2024 Sun Dec 1
Thanksgiving

“Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.” Amen.
Advent Online Learning
Many of these courses were part of Christian education in earlier years when classes were scheduled before church.-
No login or password is needed. You can start and stop the courses as desired.
1 Luke’s canticles – Combines four stories from Luke with insights from artists, prayers, and hymns from around the world. Based on Songs in Waiting by Paul Chandler Luke’s Canticles
2 Matthew’s Infancy Stories. Comparable to Luke but with a decidedly Jewish character and an emphasis on Joseph.much different than Luke. Matthew’s Infancy Stories
3 Christmas Carols – 15+ carols for the days leading to Christmas. The background and musical selections are included. They surround us at Christmas. How much do you know about them? Christmas Carols
4 Handel’s Messiah, Prophesy and Birth of the Messiah. The premiere Christmas work with the music and text Handel’s Messsiah. The story of the Christmas part of the Messiah together with the music.
5. Dickens : A Christmas Carol and the Bible. The premiere Christmas novel, here with the influence of the Bible and much of Dickens time. A deep read into the Christmas classic for references to the Bible and Dickens’ religious beliefs Dickens : A Christmas Carol and the Bible
6. Renaissance Art and the Christmas Story The Renaissance was the first period where art came into its own depicting the stories we know and love. The study is divided by subject and includes about 15 art examples. Renaissance Art and the Christmas Story
The Shape of Advent in Scriptures
Each week in Advent has a specific theme:
Week 1- The End of Time / Remaining Awake
Week 2 – God promises for Peace and Justice / John the Baptism
Week 3 – Rejoice (Gaudete Sunday) / John the Baptist
Week 4 – The Messiah
Advent comes from a Latin word – “advenire” – which means to come to/ During Advent. There are three comings:
• The Coming of God to the world as a human baby
• The Coming of God to the world in His glory at the end of time where God’s purposes will be fulfilled. The second coming
• The Coming of God into the world today. Jesus comes to us now in word and sacrament, in prayer and praise, in his Body, the Church
Advent causes us to remember that we are a people who live “between.” We live between the incarnation and the parousia, the day of the Lord.
Advent is a journey, a pilgrimage of watching and waiting. We are not ready for the Christ Child as we have work to do.
Advent Meditations, 2024 – Living Compass
Living Compass produces a book of daily meditations for Advent- “Living Well through Advent which begins Dec. 1
https://shop.livingcompass.org/collections/advent-and-lent-resources The printed copy is $1 and the download is free.
The Living Compass Model for Well-Being offers us guidance in four dimensions of our being: heart, soul, strength, and mind and focus on how they are interconnected. The goal is wellness and wholeness
The theme this year is “Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind” “The seasons of Advent and Christmas are filled with the presence of peace, if only we remember to pause and open ourselves to receiving this gift.” “Peace on earth” is at the heart of the Christmas story.
Week 1 Peace like a river – Deepening Our Understanding of Peace
“The peace of God is transformative. It changes us from those who would use oppressive power to a people who nurture and tend. The peace of Christ moves us into new places. This holy peace requires that we change and move, not stay stagnant.”
“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the trust that God can trans-form conflict into reconciliation. Peace is not calm because the disparate voices are silenced, but the courage to stand within the waters of righteous anger, hear the wails of suffering, and work for change. Peace is crossing from the bank of oppression to the side of justice, and having the faith to walk in the shifting sands and strong current that would make us turn back, except that God call us to cross to the side of love … every single time.”
Week 2 Making Peace with Ourselves. Audrey Scanlan reminds us that seeking a deeper peace within ourselves requires honest, soul-searching self-reflection. It is a road less traveled. So much so that Audrey, a person who takes practicing peace seriously, concludes her reflection with the unexpected words, “It was, perhaps, the first time that I had ever practiced making peace with myself
Week 3 Becoming Instruments of God’s Peace. For people of faith, making peace with ourselves is not an end in and of itself, but a necessary step toward our being able to be instruments of peace for others.
Week 4 Practicing Peace as a “Holy Yes”. Responding “yes” to the Spirit is contagious—it goes viral! Mary’s “yes” to carry the Christ child precipitated Joseph’s “yes” to protect and care for them. And their “yeses” led to millions more, thus transforming the world. For Mary it meant bearing the Christ Child under less-than-ideal circumstances and witnessing his crucifixion. Joseph took on the shame of Mary’s unwed pregnancy. Thankfully, our yeses are not carried out alone. Emmanuel—God with us—gives us the grace not only to bear the cost, but also to experience the new life that can only come from accepting divine invitation.
Arts and Faith- Advent 1, relating art and scripture
Wassily Kandinsky’s The Last Judgment invites us into the Advent season with an emotional tour de force expressed in color, line, and form. An example of abstract art, The Last Judgment is not narrative or descriptive, but rather expressive. It shows emotion and force and invites the viewer to experience them visually.
The Last Judgement is a composition of bright primary colors, opaque black shapes, and heavy black lines. The lines overlap the colors rather than contain them. Throughout the image, the black lines and the flow of primary colors produce a composition of contrasts.
Although abstract art is generally non-representational, Kandinsky does offer a bridge into his work to help the viewer frame the experience with a narrative clue. On the right center of the image, we see a blue angelic form holding a yellow trumpet. This is an iconic image of the Last Judgment, or the end of days that we hear about in Luke’s Gospel. The angel is a unique element of the painting in which color, form and line converge in a traditional way. The black lines form the boundaries around the colors to give us the silhouette of the angel and the trumpet. An interesting detail about the angel is his wings. One is made of blue color, while the other is entirely made of black lines. Everywhere else in the image, line and color separate, overlap, or even clash. With dual wings, the angel unites within himself the two separate elements of the composition. Recalling Luke chapter 21, we are in a scene that is frightening but redemptive, tumultuous but glorious. We are invited to feel the tension that animates us toward hope.
The Last Judgment is meant to evoke feeling and emotion. The colors of the image, particularly near the center, resemble watercolor and have an ethereal, transcendent, and uplifting quality. The upward flow of the two forms left of center, red and blue as they reach into the bright white center of the image, represent this theme. By contrast, the two solid black shapes near the center have a harshness and heaviness that weighs down and overwhelms the viewer. The overlap of light transcendence and dark heaviness throughout the rest of the image is a visual expression of Luke’s passage and also demonstrates the complexity of the spiritual life.
As Luke reminds us, we are called to prayer and vigilance. We are called to resist that which weighs us down, and make way instead for that which elevates us to stand before the Son of Man.