Advent Calendar – Day 20 – St George and St John, Newbury

Welcome to Advent…Day 20
These short meditations can be done alone, with a partner, or with the whole family.
My suggestion is evening time; light a candle, play the music suggested below,
Have a little treat, it’s an Advent Calendar, after all!
(Maybe hide some chocolate around the house each day, or hang it from the ceiling?)
And read the material aloud together…
There’s quite a lot here. You dont need to do it all; either follow the story and the blessings, or simply enjoy the poems.
Make it a special moment, ten minutes of togetherness in this busy season.

Motorway Angel, by Estella Collins, Woodcut Print

Music Suggestion

from Spotify playlist ‘Advent Meditations’

The Escape to Egypt
For younger families,
In a dream, the three Kings were warned not to go back to Herod. So they left by another route.

An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream also, and told him to take Jesus and Mary into Egypt to escape from Herod, who was hatching a plan to find the baby.

So they arose in the middle of the night, and fled to safety in Egypt.

For older readers

In a dream, the three magi were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.

After the scholars were gone, God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill him.”

Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother under cover of darkness. They were out of town and well on their way by daylight. They lived in Egypt until Herod’s death. This Egyptian exile fulfilled what Hosea had preached: “I called my son out of Egypt.”

A Poem – On the Mystery of the Incarnation by Denise Levertov

an excerpt…
It’s when we face for a moment
the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know
the taint in our own selves,
that awe cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:
not to a flower, not to a dolphin,
to no innocent form …

You can the full poem here.

Reflection and Blessing for you and your loved ones
‘Refugees’. There is no other word for it. The Holy family fleeing a violent despotic ruler, and sent into a strange land and culture. It is here we begin to understand what Levertov’s poem is about – the vulnerability of God in humanity, not only in a manger, but through all his life. We cannot escape the reality that this story is political as well as spiritual.. because it’s a very human story.

Holy God, we pray for refugees, for people like us, who find themselves in impossible situations and looking for safety. We pray for those who are without a safe home this evening…
May the JOY and security that we all cherish be a gift that all can share. Amen

The Food Bank

West Berks Foodbank Reverse Advent Calendar
Day 20 – chocolate treat

Please note – the Food Bank have requested that all food donations come to them by the 18th December.
The full list is on the link above.

Advent Calendar – Day 20

St George the Martyr

St John the Evangelist

St Michael & All Angels