Advent Calendar – Day 1

Welcome to Advent…

These short meditations can be done alone, with a partner, or with the whole family.
My suggestion is evening time; light a candle, play some calming music suggested below,
Have a little chocolate treat, (it’s an Advent Calendar, after all!), maybe hide some around the house each day!
And read the material 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.
Fr Gary

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Beginning The Story
The season of Advent is a season of waiting – waiting in expectation. When things are hard and don’t go as we planned, we have to sometimes wait – to to allow for time to pass – to wait for God.

This story we will follow is all about people waiting, waiting for something wonderful to happen. We see the story through many people’s eyes, but much of the story is about a young woman called Mary who was willing to be open to God.

Mary probably came from a poor family and was very young at the time of her betrothal to Joseph. Becoming pregnant out of wedlock would have made her a social outcast and without Joseph’s decision to go through with the marriage she risked being banished from her community, and with limited options for her survival. Soon after the birth of her child she became a refugee, fleeing from persecution and an army willing to commit genocide on children in the area.

Mary’s life does not match the romantic images created of her; in fact it still has much to say to those who face uncertainty, marginalisation and exclusion in our modern times. Mary is seen to endure and reflect on the deeper meaning of all she lived through, finding hope, peace, love and joy in the midst of adversity.

Exercise.
Close your eyes and think for a moment about the four words;
hope…
peace…
love …
joy…
Say them out loud and feel what they mean to you…

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A Poem – Prophets by Anne Porter
You can find it here

Excerpt;
… Then they ran back to me
And stood
In a circle ‘round me

We stood that way
In a solemn silence
Until
One of the children spoke
It was the prophecy!

He said that long before
The pear tree blossoms
Or sparrows in the hedges
Begin to sing

A Child will be our King.

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Blessing for you and your loved ones;
As we enter into this season of Advent and we think about how we are blessed with the love of family and friends, we think about people who are waiting right now…
May we, and all the children of the world, wherever they are living, know the light of HOPE, PEACE, LOVE and JOY in their hearts and in their lives.
Amen

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