By Another Way Amecourt, age 11 Amecourt, ’ Harper d Harper Manger, Molly McGilvray, age 11 11 age Star, Manger, McGilvray, Molly A Devotional Guide For Advent 2020 2020 Advent Season Calendar All events during Advent, including worship, are subject to change or cancellation due to public health concerns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Sunday, November 29—First Sunday of Advent 11:00 am Worship & Baptism, Sanctuary The Rev. Andrew Esqueda preaching. Virtual Christmas Market, Online Ongoing from November 15 through December 6. Sunday, December 6 — Second Sunday of Advent 9:00 am Worship & Communion, Loft 11:00 am Worship & Communion, Sanctuary The Rev. Dr. Richard Floyd preaching at both services. 6:00 pm Service of Lament & Hope, Sanctuary Virtual Christmas Market, Online, closes today. Agape Giving Tree & Gifts for Good, last day. Tuesday, December 8 Candlelight Advent Worship Service for Women Henry Edmunds,ageHenry 11 Sunday, December 13 — Third Sunday of Advent 9 am Worship, Loft 11 am Worship, Sanctuary The Rev. Dr. Kim Clayton preaching at both services. Christmas Pageant, Drive-Thru Sunday, December 20 — Fourth Sunday of Advent 9:00 am Worship & Christmas Joy Offering, Loft 11:00 am Worship & Christmas Joy Offering, Sanctuary The Rev. Dr. Kim Clayton preaching at both services. Congregational Carol Sing Youth Christmas Parties Thursday, December 24 — Christmas Eve 4:00 pm Family Christmas Eve Service, Sanctuary 6:00 pm Family Service of Lessons & Carols, Sanctuary 9:00 pm Christmas Eve Service of Lesson & Carols, Sanctuary 11:00 pm Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Magnolia Circle Friday, December 25 — Christmas Day Sunday, December 27 — First Sunday after Christmas 11:00 am Worship, Sanctuary The Rev. Lucy Strong preaching. Please consult the church website at www.trinityatlanta.org and our emailed newsletter This Week At Trinity for up to date detailed information on these and other events. Additionally, the pastoral and administrative staff will make every effort to announce schedule changes from the Pulpit or via congregation-wide emails. Max Powers, age 10 Samuel Ross, age 6 Introduction The word Advent derives from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” As Christians, we typically view Advent as the season of waiting. We spend the weeks leading up to Christmas waiting for the arrival of the Christ child, and in that time, we are filled with hope and wonder as we tell stories, sing hymns, and spend precious time together. This year, the season of waiting has taken on a different tone. After all, we have been waiting all year – waiting for justice and equality for all, waiting for the healing of our world, waiting for hugs from those we love, and waiting to gather once again as a church family at Trinity. It is a gift and a joy to bring you this year’s edition of the Trinity Advent Devotional Guidebook. We hope that this edition touches every reader and reminds each of us that, though we are apart, we are bound together as a family of faith. In the following pages, you will find reflections from Trinity members and staff. Some tell how they have navigated this time of Covid-19, others write tales of lessons learned or heartfelt stories of Christmases gone by. The book opens with a devotion from our Interim Senior Pastor Kim Clayton. Our call to Kim did not include being an on-line preacher, and we are so grateful for her resilience and willingness to adapt to meet the needs of our congregation in 2020. We want to express our thanks to Kim for her leadership through our interim period and through the many challenges of this unexpected time. As you read the following devotionals each day, please take a moment to note the names of the authors and young artists who have made this collection possible. If you feel so called, reach out to them by text, letter, email, or phone to let them know how much you appreciate them sharing their time, thoughts, and talents. Nancy Parson & Miranda Emery Segrest Co-Editors Sunday, November 29, 2020 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Matthew 2:11-12 (NRSV) his year’s Advent theme, Home By Another Way, comes from a line in the Gospel of Matthew. In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, we T were trying to imagine what Advent and Christmas 2020 might be like in the midst of a global pandemic, and Home By Another Way was the phrase that kept surfacing in my mind and heart. Will people be able to travel at all by December? Will we be back together in worship by December? What is Christmas Eve without choirs, carols, and candlelight, and without a bustling Nativity service filled with excited, wonder-filled children? This Christmas, we will all have to find our way home to the Christ Child, in manger or house (depending on the Gospel you read), by another way. The star-led magi realized that ruthless King Herod was a threat to the God-given child born to be a true king. A dream had come to each of the magi, and whether the dream had come to them awake or asleep, we do not know. But the dream was the same to each of them—because of what you have seen, and because of what you now know, you must go home by another way. Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a sermon with our Advent theme’s title. In it, she writes: There is another way home. You just listen to the story. You let it come to life inside of you, and then you decide on the basis of your own tears or laughter whether the story is true. If you are in any doubt, it is always a good idea to watch other people who have listened to the story—just pay attention to how the story affects them over time. Does it make them more or less human? Does it open them up or shut them down? Does it increase their capacity for joy? Then, Taylor says this about the magi, “… they would not be going back through Jerusalem. Besides, none of their old maps worked anymore. They would find a new way home.” The wise men picked up their packs, which were lighter than before, having given out all their gifts. They thanked the baby for the gifts he had given them—for his home and the love therein, for the precious smell of baby flesh and the hope that wafted through them, for the great adventure of it all and a story to tell for the rest of their lives. Advent and Christmas 2020 will be its own peculiar story we will be telling for a long time. Those who travel this season are likely to find it challenging. For us, as a congregation, things will be very different. Our old maps don’t work in 2020. Along with all we have lost, might we also consider what this different kind of Christmas gives us as well? How might it even increase our capacity for joy? Advent is always about waiting, and this Advent, we have much for which we wait indeed. Yet, Christmas will come nevertheless, and when we behold Him – who is our true home – we can thank Him for the gifts He has given us, even in this year of years. Then, we will continue to make our way home, though we will have gotten there, yes, by another way. God-With-Us, Emmanuel, This Advent we wait, Hoping for healing for those who are ill; For peace of mind for all who are ill at ease; and For justice for those enduring systems and acts of oppression. Samuel Ross,age 6 As we journey together, increase our capacity for joy and guide our steps In a world transformed by your presence. Amen. Rev. Kim Clayton Interim Senior Pastor Monday, November 30, 2020 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (NIV) wenty-twenty has challenged us with an unseen virus raging through the world, the seeming collapse of the economy, social unrest, political turmoil, T and a sense of despair that came with the isolation from friends and family. And at the very time we needed the comfort of Trinity most, we were forbidden to gather. It seemed that our world had truly been turned upside down. Yet, in the midst of the darkness, the hand of God was moving to provide hope, and challenging us to reaffirm our faith and our commitment. Day by day, relying on our faith and with God’s help, we readjusted and began the hard work that was necessary. We improvised and attended church and Bible study via our computers, we reached out to those in need as best as we could, we reconnected with friends and family from a safe distance, and we quietly mourned our losses. We watched in awe as medical personnel, at great personal risk, went about their work every day with determination and a devotion to their calling. We saw businesses do their best to take care of their workers and keep going, even when there was almost no hope that they could succeed. We opened our eyes to the social injustice that affects so many, and we witnessed congregations staying together and working for the day when they could once again come home and gather in one place.