Will they even know?

Christmas brings lots of traditions….many of which involve decorations.  We put up lights. We put up trees. We put up nativities. We put up wreaths.  We put out special Christmas dishes. We put up all kinds of things to signal the season and celebrate the coming of Christ.  But often we do those things for ourselves.  We do them inside, but are we bothering to do anything outside?  Ok, maybe a few strands of lights at the house, but what about the church?  Would someone who doesn’t attend have any idea of the festivities inside based on what has changed during Advent?  

What is it that tells the world Jesus is coming?  We could put lights on the outside of the church and pretend it’s the lights and the ornaments and the decorations…but that actually only highlights what people already know (culturally, that is, Christmas is a time of shopping, baking, and decorating).  But, as Christians, Christmas is meant to be more than what the culture knows. Christmas is about the indwelling of Emmanuel—God with us.  We’re called to celebrate Christmas over and again, not just to remember (though that’s certainly part of it) that God came once, but to know and share that God is Emmanuel every day, not just on that one day.

As people called to follow and imitate Christ, God is with us.  And, for many, we become the “only Christ they will know.”  We aren’t just supposed to wait for him to do something. But we are called to be do-ers of the Word who live like Christ and share his gifts with others.  in many ways, we are invited to give rise to the Kingdom of God here on earth.  

So, the question becomes, how are we doing that? How are we a living example of what Christ has done, but also what he is doing, and will do in the future?  Are our lives a proclamation of the Good News?  Do people feel the love of Christ when they are with us?  Do they feel known and accepted for who they are? Loved? Appreciated? Not just the people who know us and love us, but the strangers and the outsiders. How do they encounter us? What about our witness tells them that Jesus is coming and that’s a good thing?  

I’ve been encouraged by the outpouring of jackets, coats, and blankets for those living on the street in Spokane—that’s a living witness to Jesus’ generosity.  The gifts you are getting for Christmas for Kids will tell children they are important, valued, and loved.  The cards you will send and the cookies you will make tell people they are remembered and cherished. Each of those things are a living witness.  God is with us in those places.  And God has the potential to be even more present in our lives and in our witness. It doesn’t have to involve spending money or giving tangible gifts. It also involves time, care, inclusion, and intentionality.  

Christmas is just 3 weeks away.  That time may go quickly, but it will provide plenty of moments in which we can show grace, love, and kindness that mimics Christ. Will people know Christ through you?  

Advent “Study” week 2

part 2 in a series of Advent "studies" that are less about study and more about slowing down to listen for God in the midst of the holy-days.

Part of readying ourselves is allowing God to work in our lives. Many of us need healing in our relationships, in our bodies, and in our spirit. 

The focus of today’s time together is to slow down, listen, and ask God for healing in our lives. 

Let us start with prayer. Gracious Lord, we thank you for this time that we have set apart.  We ask that you would meet us here.  Give us guidance. Lead us and touch us in all the ways we need.  Send your spirit to move in us, through us, amongst us, and between us. In your precious and mighty name, we pray, amen

Meditation: During Advent and Christmas, we celebrate all that Christ brings to and offers the world.  We sing about peace and joy and hope and loife. And yet, often, the holidays bring stress and grief and tension and family feuds.  Facing the holidays without loved ones, end of the year bills, schedule conflicts, illness, fatigue, and family drama can suck the cheer right out of the holidays.  And so we come back to this place to center our hearts on Christ and seek renewal and wholeness. 

The story of Emmanuel shouts, “God with us!” reminding us that we are not alone in our struggles and that God does seek to offer us blessings and goodness.  God wants us to be whole. God wants us to have peace.  God wants our relationships to be life-giving.  God wants us to be healthy. 

In our time of quiet, let us ask God, which parts of my life do you want to heal and restore this Christmas? 

Quiet (2-3 minutes)

Time of sharing

Prayer time (music in the background)

Communion

Hymn

Closing prayer

Blue Night service

This was adapted from this
 
I left the original text is still there, just with the line through so you can decide for yourself what works best in your setting.

I did add a bit that deals with depression and loss other than grieving someone who died.  You will see my additions in brackets [   ]

May your service be blessed and full of healing and comfort!



Set in a prominent place in the sanctuary should be vase with water and dead, gray sticks coming out of it.  Each person, as they enter, shall be given a blue or purple carnation or rose.  These probably need to be ordered ahead of time, as most florists do not have them on hand.  Placed around the vase may be votive candles as well as the bread and cup for Communion.
The candles for the Advent wreath should be lit before the service.  If this service is held on the Longest Night, the fourth Advent candle – the candle of love has probably been lit.  Later in the service, each person will be invited to take the flame from the candle of love – which cannot be extinguished by death- and light a votive for the person/persons they mourn.  They then place a blue carnation in the vase amongst the dead sticks.  After all have placed in the vase, it becomes quite a beautiful winter arrangement.  This arrangement can be left in an inconspicuous place in the sanctuary for the Christmas Eve celebration.
Music can be used in this service, but as an undertone to set the mood.  If you have a musician available, then they can play calming music at the beginning of the service, and possibly some recognizable hymns (not Christmas carols) during Communion.  One song that is suggested can be played as a CD, but permission from the artist must still be granted.   I do not have the right to grant usage rights, it is merely a suggestion because I think it is a beautiful song.
Words of Welcome
The Advent season is one of wonder.  For so many it is a time of hopeful anticipation.  It is a season of promise.  The longer nights and the gray clouds seem to provide the perfect background for the lights and the tinsel.  The decorations are everywhere we turn.  For so many, this is a time of [expectancy and joy].  But for many of us, especially those of us gathered here, Christmas is a harsh reminder of life that once was.  So we gather not so much in hopeful anticipation, but in the cloud of despair.   While so many are ready to sing “Joy to the World,” we gather as those that mourn.   We gather now to carve out a time of quiet reflection.  We gather to shed tears if they come, to hold hands if they are available, and to know that we are not alone.  Whether this is the first Christmas without someone you love, or if you seem to be hurting from loss for as long as you remember, [w]e gather to be reminded that it is okay to mourn, even at Christmas.
Prayer for those that mourn at Christmas
[Lord] In this season of anticipation, we seek the comfort of the Holy Spirit.  We ask for your blessing this night upon those that mourn, for the pain at Christmas seems sharper.  We remember the words of Jesus, who promised comfort to those that mourn.  All around us are reminders of the joy that the world tells us we are supposed to be feeling.  Forgive us, O God, for not joining in the celebration with our whole hearts.  Guide us now, O Holy One, that we may move in still small steps from mourning to comfort.  Help us to find healing in the midst of the pain, and order in the midst of chaos.  Lighten our burden.  Give us rest.  Amen
Song – “Come to Me,” by Christopher Grundy (or another song) O Come O Come Emmanuel
Words of Grace
The Lord is merciful and gracious; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to the faithful.  For the Lord knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust.  But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon the faithful, and the righteousness of the Lord to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. (Psalm 103: 8, 13-14, 17-18)
Matthew 11:28-30 (Common English Version)
“Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.  Put on my yoke, and learn from me.  I’m gentle and humble.  And you will find rest for yourselves.  My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”

Romans 8:38-39

New International Version (NIV)

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 14:1-4, 16-20, 25-27  (Common English Version)
“Don’t be troubled.  Trust in God. Trust also in me.  My father’s house has room to spare.  If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you?  When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too.  You know the way to the place I’m going…
I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion who will be with you forever.  This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him.  You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.  I won’t leave you as orphans.  I will come to you.  Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.  Because I live, you will live too.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you…
I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.  Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give you.  I give to you not as the world gives.  Don’t be troubled or afraid.”
Words of Reflection (From “Longest Night” from the blog http://fatpastor.me)
On Christmas Eve churches everywhere will be filled with happy people.  The lights will be on, the poinsettias arranged, the sweaters will be bright, and the smiles will be wide.  People will gather in the pews and sing the traditional carols, hear the Christmas story, and light candles.  Millions on Christmas Eve night will rise and sing “Joy to the World.”
Many of those same people that will rise and sing on December 24 will go to bed on December 21 and face the longest night of the year in despair. There will be many that lie down wondering, “Where is the joy?”  For people that are hurting, struggling, or mourning, the longest night of the year is so very long.
The bills have not been paid, the credit debt is mounting, and work is hard to come by.  The night is so very long.
My [grandmother died this year].  Christmas won’t be the same.  I miss her smile.  I miss her words of wisdom.  I miss her so much, and the night is so very long.
[One young man shared: my choices have not been the best lately, for a few years actually.  It started with a few drinks, and then a few more.  And then the few became a pack a day.  I didn’t really see it getting bad, I guess the beer helped me not to see.  And then things started to fall apart.  Work wasn’t good. Family wasn’t good. Friends didn’t want to hang out much anymore.  And I started to see.  So now I see.  And what’s before me is a big mess, hardly something to be celebrated.  I’m here.  I’m sober. I give thanks for that.  But a joyful Christmas seems pretty far away at this point, but the nights are still so long.]
[One man shared] For the last 53 Christmases I have been with my [wife].  [she] held me in [her] arms as we watched the children, then the grandchildren, open their presents.  [She] made hot cocoa every Christmas morning.  I do not even know the recipe, and the night is so very long.
[It just hurts, I don’t really know why.  But I’m sad and I’m tired and I don’t want to get out and do things.  Everything takes so much energy and my heart is heavy.  There’s no one thing I could blame it on. I wish I could, at least then I could try and fix it. Instead, I’m just here sad, lonely, and depressed. And the night is so long].
[One woman shared] the onesies I got for Christmas last year are put in a box in the attic.  Never worn.  Never held.  I miss my child and I never held him in my arms, and the night is so very long.
The night can be so very long.  The night can be so very dark and cold.
Some say that everything happens for a reason.  God is in control, and has a plan.  But what kind of God could plan such things?  Is this the God that I am supposed to celebrate?  Is this the God that I am supposed to worship?  How can I sing “Joy to the World,” when there is none in my own heart?
Christmas does not mean everything is okay.  Christmas did not end the sadness, the pain or the despair.  For those that are hurting at Christmas, I hope you know that you are not alone.  I do not offer you simple platitudes.  I do not offer you easy answers.  All I can offer you is my love and God’s compassion.
I don’t think that everything happens for a reason.  I think there are terrible things that happen every day that God did not plan. If it this were not so, then why would Jesus ask us to pray for God’s will to be done? I also think that God gives us the power and the grace to overcome even the worst that can happen.  God gives us the chance to heal and be healed; to feed and be fed; to love and be loved.
The longest night can be so very long.  Christmas does not end the night, but it gives us hope for the dawn.
[In just two days], it will be into the longest night of the year.  Take this time, and claim it, but do not linger here.  Know that [soon] the night[s] will be shorter.  Know that soon, the light of God will break through.  Know that on Christmas, God broke through the chaos.  Know that on Christmas, God came to life so that we may have life abundant and life eternal. [And fortunately, God is not bound by our calendar.  So Christmas, in God’s terms, God with us, revealed in us, happens every day in some way for someone somewhere.  Our Christmas may be December 25^th, or it might be the 23^rd, or it might be January 4^th, or February 5^th.  We can’t plan that calendar, but we can look forward to Christmas coming and God breaking through the darkness and chaos in our own lives].
We gather here today to acknowledge that our pain is real.  We acknowledge that death has its place in the world, but it is not in a place of triumph.  Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Act of Remembrance and Communion
We gather in this place with signs all around.  The Advent wreath has been lit, with the lights of hope, peace, joy, and love already lit as we prepare the way of the coming of Jesus.  If, as the Bible says, God is love, and God is eternal, then love is eternal as well.  Tonight, we are reminded that nothing can extinguish the candle of love.  The love that God has for us is steadfast and endures forever.  The love that we have for those we mourn cannot be extinguished by death.
In front of us are sticks.  This collection of dead sticks is here as a reminder that we are always surrounded by death.  The cycle of life to death is in all of creation.  When you entered, you were given a blue carnation[lavender rose] .  This [rose] is a sign of those persons, situations, relationships, and things you mourn. for whom you mourn.  Blue is a traditional color for sadness.  It is also a traditional color for the Advent season.  These [roses] remind us that even as we prepare for Christ’s coming, there is room for the human reality of sadness.
Also in front of us are the bread and the cup.  These are the elements of our Lord’s Last Supper.  It was a supper he shared with his disciples when he knew that his life on earth was coming to an end.  The bread, which is for us the body of Christ, is broken.  It reminds us of our human frailty, and of our unity as the Body of Christ.  The cup, which is for us the blood of Christ, is shed.  It reminds us of the Christ’s death on a cross, and of the forgiveness that is offered to all.
On this, the longest night of the year [night], we are reminded of just how dark the world can be.  Yet it was into this dark world that Christ was born.  It was in the midst of death and destruction that a child came so that we may have life.  We gather at Christ’s table in remembrance of the birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We remember that Jesus walked with us as the Word of God made flesh.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, forgave the afflicted, comforted the mourning, worked for justice, and wept for his friends.  He proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is at hand, and calls all people to enter with rejoicing.  He came so that we may have life, and have it abundantly, and he invites us all into life eternal.    By the baptism of his love, compassion, suffering, death, and resurrection Christ gave birth to his Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
When Jesus gathered with his disciples, he took the bread, gave thanks to God, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said, “Take eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
When the supper was over Jesus took the cup, gave thanks to God, gave it to his disciples and said, “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
And so, in remembrance of these mighty acts of Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and grape.  Make them be for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by Christ’s blood. By your spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, one with the great communion of saints, one with the great cloud of witnesses, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we all feast at his heavenly banquet.  Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in your Holy Church, all honor and glory is yours now and forever, and so with the confidence of children we pray:
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen”
Come now to the table of Christ, for all things are ready.  After you receive the bread and the grape juice, please pick up a votive candle and light it from the candle of Love.  You may also then place your [rose] into the vase.
(I summarized the last supper. I know this isn’t kosher for some folks who believe the whole liturgy needs to be read.  I’m not that Orthodox.  I did offer the prayer asking for the bread and juice to be transformed and for us to be transformed as a part of it. I simply had people come for communion, then separated out the other parts with the roses and the votives)

[The roses are a reminder of love, of hope, of new life.  And so we place them in the middle of the dead branches to remind ourselves that death never has the final word.  In a moment, I invite you to come and place your hope (rose) into the vase.  After (or before), I invite you to come and light a candle, or two, or three, for those you mourn]
Blessing and Sending Forth
This arrangement, which was once barren and gray, was only a reminder of death, [barreness and sadness].  Now it is something beautiful.  It is a reminder that God take all things and make them new.  Death [and loss and sorrow are] is a part of our human experience.  It was a part of Jesus’ human experience.  But[ it] death is never the final chapter.  The despair of death may last, but we are never called to linger on it.  Go now into the night knowing that you need not go alone, [Christ goes with you and understands your pain]. Go now into the night knowing that the dawn is coming.  Go now into the night knowing that love endures forever.  Go now into the night knowing that the Christ child will come.  Go now, and may the peace of Jesus Christ, the peace that surpasses all understanding, be with you.  Amen.