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| WINGS Book Study Group: Tue, 12:00 PM
Wednesday "Faith Lift" Meditation: 7:00 PM Table Talk Thursday (Zoom): 12:00 PM
Exodus Class (Zoom): Thur, 3:00 PM
Sunday Service: 10:45 AM
Sunday Social (Zoom): 12:00 PM |
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Seasons’ Greetings, all!
This week I am thinking about preparing and waiting. These are two very important aspects of the Christmas season. We actually spend most of the season preparing and waiting for the wondrous reminder of the birth of the Christ within us all. In the Christian tradition, this is sometimes referred to as Advent. When I was a wee girl growing up in a Presbyterian family, we had an Advent wreath with a red candle to be lit each Sunday evening preceding Christmas Eve and a special white one for Christmas Eve. One year when my sister and I were in elementary school, my mother had the idea that we should follow a script of readings that was provided by our church’s Youth Ministry. My younger sister and I were each supposed to read a part for this solemn family ceremony each Sunday evening and then light the candle. Well, my sister could not read her part without laughing and giggling all the way through. I, as the older and more mature (probably all of about eleven years old), was doing my part perfectly and she kept giggling and laughing until she got my dad laughing (he, too, was also not treating the moment with the same level of seriousness as my mother and I). Finally, my mother just threw up her hands! So, from then until today, I cannot hear the word Advent without getting a smile on my face and thinking of those evenings long ago! Truth be told, I was struggling not to giggle myself, LOL.
The definition of Advent is waiting for the arrival of someone or something very important and certainly Mary was waiting for someone important in her wait for the birth of Jesus. Our Great Teacher and Way-shower was the gift of the Christmas Season. He came to show us and teach us that the gift of the Christ is within us ready to be discovered and nurtured. Mary received the gift of the Christ child because of her open and receptive consciousness and we can receive as well. According to the book, Effectual Prayer by Frances W. Foulks, there are preparations we can make while we are waiting. She wrote, “prayer is communion with God and our thoughts must take on the spiritual quality of God thoughts” if we want to be ready to receive the gifts of the Giver. Frances Foulks refers to God as the Giver of all gifts. She goes further to remind us that to be ready to receive we must cleanse and renew our minds, “by denial and affirmation, by letting go of self and touching the God-power.”
This seems like a good time of year to think about letting go of our very human emotions and feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, impatience, criticism, and selfishness so we can make way for the Christ to be born anew in us. When considering her chapter on preparation, it struck me that this very season of peace tends to bring out those very thoughts that prevent peace. So, I am committing to myself to try and make this a season of tolerance, patience, unselfishness, acceptance, and forgiveness. Feeling those positive emotions would certainly be a gift and bring about a peaceful preparation for the coming holiday.
We have much to feel blessed by and much that we are waiting for, but together, we can lift our consciousness to that higher place in this time of waiting and preparation for better days ahead!
I miss all of you and look forward to when we can celebrate this time of Advent together, until then……
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| | If you'd like to join us on Zoom, the login info is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81007092426?pwd=SlUrRzU3MWhpZEx2bW96NTNlbW1tZz09
Meeting ID: 810 0709 2426
Passcode: 865284
Peace, Love, and Prayerful Waiting!
Cynthia
I
found a photo of an Advent Wreath to share with you, along with photos,
as promised, of our Christmas tree with decorations – any of the
ornaments on the tree are collected from all of the places around the
world that we have visited. One photo is of our cat, Princess,
“waiting” by the tree, for Santa perhaps? |
| | | | | | | | | Your Weekly Affirmation:
LET MY OWN HUMAN NATURE BE A STABLE SETTING FOR THE BIRTH OF THE SPIRITUAL AWARENESS OF THE CHRIST.
THANK YOU, GOD! |
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