If you or your church community participates in the Advent by lighting candles as a way of remembering God’s hope, peace, joy, love, you may recall: We have lit the first two candles, one for hope and one for peace.
Today we light the third candle, the candle of joy. This should be the easy one (and yet will be difficult today due to the horrifying current event in Connecticut), because joy is all around us—in the children, the lights, the music, the gathering together. But how often do we let our preparations—or our memories—push joy to the side? Joy is like an underground spring that wells up within us, but joy is also a choice, an attitude. Like a muscle, it needs to be exercised. So today we open ourselves to joy, trusting that God has already planted it in us and will water the seeds for even more growth. All we need to do is give it care and offer it to share.
ADVENT PRAYER
Loving God, we open ourselves to you,
trusting that this is how you made us:
you created us for joy-filled hearts and lives.
Show us the creative power of hope.
Teach us the peace that comes from justice.
Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained, but must be shared.
Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you,
That we may walk in the light of Christ. Amen.
trusting that this is how you made us:
you created us for joy-filled hearts and lives.
Show us the creative power of hope.
Teach us the peace that comes from justice.
Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained, but must be shared.
Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you,
That we may walk in the light of Christ. Amen.
ADVENT ACTION
If experiencing joy is similar to exercising a muscle, then it takes a bit of practice. Today practice joy by PLAYING. Invite a family with children over to your house or simply spend a few hours around a baby or toddler. Re-Imagine Advent & Christmas through their lens. Enjoy the magic in the air!
(Exercising our corporate and individual joy muscles becomes even more important after a tragedy like the one our country is facing in the Connecticut shootings. We must both mourn the loss of the victims/their families AND be present to the joy that Jesus has come to insert in the midst of great sadness and loss. For this is where we live: in this great tension between mourning and joy and this tension is where muscles can be strengthened in Christ.)
No comments:
Post a Comment