At this time of year there are many creative tools used to help little ones count the days until Christmas so that you do not have to constantly answer the question “How many more days?” Some people use an advent calendar so that each day you open a door to find an image that relates to the season, or maybe you open a drawer to find a piece of candy, and some allow you to add an ornament each day. We didn’t have a special calendar but instead used a simple paper chain. First you had to cut the strips of construction paper and then link the chains one by one; counting over and over to make sure the number was correct. You could go back any time of the day to review the length of the chain and be amazed at the brevity when once it had dragged onto the ground. In the sermon yesterday Anne mentioned a phrase that farmers who were experiencing a drought said to each other to help ease the tension of waiting for relief, “Today we are one day closer to rain.” What hope! What assurance! Bringing that reflection into the Advent season she finished “Today we are one day closer to the return of the Messiah.”
My prayer for the congregation?
Dear God, You promise relief and hope for the world, we simply have to wait and remember that liberation is coming. Long ago no one thought to recognize that hope in the shape of something so small. Today, may we consider nothing too small to be made prominent by your hands or anything too large to be restructured by your grasp. We know these things, and yet we restlessly struggle through our day, resisting that assurance, wondering when O God, when? Today, we are one day closer, and we are filled with hope. Amen.
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You would be so much fun to work with. Laughing does make the day go by faster.
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