Tag: Advent

Safely Home

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Today’s Reflection: Safely Home

I’m preparing for a season of preparation. Strange, huh? I’ll explain.

Many Christians across the world observe the “Christian calendar” which begins at Advent, about four weeks before December 25th. (In 2012 it starts December 2.) Advent is a pre-Christmas time marked not buy consumption, decorating, cooking, and the usual things that busy us in the time before Christmas day.

Instead, it’s marked by a time of special spiritual awareness. Themes of waiting, longing, and  anticipation are the focus as we await the coming celebration of Light coming into the darkness: Jesus come to earth as a fragile baby.

But, it’s more then just a spiritual pre-season observance of an event in Christian history, it’s a recognition of a present reality that God has made a way safely home, to him.

The Incarnation is the coming of Immanuel (a Hebrew word meaning: God-with-us). It goes beyond the life, ministry, and death of Jesus of Nazareth as well…to the startling promise of God’s ever-abidding Holy Spirit that resides in us.

This is how God dwells among us, in the core of you and me. We are surrounded by his presence.

You are already home.

With God taking up residence within you, you are the home of God.

(He’s not sitting far off on a bright fancy, throne nestled in a cloud as  Michelangelo would paint it, or as Deists may believe. Remember some Theology 101: God is spirit and has no physical body.)

So, during this season, before the holidays kick into hectic full-swing, be mindful and awed by the Goodness and provision of God. Be aware in your body and mind that house the Spirit of God. A gift of unimaginable worth.

Make ready the manger of your heart for a fresh and rich ongoing awareness of God’s love, grace, and presence that will culminate in the joyful celebration of the arrival of God-in-flesh.

If you would like to continue learning about these seasonal themes and enrich your Autumn and early Winter season, keeping visiting. I’ll focus some of my posts on these themes, sometimes with reflections, scriptures, prayers, and such. This time also (soon) includes the 2nd annual Advent Project which is an effort create a space and format for giving and goodwill in the areas of art and other creative expressions.

So, now, it’s your turn…

What touched you about what you read today?


Do you currently observe a season of Advent each year? If yes, in what ways does it have most meaning for you?

photo source 

5 Weird Things to Fast from

Advent Season is often marked by efforts of fasting to help refine our focus on the things of God. It’s funny (not funny -ha ha) that in the Sermon on the Mt Jesus brings all of kingdom living, for God’s children down to 3 main things: Giving, Fasting, and Prayer.

We’re okay with prayer. That’s totally legit. Giving? Yes. Giving makes sense. Ya gotta help people….but wait….FASTING!? Stop eating FOOD? whoa. That could be uncomfortable.

Here’s the part to bear in mind that our stomachs growl if we don’t get food for a few hours. In Jesus’ time, and in many parts of the world today, usually folks get by on one meal a day. Now that hurts!

True spiritual fasting from food isn’t not something to just up and do, if you haven’t learned how to do it. It’s not just, “Hey, I think I’ll ditch food for a couple of days.” When you have a spiritual fast and abstain from food, stuff happens. Richard Foster wrote,

Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear-if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. (This benefits us because with these things revealed, they can also be addressed.)

 

In short: Fasting can get ugly.

It’s no wonder we conveniently ignore that part of Jesus’ teachings.

Basically, if you have fantasized about bacon much, then fasting could be hard for you. I speak from experience.

HERE’s a quick read that will teach you a few important basics, for you 3 meal per day + snack people…like me.

Here’s a spiritual formation classic that is very helpful for fasting and much more.

You might not be ready for fast from food. I’ll be honest, I’m not.

I’m going to try to fast from 1 meal for 1 one day per week, for each week in Advent, until Christmas. But, I’m used to eating what I want, when I want, so I’ll have to prepare.

But these are a few things I’ll do in the same spirit of a food fast.

(They may sound stupid to you, so see if you can make your own list.)

  1. Not check my blog stats: It’s addicting to see if my efforts in social media and blogging have a positive statistical effect. It’s distracting too, and I’ll venture that it can even be spiritually damaging. For Advent season, I’ll take a needed break from this, and see if it’s helpful.
  2. Not have the last word: It’s necessary purification to not “control” the conversation, or feel the need to. I’ll give this up and see if it reveals other needs or wounded spots. Hello, introspection.
  3. Not respond quickly to defend myself: This is tougher online than face-to-face, for me. Misunderstandings are par for the course on them there interwebs. Attacks online are prevalent too. I’ll give this up because I need no defender but God. I forget this.
  4. Not let things be more important than people: I want to fast from pounding away at the computer when I could be talking with someone face-to-face. Particularly my kids.
  5. Not rely on tech: I want to totally unplug for one day per week. No phone. No computer. No tv. No iPod. No Radio. This will be refining because taking it off the table will force me to more properly re-prioritize…everything.
What do you think you should fast from?

2nd Sunday of Advent: Short Meditation

public domain photo (NYC)

Scripture reading: Mark 1:1-8

 

To John:

Reverberate in the sparse places

Collect your wild honey

Prepare the way, ready your heart

Wash and be seen

Your King is coming

Your Savior

Your hope is come

He is on the move

In the wilderness, in the wilds.

 

(This poem is released into the public domain. It may be used and distributed freely. ) Remember to share (public art) or give away your own art during Advent this year. Read more info for this Artists Advent Project here.

On Not Feeding the “Stat Monster”

vintage campfire huddle

I gave up looking at my blog stats for the last 5 days. Now for those of you without blog, this may seem rather insignificant to life, but for bloggers, stats matter. Everyone will tell you that.

How do you know if your site is worth advertising on? Stats. How do you know what posts made a difference? Stats. How do you give yourself that pep talk when you’re feeling like you’re running out of posts that matter? Stats.

Some bloggers check their stats dozens of times per day. They tweet/FB something with a link and then they’ll check to see if that made an impact. They use the words “gay” or “sex” or “scandal” and watch their stats spike. It feels nice. But then they start write to make that happen. I’ve done it too.

Some people abandon their ideas based on their stats as I was surprised to see author and popular blogger Jason Boyett just do. This strikes me as terribly sad.

With inverse proportions, the Content quality goes down as stat checking goes up. Vision and mission are compromised.

It was a spiritual practice for me to stop spying on my stats. My stat stalking was compromising me. It began as an Advent practice actually, but I’m learning from it already. In the same way fasting from food hones focus better on first-things-first priorities, fasting from my stat data worked like that for me. Without checking on them, I can better ask myself the questions: What is the most important thing for me to be thinking about or writing about? What passion must have voice?

My stats may really drop as I ignore them. That’s what usually happens. But, in the process of doing that, I’ll gain a new perceptive on the reasons why I write in the first place. My readers will read the posts that aren’t based on what I think they might enjoy (consumer oriented) but rather I’ll be writing to like-minded readers (tribe cohorts). I’ll be building the trust (and resources) of my “thought posse”. Would Seth Godin would be so proud of me, or what?

But, gosh I want to be popular!

And herein lies the greater good for not feeding that monster. The stat-centric mind set is the proverbial ball and chain for the creative mind. I will venture that it is even spiritually damaging.

Plus! Innovation never comes by adhering to notions of popularity. Changing the world, or even just influencing and benefitting a handful of people, isn’t accomplished by riding trends or gauging what people will like. Plenty of times we don’t want we like until encounter it anyways.

For those reasons, and more, I also just deleted my profile for Klout. I got the impression the wild fluctuations in scores didn’t so much accurately measure my social media influence (which, as I mentioned, I’m trying to put in its proper place) as much get me to regularly push their switch to get my pellet treat. No more.

What about you? Have you given into the pressure to be popular recently?

Please, oh, please God give me the strength to not check my stats on this post about not checking stats.

BIT OF AN UPDATE…I stayed away from the Stat Monster syndrome for about 10 days. Since then, I’ve been looking far less now, and it’s been a boon on many levels.