Advent Calendar – Day 10 – St George and St John, Newbury

Welcome to Advent…Day 10
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.

Dried Fruit Christmas Tree. Artwork by St John’s Pre-School

Music Suggestion

from Spotify

Elizabeth and John. Orthodox Icon

The Birth of John the Baptist
When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.

On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zechariah after his father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be called John.”

“But,” they said, “no one in your family is named that.” They used sign language to ask Zechariah what he wanted him named.

Asking for a tablet, Zechariah wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise—Zechariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!

A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this.”

A Poem – The Glory by Madeleine L’Engle
Excerpt…
Believer and wanderer
caught by salvation
stumbler and blunderer
into Creation.

You can find the full poem here

Reflection and Blessing for you and your loved ones
Eizabeth’s identity was changed for ever in those 9 months. She and the society around her knew one story; ‘Elizabeth, old and without children.’ But something happened to change that.
All of us can be constrained, tied-up in stories we tell ourselves and that others tell us, not good enough, shy, not confident, broken.
But change is possible, we are not held by the stories which confine us.. there is always something more.

God help us to not be limited by the past, but to find freedom and identiy in our possibilities you bring forth.
May the PEACE that enabled Elizabeth to see herself differently be with you too. Amen

The Food Bank

West Berks Foodbank Reverse Advent Calendar
Day 10 – tea bags

Advent Calendar – Day 10

St George the Martyr

St John the Evangelist

St Michael & All Angels