Advent - Making room
Readings for this week November 20 - 26
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Day 1 –Time to Prepare
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Isaiah 11:1-10
As Christians, when our major festivals arrive (like Easter or Christmas), the church calendar encourages us to not just jump straight into celebrating these events. As important as they are as times of remembrance and celebration, of recalibration and commemoration, one thing the church has in its wisdom seen fit to do is introduce a period of preparation, a lead-in time to our great festival events. This is a chance to stop, collect ourselves, shed unnecessary distractions and encumbrances to turn ourselves towards God. The lead-in to Easter we call Lent. The lead-in to Christmas is called Advent.
Advent is a time of preparation, a time of expectant waiting for the Nativity celebration of the birth of Jesus. The word ‘Advent’ itself means ‘arrival’, something coming into place, into view, or into being. It is the birthing or the beginning of something. But Advent is not just about the coming of Jesus as a baby. Christian tradition often speaks of the coming of Christ from three different perspectives: in the flesh in Bethlehem, in our hearts daily, and in glory at the consummation of all things. Advent is more than just the annual marking of an event that occurred over 2,000 years ago. It is the celebration of a deep truth about God, the God who came to us as one of us, so that all creation might be reconciled to him. We celebrate that process, we participate in it, and we anticipate his future coming in glory.
Question to Consider
What does Advent mean for you? What changes in your life during Advent? Why is it so important that we prepare ourselves for it.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me prepare for the season of the coming of the king. Calm me, focus me; help me not get caught up in the distractions of the season. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – Making Room
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 1:26-33
This year our Advent series is called “Making Room”. For many of us, when we think of the Advent story and making room, we might think of there being “no room at the inn” and the owner having to “make room” for the holy family with the animals. However we best interpret that, it is certainly part of the story. But we also want to look at the wider meaning of what it means to make room, and ask ourselves: Who is it we are making room for? Who are we making space for in our lives? Who are we letting in? An obvious answer might be Jesus, the one who comes to us, the one promised by God, foretold by the prophets, and now finally arriving incarnate in the infant in the manger. And this is true: we always need to be making room for Jesus in our lives.
But there is more to it. After all, if Jesus is the great gift that has come to us, surely, as his faithful people, we will want to share this gift with others? We’ll want to make room for others by living lives of generosity and simplicity, and by making room in our homes and around our tables. And because Jesus has come for all people, looking around and seeing where he is in the world and making sure we are there too, working him with, is also what making room is all about. Making room for Jesus means making room for those whom Jesus is with, in all places and all times. There is room for us, for each other, and for all others, if we will look around and make room in our lives to see it.
Question to Consider
What does making room mean for you? How is your Advent about making room for others?
Prayer
Lord God, you came to the world and shared yourself with us. Help me share myself and my life with others, making room for them and for you. Show me where to be and who to welcome. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – A Voice in the Wilderness
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 3:1-6
It might seem strange to begin a series that centres around a baby being born with stories of a wild, bizarre, unkempt man living in the desert thirty years on from that birth, calling for people to repent and change their ways – a man who eats locusts and wild honey and doesn’t seem to be worried about how little he wears and how untidy and uncomfortable what little he wears might make others. But we don’t read the story of the coming of Jesus in isolation from the story of what he then went on to do. Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of God amongst us; when Jesus began his work, John the Baptist was there to prepare the way, to ready people for what – who – was coming. And the manner of John’s ministry tells us something about the nature of the one he was preparing the way for.
John’s was a simple message and he lived a life of simplicity in his delivery of that message. A simple lifestyle, throwing off all that might hinder his task (sound familiar?) of proclaiming the coming of the Lord. Away from the daily busyness of life, those who wanted to hear what John had to say had to remove themselves from the city and follow his voice to the wilderness. The simplicity of the surroundings and of life in the desert made it the perfect place to more clearly hear God speak. Fewer distractions; less in the way. To paraphrase a line from Graham Swift’s novel Waterland, God made the desert empty so he could see us better. Perhaps it works the other way around too.
Question to Consider
What does a life of simplicity mean at Christmas? How easily compatible are the two? What distracts us? How can we combat these distractions?
Prayer
Gracious Lord, teach we the simple life. Show me the distractions and activities I don’t need, and the way to live simply and lovingly for others, at all times. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – A Different Way
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 3:7-9
John the Baptist was a bit different. He stood out from the crowd – by avoiding the crowd and going to live in the desert, far from everyone else, except those who travelled to see him. Many came seeking the message of repentance that he was preaching, and to be baptised in the nearby waters of the Jordan River. He wasn’t the first to engage in this sort of ‘wild’ activity. Many of Israel’s prophets had a tendency for strange behaviour, perhaps as a consequence of being in such direct communication with God. Who knows? John was certainly one whose behaviour stood out from everyone else. Living in the desert, calling people to turn from their sins (always a popular move); calling very public attention to the transgressions of the country’s rulers (which would ultimately cost him his life); lecturing and insulting the religious leaders and scribes – John’s words and actions were undeniably outrageous and provocative.
And yet there was something about the directness and simplicity of what John was doing which showed most clearly what God was doing and how he was moving. Jesus said “Of those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” This about a man who wore animal skins and dined on insects and honey as his staple diet! John’s devotion to God’s call on his life didn’t look ‘normal’, it wasn’t safe or benign. Yes, he had a specific to call to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. But he followed that call, peculiaryly maybe, but obediently and radically, showing us how outlandish, arresting and faithful our love for God can be.
Question to Consider
How is such radical obedience present in your life this Advent? What might such a “different” way look like at this time of year?
Prayer
Almighty God, may my Christmas witness this year be different. May it be one of radical simplicity and therefore remarkably counter-cultural. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – Making Room for Simplicity
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Matthew 6:19-34
Often Christmas can seem like a time when a life of simplicity is impossible. It is a busy time of year. Schools and many businesses are working to an end of year deadline for the work that must be done. There are Christmas celebrations to plan and prepare for. For many the season is messy, complicated and stressful. For others, once the rush is over, it’s a time to detach, tune out and go into hibernation from the world. Living a simple life can be difficult; despite the reality of the ‘reason for the season,’ staying focused on Jesus and his coming kingdom can be difficult. Family and celebrations and remembrance and joy are all important, but how do we best serve Jesus during this time. How do we make room for God and others?
Simplicity is about seeking God’s kingdom first in everything and living out kingdom values before everything else – and Advent is still a time for us to be doing this. Seeking the kingdom first in – every day and in everything we do – will help everything else find its rightful place. Living simply allows us to enjoy God’s world as it is, without distraction, helps us see others, and helps us live rightly. Making room for God allows us to make room for others. The simplicity of a baby in a manger can be our guide as we attempt to live kingdom lives, sharing the love of God with others, modelling what a simple God-focused life looks like and celebrating the gift of Jesus with each other, families, friends, and strangers.
Question to Consider
What are you doing this year to make Advent a time of focused simplicity? What helps you reorient yourself to Jesus? How can you carry this mode of simplicity over into everyday life?
Prayer
Loving Lord, help me simplify. Renew my focus on you so that I can learn to see others more clearly and love then better this Advent season. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)