I find Christmas so full of varied emotions. My story holds a mix of joy and sorrow poignantly woven together. My oldest brother died on December 23, 2010, in a car accident, and my body memory holds aspects of that grief every year. My Dad died in May of 2018, but I miss his laughter, his prayer, his pipe, and his presence in so many ways when we gather. I know it is essential for me to create space to reflect, wonder, anticipate, and wait. I haven’t been very good at Advent in the past, but I am grateful it keeps coming around, so I am giving it a go again this year. 🙂

In my family, the Church is a big part of our lives. Pastor Lindsay started a Gladvent series: nurturing the quiet virtues of hope, peace, love, and joy! Monday, we received the email below to encourage us to contemplate the message we heard in our week. Tonight, I wondered if this might encourage someone who would like to experience Gladvent via podcast or live stream. Maybe you are a person who doesn’t have a Church right now or isn’t interested in the Church but could use some honest teaching and authentic hope.

Gladvent: Nurturing the Quiet Virtues of Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy

for the week of December 3, 2023

Welcome to this very first edition of our dwelling email!

We’re so glad that you’re here.

This is the first week of Advent – the beginning of the church liturgical year where we turn our attention toward the coming of Jesus. This season, we will explore the traditional themes of Advent represented by each candle in the Advent wreath – hope, peace, love, and joy. We invite you to join us as we step away from the frenzied pace of the holiday season, and quietly nurture these virtues in our hearts and tend to the souls around us.

This week, we begin with hope.

Listen to Service Here

Watch Service Here

We use the Narrative Lectionary to direct the passages that we focus on each week in Worship. This lectionary follows the sweeping narrative of Scripture. There are additional passages that paint a fuller picture of the story that you’re invited to read throughout the week. Use the link below to access the passage for each day.

Narrative Lectionary Daily Reading

This week, Pastor Lindsay preached about a hope that is in the future tense. This hope was offered to Jeremiah and to the people of Israel while they were living in less-than-ideal circumstances. We may not be a people living in exile, but we are well-acquainted with an imperfect present.

We’re inviting you to dwell a little longer with the words spoken in our service this week.

Read Jeremiah 33:14-18 again. Take some time to notice what God is promising in this passage. Write those promises down. Do you long for any of those things?
What would you ask God to add to the list? Take some time to name and lament the parts of your life and the world that are not as you would hope them to be. By naming them, you take some of their power away.
We know that these promises for better are not likely to come our way immediately. And yet, light flickers in the darkness. Where do you see the light flickering? When you notice the light flicker, pay attention. And name it – tell those around you about it. Practice pointing to the light.

Question for the younger (and younger at heart) people:

What is the Advent wreath anyway? Why do we light these candles?

If you’re not sure about the answer to that one, look this explanation over together.

This week, borrow a habit from our Nordic friends and light a candle in your home as a tangible reminder of the hope that flickers for us this Advent season.

And then, try this:

Spend some time looking at the candle. How does it behave? How does that flickering light change the space you are sitting in? How does it change how you feel about sitting in it? Now, ask yourself this: what would it look like for you to be that same kind of presence in the places you go this week? All of those adjectives that came to mind about the candle – could you turn your attention to embodying even one of them? Give it a try and see how it changes the rooms you sit in.
It can be difficult to come up with words of hope in the face of a hard reality. Sometimes, we’re afraid to say the wrong thing. Sometimes we really don’t know what to say because we don’t actually feel hopeful at all. In times like that, it can be helpful to have chosen a phrase or mantra that you know to be true, even when it’s hard to feel the truth of it in the moment. Spend some time writing down or talking about some phrases that are profoundly hopeful that you could store away in your heart for such times. Maybe like this one, from Psalm 42: Why, my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? I will put my hope in God. Or this from this week’s sermon: The darkness can never extinguish the light that has been given us. For bonus points, share your mantra on Eastern’s Facebook page and maybe your words can be hope for someone else.