Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, I want to recommend an album for everyone. Hope for a Tree Cut Down was made by Church of the Beloved in Washington and contains some of the finest music recorded in the past two years. While not directly about Earth Day, this album is expresses the beauty of God in our world. And it's free! What could be better than that?

Hope

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer." Rom 12:12

I have many things rattling around in my brain today. I have having trouble extracting the ideas of one class from another and from what's going on in my personal life. My understanding of certain ideas is not limited to one aspect of my life. I may be studying the Psalms in my Old Testament class, but I am seeing Advent in the Psalms. Advent is the season of hope, and all the Psalms whether they are cursing Psalms, lamenting Psalms, or praising Psalms end with hope. As one of my text books says, "For people who pray are people living in hope" [Ellen Davis--Getting Involved With God]. The Psalms are prayers and songs to God and about God from individuals and communities.
I am currently doing an Advent study on Advent hymns. At the same time, I am assisting a local church in their Advent children's pageant. My job is to help children from ages three or so through middle school learn Christmas songs. The songs they are learning are pretty traditional and include Once in David's Royal City, He is Born, Nino Lindo, and Away in a Manger. Just because I know these songs doesn't mean that these wonderful children do. What is old to me is new to them. I see great hope in the children for Advent to be over and for Christmas to come. Christmas means time off from school, special food, Christmas cookies, family time, etc. We are excited for Christmas to come, and we are expressing that through song.
So you can see the different threads running through my life today. My brain is buzzing with all these ideas, and I don't have them in a neat package yet. All I know is that today I have great hope from many different places. I have hope through children. I have hope through prayer. I have hope through song. I have hope through Psalms. I have hope through my community. I have hope through my friends even though I know many of them are struggling for different reasons. At this point in time I feel like I can only express my gratitude for the hope that is growing in my soul and to pass on what I am feeling.

First Sunday of Advent

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. We light the first candle on the wreath for hope.

"The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined....
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"
Isaiah 9: 2, 6


Advent is the beginning of the Christian liturgical year, and it entails the four Sundays before Christmas and Christmas Eve. We wait hopefully to welcome the Christ-child into our hearts on Christmas Day. It is important to note that Christmas does not begin on Black Friday or on the first Sunday of Advent. Just because ABC Family is running their "25 Days of Christmas" campaign during December does not mean that Christmas is now. We are in the season of hope, the season of anticipation, the season of preparation. And just like in Lent we should be holding ourselves accountable to make room in our hearts for Christ. For the past few weeks I have been assisting a local church in preparations for their advent children's pageant. The children are wonderful, and it's going to be a great pageant. The children are teaching me about Christ's love and about the hope we should all have all year long.