[Next Sunday's gospel reading is here, though not addressed today.]
But I find it hard to engage Advent before Thanksgiving, that huge cultural celebration requiring preparation of its own. Forget about readiness to celebrate Christ’s incarnation – we have to get ready for the turkey! For many Americans, this is a week of blessing and stressing like few others, compounded for some this year by a profound fear for our freedoms and future as a nation. If we're hosting, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food; if we're traveling, we have to pack and prep. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by, God-willing, a relaxing three days, after which we plunge into the holy season.
We tend to prepare for things we either dread or anticipate – and Thanksgiving can have elements of both. How might we find ways to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations? I believe Jesus wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences. This week provides opportunities to experience God’s presence amidst the bustle and company of others, if not in serene isolation.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the store and the kitchen (maybe not out loud…), and remember why you’re participating in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you put get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales… ask yourself whether that deal is worth the time and angst it’s going to take. If you love it, go for it (and remember Small Business Saturday…)
Let’s move through this intense week as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are gifted. We can make this week more blessed than stressed.
But I find it hard to engage Advent before Thanksgiving, that huge cultural celebration requiring preparation of its own. Forget about readiness to celebrate Christ’s incarnation – we have to get ready for the turkey! For many Americans, this is a week of blessing and stressing like few others, compounded for some this year by a profound fear for our freedoms and future as a nation. If we're hosting, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food; if we're traveling, we have to pack and prep. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by, God-willing, a relaxing three days, after which we plunge into the holy season.
We tend to prepare for things we either dread or anticipate – and Thanksgiving can have elements of both. How might we find ways to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations? I believe Jesus wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences. This week provides opportunities to experience God’s presence amidst the bustle and company of others, if not in serene isolation.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the store and the kitchen (maybe not out loud…), and remember why you’re participating in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you put get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales… ask yourself whether that deal is worth the time and angst it’s going to take. If you love it, go for it (and remember Small Business Saturday…)
Let’s move through this intense week as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are gifted. We can make this week more blessed than stressed.
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