God With Us

God With Us

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”—John 1:14.

I have used many meaningful books to prepare for Christmas during the Advent season each year. I keep returning to God With Us, Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas, first published in 2007 by Paraclete Press and edited by Greg Pennoyer and Gregory Wolfe. There are scripture readings, essays by six well-known religious authors, and prayers, but I most connect with the paintings with each lesson. Some days, I only find time to look at the illustrations and say the prayer, but they both seem to stay with me. Eugene Peterson explains it in the introduction. “Over and over again, they (artists) rescue us from a life in which the wonder has leaked out.”  

On other days, I read everything, including remarkable essays about the meaning of the feast day of that week. I especially enjoy the readings during the twelve days of Christmas, when the pace has slowed, and there is more time to digest what this smorgasbord feast of word and art presents us. The book is now in paperback without the pictures, so treasure it if you can find the hardback. 

Literature for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany

Arthur: Literature for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany

“Many of us, when charting the timeline of our lives, can point to a moment when a story or poem happened.” —Sarah Arthur, in Light Upon Light (Paraclete Press 2014) p. 9.

Light upon Light is a literary guide of daily and weekly readings and prayers by well-known authors for the liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, compiled by Sarah Arthur. She has also written similar companion guides for the long Pentecost season (At the Still Point), Lent, and Easter (Between Midnight and Dawn). Arthur emphasizes that this is not only a guide to prayer during a time of year when our lives become too busy but also a literary guide to prayer. We remember and recall poems, scripture, and fiction that moved us in our daily lives. Arthur believes literature can make a difference daily when we need it most.

The readings begin with the first Sunday in Advent and end the week of Ash Wednesday.

Arthur hopes to open our imagination as she exposes us to brief excerpts or short works of writers well known to us, as well as some authors we may not know but should! Arthur warns that we should encounter an alert in the readings of this anthology: “Warning: Powerful Spiritual Moment Ahead!” Finally, Arthur suggests that we digest each lesson not as something for our English Literature class or even for pleasure, but as liturgical pieces for worship and prayer.

Each week begins with an outline for the week of an opening prayer, scripture readings, readings from literature, a place of personal prayer and reflection, and a closing prayer to use for that week. Arthur suggests applying the ancient principles of lectio divina or divine reading that we have used in reading scripture now when reading poetry and fiction. We read the passage, meditate on it, and pay attention to a word or phrase that connects us to a place resting in God’s presence. My experience has been to carry that word or phrase during that day or perhaps the whole week. Since this process is no longer being used for scripture, she has christened it holy reading or lectio sacra.

I invite you to join this journey with Sarah Arthur during the extraordinary seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, with a unique spiritual practice of daily worship and prayer using well-known literature.

Joanna Seibert  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

 

Preparing for Advent: Watch for the Light

Preparing for Advent: Watch for the Light

 “The spiritual Experience, whether it be of faith, hope or love, is something we cannot manufacture, but which we can only receive.”

 —Philip Britts, “Yielding to God,” Watch for the Light (Plough 2001),  p. 111-112.

Watch for the Light is a daily reading for Advent and Christmas by some of the best-known spiritual writers: Bonhoeffer, Dillard, Donne, Eliot, Hopkins, Kierkegaard, L’Engle, Lewis, Luther, Merton, Norris, Nouwen, Underhill, Yancy, and many others. The short essays are three to five pages long, making this an Advent and Christmas reading that will take fifteen to thirty minutes to read and digest. These daily readings allow us to spend time in our Advent meditations with some of the most beloved spiritual writers. I am a significant underliner, so I returned to the book to look for the most underlined essay. It was difficult, since there were numerous underlined passages in every writing.

 One favorite was the essay “Yielding to God” by the British poet Philip Britts. Britts writes that Mary’s example of “let it be with me according to your word” is the essence of the Christmas story. Jesus is conceived out of surrender, and not out of “the head of Zeus” like Athena. He is born in a lowly stable with all the animals, the cold, and the dirt. Christ was born into poverty to heal the poverty of our hearts.

Christ did not just come as a moral tune-up, self-improvement guru, or spiritual teacher. The person of Jesus was fully human, but also infused with perfect God-consciousness, intimately connected to the love of God. Our yearly celebration of his birth reminds us that the same God consciousness, the presence of God within us, can break through and be born in our hearts today, just as “the word became flesh” and changed the world over 2000 years ago.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/