Tag Archives: Advent

Advent 2009

Advent 2009

Advent 2009

About Advent


The season of Advent begins Sunday, November 2009, and concludes Christmas Eve. Advent (which derives from the Latin word for “coming”) allows the Christian and his or her community to enter into the story of Jesus Christ, focused mainly around his birth but also in waiting for his Second Coming in the future. At this point in the biblical story, Jesus has not yet come since he has yet to be born. Thus, we participate in Mary’s (and the world’s) anticipation for the birth of her son. In this anticipation, here few things that grasp the essence of Advent that allow us to participate in the season.

Things to do for Advent:

Colors: Certain seasons are associated with certain colors. Christmas has red and green. The colors often used to represent the season of Advent are purple (for repentance and reflection), pink (joy), and blue (hope).
Song: a hymn that captures the essence of Advent is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” –

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.


Scripture Reflections:
Scripture passages to reflect on during the season of Advent:

  • Old Testament reflection: Malachi 3:1-4
  • New Testament reflection: Luke 1:46-55
Practices:
  1. Fasting. During the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, our cultural norm is self-indulgence. One way to refocus your life around “waiting” is to fast from certain foods or certain things. For instance, fasting from meat allows us to think first before we eat, or fasting from sweets allows us to wait for the day of celebration when Christ is born–when he is born, eat cake!
  2. Decorations. In anticipation of Christ’s birth, consider decorating your house for this glorious day of celebration on Christmas Eve. Wait to celebrate. For Advent, consider decorating your kitchen table with purple, pink, and/or blue.
  3. Raid your closet and give stuff away. We get so many new things on Christmas Day. In anticipation of that day of celebration, let’s raid our closets and give some stuff (still in great condition) to the poor. Give stuff that away that you haven’t used for 6 months. Give blankets and warm clothes to the homeless.
  4. Advent Calendar. Buy an Advent calendar and fill it with treats, Scripture passages, and small gifts. Each day open a door and enjoy what’s inside.
  5. Advent Wreath. By far, one of the most common traditions. One night a week, follow the Advent readings and light a candle on the wreath. The Scriptures remind us of our waiting. If you have children, have them assist you. Each week one more candle is lit until you reach the wonderful day of Christ’s birth.

What’s Cookin’? 01.05.09

Highlight(s) of the week:

  1. We spent New Year’s Eve with a few friends of ours, playing Rock Band and discussing schooling for children (I know, it was late). We had a nice time. It was nice hanging out with people within the same age range.
  2. We went skiing at Bear Creek with my family. One injury. Not too bad. I didn’t fall at all, but then again, I’m not necessarily hitting up the black diamond hills. Giselle didn’t go on the hills, but she hung out with my mom in the lodge.
  3. My in-laws bought Wii Fit. So, Amanda and I have been bonding over that. I had recently lost some weight, and I thought I was doing awesome. But Wii Fit told me I was “obese “(!). Talk about a killjoy! In fairness to me, I did just eat and had two beers so I think was a little full. I did it the next day, and I was “overweight.” After being told I was obese, I can live with being overweight.
  4. E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles! First victim – the Vikings. Next opponent, the Giants (notice, I didn’t say “victim” because I’m not that cocky).
  5. Overall, Advent and Christmas seasons were beneficial times for me and my family. Amanda and I had some really wonderful times together, so I’m going to miss have all that time to spend together.

Book(s) I’m reading:

Disappointed by: The Colts. If you didn’t know, the Colts are like my “second team.” Growing up as an Eagles fan, you try to find someone to cheer for during playoff season since, while I was growing up, the Eagles (to put it nicely) just sucked. So, I chose the Indianapolis Colts since my uncle Danny moved out there. Jim Harbaugh and Marshall Faulk helped me survive. Now, the Colts one year went 3-13 and the Eagles also went 3-13 so my friends made fun of me relentlessly. So, this begs the question, why didn’t I choose the Patriots? Good question. Anyway, I wasn’t disappointed by Peyton Manning necessarily, but I think it was a team effort this time that brought the loss (actually, Peyton wasn’t that bad). How do you let the Chargers with no L.T. destroy you in the running game? Wow.

Couch-potato: (1) Watched Iron Man yesterday. I really enjoyed it. Not as good as The Dark Knight, but still good. (2) Watched the new Indiana Jones, and I…still don’t get it. Aliens? Seriously? I won’t ruin the ending for you, but let’s just say (3) I also watched Baby Mama with Tina Fey and preferred that (actually, Baby Mama is actually pretty funny so nevermind). (4) Started a Be-a-Pro season in FIFA 2009. Love it! (5) And, of course, Wii Fit, but it’s difficult to be a “couch potato” in the traditional sense with this.

Job update: not much of anything

Seminary update: Starts up again tomorrow night. Haven’t seen the syllabus yet. I do have the books, though.

Looking forward to: (1) Amanda and my 2nd anniversary is this Wednesday (woot! woot!). I can’t believe it. How could someone live with me for 2 years and not go crazy? (Well, we do have today and Tuesday to see if that happens). I love you, babe. (2) My birthday is coming up on Saturday. Not sure what’s going to happen with that. (3) Eagles-Giants showdown on Sunday. Go Eagles!

What’s Cookin’? 114

Highlight(s) of the week: (1) Family Christmas party at the Cock & Bull in Peddler’s Village this past Sunday. (2) Amanda and I were able to hang out with Jon (brother) & Katie (his fiance) and Phil (brother) & Arielle (girlfriend) afterward at TGI Friday’s. (3) Both Amanda and I are now off from work for Christmas break! (4) Another person and I did the Call to Worship at church on Sunday. It was a responsive “singing.” We read verses from Psalm 13 (How long? passages), and everyone responded by singing the lines “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. And ransom captive Israel.” Didn’t tell Todd we were going to do this ahead of time, but it actually fit into his sermon. Cool. (5) Won our fantasy football league saving me from paying someone else $60! Spanked Aaron 127-67 (at this point, unless his kicker can make up 60 points tonight. I’m calling it a win!).

Book(s) I’m reading:

iPhone app I’m happy about: Pandora always sets up good Christmas music if you want some.

Disappointed by: (1) Christians who keep fighting against “Happy Holidays” or “Merry X-mas.” Don’t they know that holidays is short for holy-days, and X has been in times past short for the Greek ??????? (transliterated as Xristos), which means “Christ”? C’mon people. Grab a Greek lexicon or something. Plus, it distracts us from what we need to be doing during Christmas – waiting and preparing. (2) The Eagles (enough said.)

Had a good laugh at:

Job update: heard back from the youth-pastor-position church. They said they’d like to take the “next step” but after the holidays.

Seminary update: off for Christmas break

Looking forward to: (1) eating meat and sweets again! Our Advent fast ends Christmas Eve because we have lots of family things that day, which are celebrating Christmas so we figured we just go 2-for-1 on the whole Christmas thing. (2) Christmas Eve at The Well. (3) Christmas in general!

What’s Cookin’? 113

Highlight(s) of the week: (1) Amanda and I took Giselle to get her pics with Santa (because we’re pagans like that). (2) We also had a chance to go to Longwood Gardens with our friends, Ron and Juli. (3) 3 semesters of my MDiv have been completed. 3 to go!

Book(s) I’m reading: Most interestingly, The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why by Phyllis Tickle.
Blog posts to check out:
  1. Tim’s post on “You Can’t Ruin Christmas,” which is a reminder to focus on the right things about Christmas (but with a twist).
  2. Sojourner’s wonderful Advent article (reminder?) on the myth of redemptive violence in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still
  3. Peter Rollins’ post called “The Rapture,” reminding Christians that God really cares about the earth and the people who attach themselves to it
  4. Adam WC’s post on homosexuality called “The Bible & Homosexuality: Enough with the Bible Already,” which I disagreed with, but I think it’s worth considering.

iPhone app I’m happy about: (1) “Open Table,” which allows you to make restaurant reservations from your phone (as long as the restaurant is registered with Open Table). (2) Have you ever wanted to try a new beer and didn’t know what to get or maybe what one was like? Then, “Beer Brands” is for you! It has listings of hundreds (thousands?) of beers.

Something(s) that blew my mind: (1) What Eagles am I watching on TV?

Had a good laugh at:

Job update: still working at Calvary, but still looking. Had an interview for a youth pastor position and waiting to hear back.

Seminary update: 3 semesters done, 3 to go!

Looking forward to: (1) Continuing to observe Advent through candles and fasting. (2) Christmas! (3) Getting together with Todd tomorrow

Why didn’t we think of the Dept. of Peace first?!

“1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born…”

-Matthew 2v1-4 TNIV

I had been reflecting on this verse in light of Charlie‘s and my conversation about Obama’s possible Department of Peace and Non-Violence. I took one side of the argument, that is, don’t trust the D of P & N but trust Jesus, the author of true peace. I still agree with this, and I think Charlie does, too (?).

I would also like to add another point to the conversation, that is, there have been times in the history of God’s people that the “outsiders” had to remind the “insiders” what they are looking for. During Advent, we are looking forward to celebrating Jesus’ first coming and his second. Perhaps, much like the Magi, who reminded the Jews that they should’ve been looking for the true King of the Jews (where they had trusted other things to save them), we, as Christians, could be reminded that we too should’ve been working for Peace and Non-Violence.

You can almost see the look on the face of the people in Matthew chapter 2. They were disturbed (!) by what they heard. “Uhh…where was that Messiah guy supposed to be born? Oh yes! That’s right – Bethlehem. We forgot.” Perhaps, they were troubled because they forgot? Perhaps, they were troubled because it took these pagan magi to remind them?

Either way, we could learn from them – sometimes it takes our “Gentile magi” (in this case, those proposing the DP&N?) to remind Christians that we should’ve been working for peace and non-violence, but instead, we were too busy looking and placing our trust elsewhere.

What’s Cookin’? 112

Highlight(s) of the week: (1) Giselle started to crawl this week! She is slightly unorthodox in her approach; oftentimes, going sideways, but it is exciting. (2) We made it one week meat- and dessert-less for our Advent fast. Our family has really been enjoying Advent together. We also bought an Advent calendar house yesterday. Not sure what to fill it with yet. Any suggestions?

What I’m reading: Reading very slowly – my friend Derek’s book So You Thinking About Going to Seminary: An Insider’s Guide and The Art of Reading Scripture edited by Ellen Davis and Richard Hays. For class, I finished Exploring the Old Testament: A Guide to the Psalms & Wisdom Literature by Ernest C. Lucas, but still reading Old Testament Parallels: Laws And Stories from the Ancient Near East by Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin. The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why by Phyllis Tickle.
Listenin’ and lovin’:
  • Podcasts: Mars Hill Bible Church’s podcast. APM’s Speaking of Faith.
  • Music: Christmas music is filling up the Curry household. I also recently listened to Mute Math’s self-titled album. Mute Math is a slightly different band than I normally listen to, but I really like their sound.

iPhone app I’m happy about: (1) Go Green Free gives tips to remain environmentally friendly. I’ve learned a few things such as that buying using a laptop saves up to 5 times more energy than a desktop computer. I have a laptop so I’m happy. (2) Amazon.com app is a highly functional app for the iPhone. As someone who uses Amazon.com a lot, this app excited me. I don’t find myself deleting it any time soon.

Something(s) that blew my mind: (1) The Eagles beat the Giants! My only fear is that if the Eagles just sneak into the playoffs, it will give their administration reason for keeping Andy Reid around. I just would like some “change I can believe in” (where have I heard something like that before?), and I don’t think Andy is bringing that.

Job update: (1) I got a part-time job! Only 15 hours per week. But it’s something. I’m a middle and high school cafeteria aide at Calvary Christian Academy. I basically sit there and make sure students don’t throw ice cream at each other, makeout, etc. I also wipe their tables and collect their trash, but they seem to be responding well to me. We’ll see. (2) I’ve sent my resume out to numerous places, but I’ve yet to hear back from any of them. (3) Also trying to pick up some sub hours at CCA.

Seminary update: had class on Saturday, and we studied Job and Ecclesiastes. I also have a 2000-2500 word exegetical paper due Tuesday. I’m doing my paper on Job 28v12-28, which is an interlude of sorts and poem about wisdom smack-dab in the “middle” of the book.

Looking forward to: (1) Continuing to observe Advent through candles and fasting. Can we make it another week without meat and sweets? Always difficult this time of year. (2) Taking Giselle to get pictures with Santa and go to Longwood Gardens to see the lights. Amanda and I did this every year before since we were engaged there, but now excited to take Giselle.

Wait…patiently: an Advent reflection

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!”

-James 5v7-9 TNIV

 

 

As my wife, daughter, and I have been observing Advent, lighting the candle(s) have been a highlight for us. We plan to do it only on Sundays, the beginning of the week, but others choose differently (to each his own, right?). However, I’ve been finding that I have been anxious to light the next candle. But I have to wait. I can’t just jump ahead and light the next candle – it’s just not the proper way to do it! Otherwise, if I did so, I would have lit all of the candles already, and it wouldn’t even be Christmas yet.

 

 

I am anxious, but I have to wait patiently…and that’s the point, isn’t it?

 

Aren’t we waiting patiently for Christ to come again? We can’t just jump ahead in the story. We have to wait, and we have to wait patiently. We can’t make Christmas come any faster by lighting the candles, and we can’t make Christ come back any faster either. We must wait.

 

So, what can we do? Pray and pray patiently. Celebrate and celebrate patiently. Worship and worship patiently. Mourn and mourn patiently. Rejoice and rejoice patiently. Serve and serve patiently. Give and give patiently.

Wait and wait patiently.

 

Advent Resources 2.0

v. 2.0 of Advent resources (#6 & 7)

As Amanda and I (and Giselle) have been observing Advent, I have been searching around for specific Advent resources. I’ve found a few that I really appreciate.

  1. Christianity Today has created its own Advent calendar. Click the link at the bottom, and it takes you a prayer/verse for the day.
  2. The Church of England made a video Advent calendar. It’s a good contemporary way of doing it that supports the idea of “waiting,” which we aren’t very good at anymore. Good for them though!
  3. Everyday Liturgy is providing an Advent poem every day through the season. A very creative way of reflecting on the time.
  4. Advent08 iPhone app. You need $.99 and an iPhone/iTouch, but, if you have that, I recommend it. I provides readings and prayers for each day.
  5. You can always make your own Advent wreath. If I thought about it before, I would have done this. Do it yourself here.
  6. I’m a little late on this one, but Advent Conspiracy is a wonderful way to observe Christmas differently by having a mindset of giving more and spending less. To a non-creative American like myself, the question is, “How can I spend less but give more?” Check it out.
  7. Diana Butler Bass shares her Advent calendar with you, and her reflections for each door she opens each day.

I hope to add more later, but I think this could get you on the right track. If you are looking for something simple, always check out this site.

Pray for India

As many of us have seen the bloodshed from the terrorist attacks in India, let us pray that the Indian government makes wise, well-thought-out decisions. During the first week of Advent, we pray for hope that is only found in Jesus Christ. The following weeks we pray for (2) love, (3) joy, and (4) peace. As we think about Christ’s coming as a small, peaceful, innocent child, think about his life, and wait patiently for his second appearing, let us pray that such things as hope, love, joy, and peace (not bitterness, anger, hatred, and resentment) will be at the forefront of our minds, and the minds of the leaders in India.

[Jim Wallis stirred this thought in me to pray for India.]

Advent Resources

As Amanda and I (and Giselle) have been observing Advent, I have been searching around for specific Advent resources. I’ve found a few that I really appreciate.

  1. Christianity Today has created its own Advent calendar. Click the link at the bottom, and it takes you a prayer/verse for the day.
  2. The Church of England made a video Advent calendar. It’s a good contemporary way of doing it that supports the idea of “waiting,” which we aren’t very good at anymore. Good for them though!
  3. Everyday Liturgy is providing an Advent poem every day through the season. A very creative way of reflecting on the time.
  4. Advent08 iPhone app. You need $.99 and an iPhone/iTouch, but, if you have that, I recommend it. I provides readings and prayers for each day.
  5. You can always make your own Advent wreath. If I thought about it before, I would have done this. Do it yourself here.

I hope to add more later, but I think this could get you on the right track. If you are looking for something simple, always check out this site.

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