meeting the Holy family and witnessing a promise they each had waited every day to see fulfilled in their lifetimes.  I want my Advent season filled with the anticipation of the coming of Christ, at Christmas and at the second coming.  I hope to be able to share more of my discoveries with you as this ADVENTure in Advent unfolds.

Happy Advent.  Oh come, Emmanuel.

Linking with Em at Imperfect Prose.

Missional ideas for "stay at home" missionaries

This Christmas season I've been making an effort to focus outside myself and my family and focus on being intentional in making Christmas meaningful this year.  Most of the effort I've put forward in this endeavor, thus far, has cost me money and very little time.  I did the shoebox Christmas gifts and the Soldiers' Angels Christmas cards.  These really didn't involve too much of my time.  Today I'm focusing on being a Stay At Home missionary.  This will involve more of my time than my money.  I think it's a good thing.  This is what I want to do to change the way I feel about my relationship with Jesus and the way I relate to people outside of a relationship with Jesus.  Below are eight things we can do to treat our home towns and neighborhoods like the mission field they are.  Of course, this isn't just a Christmas mission.  But isn't Christmastime a wonderful time to start?

1.  Eat with people far from God.  People eat at least two times a day.  Try to find a person to share lunch with at least three times a week.

2.  Walk, don't drive.  If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking around your neighborhood.

3.  Be a regular.  Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places.

4.  Hobby with others.  Pick a hobby you can share.  Get out and do something you enjoy with others.  Try a city league sport.

5.  Talk to your co-workers.  How hard is that?  Take your breaks with intentionality.  Pick four co-workers and pray for them.  Just be nice.

6.  Volunteer for secular charities.  What do you care about?  Get involved and do it with people far from God.

7.  Participate in city events.  Don't just cocoon at home.  Go to fundraisers, festivals, clean-ups, summer shows, and concerts.

8.  Serve your neighbors.  Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, fixing a car.  Do ANYTHING to show you care.

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!

And, we're off...

I feel it in my bones.  The anticipation of completing my Christmas checklist on time and getting it done just right.  It's funny, I pretty sure no one else in my family is feeling this same anxiety.  Just me.

I wonder how these traditions became ingrained in my head?  I have to have Christmas lights on the outside of the house, wreaths on all the windows, at least one decorated Christmas tree (but 2 or 3 trees would be better), decorate the house with assorted decorations and greenery, send out all the Christmas cards, bake the Christmas cookies, shop for the gifts, wrap the gifts, clean the house, invite friends to the house, make the Christmas dinner.  Did I miss anything?

I'm torn between wanting to make Christmas memorable by doing the Christmas traditions and making Christmas meaningful by doing things for others in the name of Jesus.  In the end, I'm feeling as if I've added more to my Christmas busyness than I've taken away from it.

I am a woman who is able to remove an article of clothing from her closet for each new article of clothing added to her closet.  I am a woman who is able to toss items left unused or unworn for one year, but, I can't seem to let go of any Christmas traditions.  I have friends who send New Year cards because doing Christmas cards is too time costly.  I know of people who do not put up a Christmas tree in their home or lights on their home, and yet, they still manage to call it Christmas.  I want to be one of those people.  How do they do it? 

I've written on this blog about wanting Christmas to be different this year.  I'm still working on it.  Today I am mailing off my Soldier Angel Christmas cards.  Somehow, I cannot let these Soldier Angel cards replace the cards I send to friends and family, but in my heart I think this would be the most appropriate thing to do to minimize Christmas busyness.  We sent off our shoebox Christmas gifts, but this will not replace the gifts we give each other in our family.  Although, I think they should because this would minimize our Christmas spending. 

Maybe the best idea for me would be to just do less.  This year I will give my son just one gift.  (not counting socks and underwear, because, well just because)  I'm hesitant to say I will give my husband only one gift, (mostly because he reads my blog and he may not be happy with this decision) but maybe just one gift would be OK this year.  As for me, I would like to receive the gift of an organized house this year.  Maybe this will help me have a more meaningful Christmas.

I'm trying to think of my next meaningful Christmas giving.  I would like to find an Angel Tree in the area.  I've seen these before and I like the idea behind them.  This mission is to give Christmas gifts to the children in the area who have a mother or father in prison.  There used to be a department store in our area that always had one of these Angel Trees.  It was in a part of town I don't usually visit.  I liked it because you could go in the store, take some cards off the tree, shop for the gifts written on the cards while you were in the store and then leave them under the tree.  It felt really right and I didn't mind the fact that it promoted shopping in that particular store.  Too bad this store isn't open anymore.  I'm going to have to go hunting for one like it.  I'll let you know how this works out for me. 
 
In the meantime, I will continue my attempts at minimizing my Christmas busyness and maximizing my Christmas purpose.  Wish me luck.

#ThankGod

I noticed that #ThankGod was trending on Twitter.  I thought I would take a few minutes to see what all the people thanking God were thanking God for.  I thought it would be fun.  I was surprised.  I was educated.  I am so happy there are so many people thanking God.

*Evidently many people use God as an alarm clock.  This was news to me, but check out a few of the tweets I found.

tpoydras_CBG 

First and foremost, gotta thank the man up above for waking me up this morning....#ThankGod

Smoke_FYT

#ThankGod for waking me yo this morning

 

LivingNDopeness 

#ThankGod For waking me up this morning

 

Nyiah5 

#ThankGOD for wakin me n mine

 

*And many people are grateful God makes the coffee.

 

xobrandinicole 

#ThankGod for Starbucks. I would be lost...well...more like asleep :)

 

kaitlynlacass kaitlynbrielle

Caramel latte # starbucksatschool #thankgod

 

*There are a lot of folks grateful for their jobs.  And they should be grateful.  Thanks, Obama.  The unemployment rate is AWESOME.

 

Buddy_Lee55 

#ThankGod for a new job!!!

 

QcKid4rmQueensz

I'm blessed ..I have more than one job a roof over my head n food on the table #ThankGOD 

 

PrinceMason 

I #ThankGOD tht I still hav my Good Health, LiFe, Family, Job, Truck & Im still n my Right Mind*

 

*Most of the tweeters are happy they have a break in classes, or they did well on a test, or they never have to take a particular course again.  As long as there are tests, there will always be prayer in school.  :) 

 

caseykowal  

3 classes to get through then i'm finally going home! #thankgod 

 

Chance_Jones 

Last day of school #thankgod 

 

*Some people are grateful to God for the short work week.  And not everyone is grateful for their jobs. 

 

sarahaadkins17  

last day of the work week #thankgod #ihatemyjob 

 

*There are plenty of people thanking God for all the physical blessings he as bestowed upon them. 

 

ImFlyAF  

I love my teeth. Pearly, straight & white. #thankgod

 

_InfamousBunnii Hii 

#ThankGod for the person That You made me.

 

GoodPuh_See

Your #tooshort to be my boyfriend. #ThankGod.

 

*Some of the tweeters were paying attention in Sunday School.  They know God is about second chances and faith and hope. 

 

wasupstew  

#ThankGod for 2nd chances! Where sould i be w/o the Lord's grace?

 

Mark_Ingram28 

Another morning, Another opportunity #thankGod #Amen 

 

HIGHDEFBeauty  

#ThankGod for EVERYTHING! The good the bad and all in between! without the Lord I am an empty shell!

 

BlakeWalker24 

I #ThankGod that even though times are tough, he will make sure we get through them as long as our faith is strong.

 

*Of course, there were many thanks to God for the really important things in life. 

 

AntjHart  

#ThankGod for candy and ice cream.

 

AntjHart 

#ThankGod for Netflix

 

ihotunem  

There's good network coverage here as well #ThankGod  

 

demimcpherson  

Moving back in with my mom. #thankgod

 

dmalamud

#thankgod I took a vacation day tomorrow

 

*And a few of the tweeters thanked God for being God and doing what God does

 

KnwItAll_Ash  

#ThankGod For Loving Me!!!!

 

Is it Thanksgiving or black Friday?

I've never been a fan of the black Friday.  I don't like the crowds.  I don't like the pushing and shoving and waiting in line.  That being said, I've become a fan of the Thanksgiving midnight madness.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to participate, I want to gawk.  I have had the pleasure of strolling through the mall or outlet mall parking area looking at the people in line around the block to get into a store to save an extra 10% on an item that probably won't be appreciated and will most likely will end up costing 25% more because of the finance charges of the credit card company.  It's a spectacle that amuses me and saddens me, simultaneously.  This Thanksgiving evening, most likely, I will go and watch.  I will think about the dinner I ate this day while I walk and fool myself into thinking I'm exercising.  I will see the people in their pajamas, participating in a promotional gimmick.  I will see children awake and up way past an acceptable bedtime and observe them being trained in overspending and developing an entitlement mentality.  There will be thousands upon thousands of people participating in the madness.

My desire is to forgo the madness.  I don't want to be sucked into the whirlwind of the holiday frenzy.  I remember a day 21 years ago.  I lived in Monterey, CA.  It was during the Gulf War.  I felt so blessed.  My husband was in PG school and not stationed on a ship in the Gulf.  He was home with me and we were celebrating Christmas as a family.  We were sponsoring an Israeli  family.  The dad was in the Israeli Air Force and the mom was a stay at home mom, like me.  They had a little girl, I had a little boy.  One day we walked into town to walk the children and have time out of the house.  There were Christmas decorations all around and Christmas music playing.  The mom asked me a pointed question.  It was her first time in the U.S and she asked me, "Isn't Christmas a religious holiday?"  I looked around.  I couldn't see any evidence of a religious aspect to this holiday.  Here I was, an American Christian talking to a Israeli Jew and I couldn't explain the lack of religious identifiers anywhere around me.  And, this was 21 years ago.  And, this was in a country at war.  My Israeli friend was worried about SCUD missiles being rocketed into her country.  The fear of her friends and family being attacked with poison gas.  It made me a little sick to think I lived in a country where so many people weren't even thinking about the war and weren't thinking about the significance of the holiday they were celebrating.

We are now 10 years past 9/11.  We have been attacked on our soil.  Our country is at war, again.  I believe we are even further into the abyss and even more intentional in our ignoring of the religious significance of the holiday we celebrate.  I'm afraid we, who believe, may be becoming quieter and quieter about our beliefs.  We don't want to upset anyone.  We want to be tolerant.  We want to blame the government and the banks for our greed and impatience.  We want what we want when we want it.  I want to stop this madness, at least I want to stop it in my house.

What do I want for Christmas?  I want my house back together.  I want a closer relationship with my husband and son.  I want a closer walk with my Lord.  I wonder if these things can be wrapped and set under the tree?  I'm going to try.  I think my next Christmas project will be to send Christmas cards to wounded soldiers.

If you would like to reach out to a wounded hero this Holiday Season, here is a great options that will ensure your card makes it to a wounded warrior who needs to know someone cares.  (IMPORTANT NOTE:  Please avoid sending anything with glitter--it tends to get everywhere, of course, even in wounds and bandages.):
Send your cards to Soldiers' Angels.  They will be included in Holiday gifts for wounded warriors and hand-delivered at major military medical centers and VA facilities across the country:

You only have a few days left for this Christmas.

Soldiers' Angels

Cards for the Wounded

4408 N. PanAm Exprwy

San Antonio, TX 78218