Rest – Bits & Pieces of Advent

The Thanksgiving meal is complete. Your dinner guests – be it friends or family – are in the throngs of the after-dinner “turkey food coma.”

For a brief minute, you sit content. Then panic sets in as a newspaper ad, television commercial, or even a pre-Black Friday email reminds you: Christmas is just 26 days away.

Rest becomes a four letter word, destined never to be uttered again as next month’s events kick your life into warp speed.

While the world defines Christmas as a period filled with hustle and bustle; our souls long for something more. Instead of angst, we dream of peace.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 (NLT)

Looking ahead

This Advent Season – the days leading up to Christmas from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24 – you are invited to take deep breaths and push pause on life’s hectic pace.

During this series of weekly devotions leading up to Christmas Eve, you’ll have a chance to pause and reflect on the themes found within Advent: hope, peace, joy and love.

Each Sunday, beginning with the first Sunday of the season (Dec. 1), you’ll have a chance to read a devotion – which includes a corresponding Bible verse – along with an invitation to light a candle on your own advent wreath which represents that day’s theme.

By Christmas Eve, you’ll have a wreath lit with five candles signifying the time of Christ’s birth has arrived.

Each devotion will have a few take action ideas or “faith actions,” designed to help you find meaningful ways to celebrate this season of preparation – to make the season less commercialized and more genuine.

For now, sit back, rest and enjoy making memories with your loved ones on this Thanksgiving day. Your first devotion will arrive on this website and by e-mail on Sunday, Dec. 1.

Did You Know

The themes of Advent center around a Yuletide tradition known as the Advent Wreath. The wreaths traditionally were circular in nature and made of evergreens; representing God’s love and the hope found within eternal life.

Within the wreaths four candles were placed along the inner edges of the wreath. Traditionally, three candles were purple (representing hope, peace and love; one was pink (representing joy).

In recent times, blue candles have taken the place of purple, because blue is often seen as a sign of hope.

The fifth candle is white (representing Christ’s birth) and placed in the center of the wreath because it fulfills all of the ideas of Advent and shows how Christ’s arrival gives us hope, peace, love and joy as we make room for him within our lives.

Faith Steps

In this section you’ll find a few ideas which are designed to help you reflect on the theme. A word of caution: Don’t look at this as another “to-do” list of must finish items this week. Rather find the one (or two) which makes you go “hmm…” and gets you to ask more questions, or do something inspired by the prompt. Most importantly, have fun!

1) Read: Why not take time to read and reflect on the verse from Matthew 11:28, which calls us to give our weariness to God. Sometimes I like reading the verses from different translations (like the New Living Translation or the Contemporary English Version) or paraphrases (such as the Message) because it helps me hear different things in the verses.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’ ” – Matthew 11:28 (NLT)

“If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 (CEV)

“ ‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.’ ” – Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

2) Reflect: What does rest look like for you in the midst of life? Try writing yourself an encouraging letter, speaking life into those ideas. Refer to this as you start to feel the spin of the world pull you out of a restful pace of life.

3) Write: Read Matthew 11:28 in the CEV version. What heavy burdens are you carrying this advent season. Write them down on a piece of paper, then pray over them, giving them to God. Then, after you pray burn the list. You’ve given the list to God, don’t look back.

4) Hear: Listen / watch King & Country’s Burn The Ship song / video. It talks about giving it to God and moving forward, without looking back. http://bit.ly/KingCountryBurnShip

5) Create: Make an Advent Wreath. Feel free to get creative. One year we created a wreath using candles and pine cones and a sketch given to me by a favorite artist. Another year, after a Thanksgiving trip to the beach, we made the wreath out of candles and items gathered on our trip. I’ve included photos of both to give you some ideas.

What’s Next: On Sunday, Dec. 1, we’ll take a look at Hope.