Category Archives: advent

Lapland – living in the eternal now

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Yesterday we had the beautiful experience of visiting Lapland with some amazing friends. It was an early start (waking at 315am!) and a round day trip of around 3000 miles but it was worth it.

The scenery was stunning (as you can see in photos here) and it was cold … but not as cold as it could have been. But, most of all – I believe again … I stood in Santa’s cottage, had a chat and shook his hand – he is real and it is all true!

I noticed in our short stop that the way fo life was very calm and relaxed. Those same two words sum up the climate I experienced – cool, calm and relaxed. I noticed something similar in Antigua, although there is was hot, calm and relaxed.

Both lifestyles have a stark contrast to what I experience in 21st century Medway, and the UK generally, where we seem to rush around in a society that seems to place value on personal ‘busy-ness’ rather than valuing people for simple who they are and enjoying and making the most of ‘the moment’.

In our UK society I fear that we miss so much of the present around us in our speed of wanting to achieve and do better and earn more and achieve more …. it is as if we don’t ever fully appreciate anything because we are constantly looking over our shoulders to see what others have or what others are doing.

During Advent we are challenged to slow down and consider the moment of Christ entering this world and asking ourselves what that actually means for us at this very point in time. One thing I have become increasingly aware of this Advent time, is that we can only really exist in the eternal now … the past we cannot change, and the future we cannot predict … now is all we have.

In Lapland yesterday I saw the reality of people living in the now …. I pray this Christmas time that I may be able to grasp that reality of living in the eternal now.

the seeping eternal …

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George MacLeod saw creation as resplendent.

He described the air of the eternal

as ‘seeping through the physical’.

‘What a wonderful world it is’, he said

‘provided you believe in another world.

Not over against this world,

but interlaced with it.

So started my Advent thought yesterday morning. And so started my conscious effort and observation, searching to notice this air of the eternal simply seeping through the physical or, in other words, our normal everyday world.

God in the ordinary, in the everyday, in the unspectacular is something I love to think about and something that I think is very present in the Advent wait and clear and obvious in the nativity scene that we wait to see. God in human form, as a baby, in a normal everyday birth in some stable down some alley to 2 pretty young kids, in some city sounds like a pretty normal everyday scene to me. This is such an ordinary scene most would not have noticed anything going on.

I wonder whether many allow God to pass by unnoticed because they are looking for the spectacular, whereas more often than not, it is the God in the ordinary everyday stuff around us that we can really grasp and connect with.

In the last 2 days I have noticed the eternal seeping into the ordinary everyday in peoples smiles as well as in the laughter or tears of conversation. I have seen the eternal seeping through laughter and tears and through sunrises and sunsets and in wind and rain and in music and …. the list can go on.

This advent I need to remind myself that I live in a wonderful world … because I believe in another world … not over and against this world, but interlaced with it.

advent gathering

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I felt incredibly blessed by the gathering last night. This was our last gathering of the year, and the theme was Advent looking towards Christmas. We held it in a different location as we wanted a bit more time and flexibility that allowed us to eat together as part of our worship.

After reminding ourselves of why we gather while lighting candles around an advent wreath we watched a little of The Nativity Story and then Tom led us in a discussion which helped us get to grips with the story as we questioned traditional thought and listened to other ideas.

In our Open Space time, which is always a time we have to allow us to engage with the story at  a personal level, people were creative in making things, listening to things and writing a carol. I enjoyed the carol writing which was a pretty amazing experience which was written by three groups of people taking a verse each with a theme and part of the story after a brainstorming session. I saw things others had created which were impressive and had clearly helped people engage in thinking about advent and the coming of Christ.

After open space we broke to eat and drink together before returning to share communion, after which we sang ‘Ordinary Extraordinary’, our new gathering carol, and then blessed each other with an Advent Blessing before leaving.

The whole experience was excellent and I think in some way we entered a new phase in our lives as a developing and growing fresh expression of church. I’m looking forward to our life together as the gathering in 2012 as we explore more together. But for now …. thanks everyone for making our Advent gathering such a special time.

something of the uncreated …

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As you will know we are now into the season of Advent. I think Advent is my favourite season, a time when we think about waiting and preparation and a time that is rich, or  pregnant, with imagery.

There are lots of things out there to help us have a richer Advent journey. Last year I followed Maggis Dawn’s Beginnings and Endings which was excellent. A couple of years ago I followed  Disturbing Complacency and I am using that again this year. There are also some great advent resources here.

The readings so far have encouraged and challenged me to think about the body / spirit split we have created. The split that tells us the ‘flesh’ or body is temporary and unimportant  while the spirit is where it really happens and is to take precedence over the body. The same thinking leads to the thought that the created world is unimportant and ok to strip of its resources with no thought for creation or others dependant upon it.

I think he whole idea is crap really … God created all of me and although I might not like my ageing body, God created it and says he will redeem all of me … not just some whispy bit that happens to float around inside me! Interestingly in the Lords’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray for our physical needs first before then moving on to our spiritual needs.

A quote that grabbed me this morning from J Philip Newell was : ‘within creation there is something of the presence of the uncreated’.

It is easy to look at that quote and think simply about nature, wider creation and the beauty of sunsets, waves or the amazing moon scenes. It is eassy to look at them and say ‘wow’ there is soemthing of the ‘uncreated’, something of ‘God’ in that scene.

But God created all …. humanity as well …. you and me … and even that person we do not like very much of feel very uncomfortable in the presence of …. there is something of the uncreated, of God, in all of us.

This week I ask a little harder that I might recognise that in both myself and others.

the pregnant pause … a beautiful post …

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I am loving this today from Cheryl … and for the first time ever I am happy to start thinking about Advent/Christmas early.

Perhaps our mistake is thinking

that love will always come
in the shape we have known it:

a happy ending
a new beginning
a christ-child.

In this pregnant pause
while the earth holds its breath
waiting for what
it does not know,
let us have the faith
that even we,
with all our wise
and cynical
knowing,
would not imagine
the shape that love
will take

and instead just
have the faith
that it will come.

Amazingly beautiful. We simply cannot imagine the shape of love …. so I believe I need to stay alert ad look for clues … in case in my brazen dismissal I dismiss the unexpected love of God.

Giant Advent Calendar

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I love this idea that my good friend Leesa of Central Baptist Church in Chelmsford  is involved in.

The church are preparing for Christmas during Advent by creating a big Advent Calendar in its doorway with a giant image on show each day of Advent for an hour. This is an amazing idea and must be an enormous amount of work. The church have invited different people around the town to interpret carols on a big scale – a big gamble but pretty exciting!

The Big Advent calendar has a facebook page where you can see the image for each day if you live too far away to vist daily (as most of us!)

advent beach huts

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The Beyond Beach Hut season is with us again.
Well worth a visit of you are in the area.

great advent resources

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Everyday Liturgy has linked to some great Advent resources here. They are well worth checking out and making use of – too often we zip through Advent and lose the opportunity to reflect that is right here before us. Some of these resources might help you – I particularly love this downloadable booklet from Evan Curry.

Go look and use!

(the picture comes from the booklet)

advent waiting

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We are now into Advent, which is about waiting and preparation.

I feel that I know a little bit about waiting, although I also feel I need to learn a lot more as I am still pretty impatient. At times I still miss the fast moving YFC world where I had to think on my feet, make quick decisions and run through various task lists. But waiting is what I now do a lot of the time.

Over the last few years I have come to love the season of Advent. This may be partly due to selfish reasons in that, for this month at least, I don’t feel alone in my waiting. In Advent, the whole church waits in expectation and I grab loads of support from that. The other reason being that this season reminds me that waiting is something. It is a valid task. It is not just idling of time. Waiting has a purpose. Waiting is seasonal, and that means I won’t always have to wait! Waiting is not a permanent state!

Waiting is an interesting task.
Waiting can de-skill.
Waiting can cause you to question yourself.
Waiting can cause others to question to you.
In our culture of instant where we can buy anything now and pay later there is always a pressure to jump, to act. to be seen to be positively doing something.

Waiting can be difficult to understand. It is easy to avoid. It’s easy to cram up time with ‘doing’ rather than spend time ‘waiting’.
When I wait I think; I analyse and God seems to bring up stuff that I’d rather leave hidden.
Ideas arrive that I’d rather avoid; ‘stuff’ surfaces that I’d rather leave buried and undealt with.
Waiting eventually insists I act purposefully, often not in a way I would have guessed!

Waiting can bring pain. It can bring memories. Thoughts of inadequacy and past hurts can rush in to the void. It’s not nice, but it does force you to confront and do something. waiting is good preparation for stuff ahead.

Today, throughout this season … I look forward with anticipation to the wait.
Maybe, this advent, something will arrive.

Advent carol service

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This will be a good service tonight …. why not visit if you are around.