Advent/Christmastide 2015-2016 Unless otherwise noted, all I John: Darkness & Light Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. I John 1:5 In elementary school, we learn that ordinary light can be split up into many colors (seven, to be exact). All of these colors combine wonderfully to give us the full spectrum light we experience each day in the rays of the sun. Full spectrum light is full, complex, and rich. It brings life and flourishing everywhere it travels. Take it away, and the world would eventually be enshrouded in death. Each year as fall turns into winter and the days get progressively shorter, many of us begin to experience the toll that darkness takes upon us. Our mood sinks and we can find it harder to go about the daily tasks of life. We begin to long for the return of the healing light of the sun. Certain types of artificial light try to mimic what the sun can do, but they are, in the end, cheap and garish substitutes for the real thing. The biblical narrative tells a story of a world that was enveloped in darkness―a darkness of sin, prideful autonomy, and foolish efforts to create our own light. And, into this great darkness, God―the true Light―has come. Jesus is the Light that has come into our darkness. His light is full, complex and rich. He brings life and flourishing everywhere he is received. HOW TO USE THIS BOOKLET Adapted from Born a Child and The days leading up to Christmas are filled with distractions. There are Yet a King from Christ the King presents to buy, parties to attend, dinners to plan, cards to send, family to see, Presbyterian Church, songs to sing, movies to watch, and traditions to follow. We need help to cut Raleigh, NC. through the many distractions of this time of year if we are to focus our attention on Jesus. In addition, for many of us, this is a tremendously painful time of year. It can be a reminder of unmet longings, relationships gone awry, and bring with it a profound sense of loneliness. For many, this time of year can be one where we are tempted to go numb and just try to survive until January. We need help finding Jesus in the midst of our pain. This booklet is designed with the realities of distraction and pain in mind. We have created it to be used by individuals, community groups, couples, small gatherings of friends, and families with children. Each week will have a couple of scripture passages along with a short meditation. Reflection questions will take you deeper into the texts and your own story. These questions can be used by individuals during their own devotional times, or would also make great community group discussions. In addition, each week there is a section called Children & Family Resources and Activities that has creative activities to help others, particularly children, engage in considering and experiencing God’s presence. Feel free to pick the activities that would be most meaningful for you. The resources and activities listed for each week will be centered around two themes: receiving God’s good gifts as his children, and living out of that light in service to others. To get started on the imagery that will develop over time to include representations and symbols of God bringing life and light into the world and the Christmas story, choose one of the project options on page 2 (tree, diorama, etc). When the season is finished, if you would like to share your visual art with the community, please contact Heidi Hansen, [email protected]. Finally, there will be a prayer and a song for the week. It is our hope that God will use this booklet to draw you closer to him, and discover that Jesus is, indeed, the Light of the world. May the Lord be with you during this time. TABLE OF CONTENTS FIRST WEEK IN ADVENT: WALKING IN DARKNESS 3 SECOND WEEK IN ADVENT: WALKING IN THE LIGHT 7 THIRD WEEK IN ADVENT: WALKING IN CONFESSION 11 FOURTH WEEK IN ADVENT: WALKING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LOVE 16 CHRISTMAS EVE 21 FIRST WEEK IN CHRISTMASTIDE: WALKING IN DISCERNMENT 25 SECOND WEEK IN CHRISTMASTIDE: WALKING IN JOYFUL FELLOWSHIP 30 GALLERY 36 SUPPLIES LIST CHILDREN & FAMILY RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES Advent Tree ‣ a collection of bare branches in a jar (consider painting branches black) ‣ card stock ‣ hole-punch ‣ ornament hooks or ribbon ‣ scissors ‣ glue ‣ markers ‣ lights Advent Diorama ‣ a shoe box or slightly larger box covered in black paper or paint ‣ tempera or acrylic paints ‣ model figures ‣ construction paper ‣ scissors ‣ glue ‣ string Advent Collage ‣ a piece of black poster board, or large canvas painted black ‣ magazines ‣ pictures ‣ glue ‣ paints ‣ small found objects ‣ string ‣ artist tape Advent Praying in Color Journal ‣ blank pages, sketch books or white poster board ‣ markers, colored pencils or crayons Advent Candles 2 Advent Week 1 FIRST WEEK IN ADVENT: WALKING IN DARKNESS NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 5 Genesis 1:1-5; I John 1:1-5; 2:15-17; 5:21 There's a darkness upon me that's flooded in light And I'm frightened by those that don't see it. The Avett Brothers, Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise, from the album, I and Love and You When I say that evil has to do with killing, I do not mean to restrict myself to corporeal murder. Evil is that which kills spirit. There are various essential attributes of life — particularly human life — such as sentience, mobility, awareness, growth, autonomy, will. It is possible to kill or attempt to kill one of these attributes without actually destroying the body. Thus we may "break" a horse or even a child without harming a hair on its head… Evil then, for the moment, is the force, residing either inside or outside of human beings, that seeks to kill life or liveliness. And goodness is its opposite. Goodness is that which promotes life and liveliness. M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil Meditation Prometheus was an important figure in Greek mythology, but he is something Adapted from Working the of a trickster figure. He is responsible for giving great gifts to human beings; Angles, by Eugene Peterson but, ironically, these gifts also bring about a significant amount of our suffering. After creating human beings, Prometheus is said to have hidden from each person the day of their death, which apparently everyone knew the exact day of their death before. This had the profound effect of removing from us the sense of any limits. Instead of knowing the day of our death, our “mortality” has become a vague notion that can be easily denied. In addition, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave that to humans as well. Fire, as we all know, is a very powerful tool and makes many wonderful things possible. It also can feed our delusions that we can do anything we set our minds upon. The story of Prometheus is only a myth, but Peterson points out how it gives us a way of understanding life in the modern world. We have increasingly become: “...unmindful of limits, setting goals unrelated to the actual conditions of our humanity, and possessing the technical means to change the conditions under which we live. We don’t have to put up with the way things as they are. Things can be better; we have the means to accomplish whatever we want to do. Fire provided the energy that became technology―the machine. Consequently, we humans don’t know that we are human; rather, we think we are gods and act like gods. The awareness of our mortality is lost to us. A sensitivity to the results of our actions is lost to us.” 4 If you could pick one word that described the feel of modern life, I think a good word to pick is autonomous. We desire to be in control. We desire to have no limits. We seek to solve our own problems. Autonomy is the shadow side of human dignity. In the biblical story, our desire for autonomy is a manifestation of darkness. We were created by God to, first and foremost, be grateful receivers of his love and leadership in our lives. Yet, we are marked and shaped by a fundamental desire to define ourselves in other ways. Questions for Further Reflection 1. Have you experienced being in a room or outdoor setting that was completely dark? What was it like for you? What emotions did you experience? 2. Darkness is the absence of light. How is that reality more hopeful than if darkness was its own entity? 3. Are there places in your life right now that feel dark or without hope? Are you engaged in a conversation with God about those places? 4. Read Psalm 139:7-12. What does this say about God’s relationship with darkness? How does reading this passage impact you? 5. Can you think of ways you resist opening yourself to the light of God’s presence? What happens when you try to manage the darkness in your life on your own? 6. What is one step you can take this week to open your heart to receive the light of God’s presence? Write a prayer expressing what you want in your life and in relationship with Him.