We host a Caregiver open house for our Visiting Angels of West Michigan caregivers every year. It is one of my favorite days of the year. It is a day we set aside and create time in their schedules so they can come to my house and be appreciated and celebrated by those who work in the office.

I appreciate the stories I hear of the most cherished moments, the clients they hold so close to their hearts, and why they love a job that requires them to work weekends and doesn’t pay enough for all they invest and offer. (my words, not theirs)

The hugs are abundant, the conversation jovial, the laughter contagious, and the friendships grow more each year. Some of our caregivers have been with us for just a few months, and some for 18+ years, so the friendships are sweet and a joy to sit back and observe.

And so, in my 20th year as a business owner, I am so profoundly grateful for so much, but tonight, I am again in awe of the people who bring compassion to our care. I am unsure how to express enough gratitude to those who say yes when we call with yet another need for a shift to be filled. At the end of today, I wish I could introduce you to all the heroes of Visiting Angels of West Michigan. They would be every one of our Caregivers.

I will share a few pictures from our fantastic day!

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.

May you rest in the peace of knowing that the darkness can never extinguish the part of you that Jesus illuminates.

Here are some of our staff favorites for this Advent season. Books Honest Advent: Awakening the Wonder of God-with-us Then, Here, and Now by Scott Erikson Night Visions: searching the shadows of advent and christmas by Jan Richardson All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss The Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Activity Book by Sally Lloyd-Jones Music Christmas by Sandra McCracken The Light Came Down by Josh Garrels Advent Songs by The Porter’s Gate Podcast The Jesus Storybook Bible Podcast: Appreciating the Season of Advent with Sally Lloyd Jones

Not new but renewed…

This morning at church, I heard these words. As I reflected on them, they struck me as words about my faith journey. I have had significant events in my life of goodness and struggle. I have so much to be grateful for and places where my heart knows what it feels like to ache deeply.

I have done solid work in counseling over the years and know myself and my heart well. That said, every day remains a mystery regarding what I will face. Sometimes, I respond well and out of mature emotional spaces; sometimes, I don’t engage quite how I wish.

I am so grateful for God’s presence on my faith journey. In this coming year, I want to be intentional about renewing my not new faith.

There is no better place to start renewing my faith than with Advent.

This is my song for the week!

Walking in faith,

Trish

O day of peace that dimly shines
     through all our hopes and prayers and dreams,
guide us to justice, truth, and love,
     delivered from our selfish schemes.
May swords of hate fall from our hands,
     our hearts from envy find release,
till by God's grace our warring world
     shall see Christ's promised reign of peace.

Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb,
     nor shall the fierce devour the small;
as beasts and cattle calmly graze,
     a little child shall lead them all.
Then enemies shall learn to love,
     all creatures find their true accord;
the hope of peace shall be fulfilled,
     for all the earth shall know the Lord.

Today is my birthday.  It is interesting to me as I get older how I hold the day with gratitude and a sense of hopeful anticipation. It is not hopeful anticipation for a party or specific gift, but more for what the year will hold. Now to be transparent, as I enter the last week before my birthday and reflect on how I did not hit many of the goals I set for myself, I am surprised how I can feel so hopeful yet again just because December 2 comes and I realize I have a new 365 days before me. As I look ahead tonight, I feel hopeful and anticipate good things for the year ahead!

One thing that I have lost over the years was the discipline of daily writing. Every year I have wanted to write again and yet year after year I haven’t started. Which of course led me to reflect on an unmet goal at the end of the year.

So tonight, I am committing to writing, and perhaps more importantly the the commitment tonight is the action of starting. My 54th year is going to be a year of action steps. Not leaps of faith, although there may be a few of those, but I am hoping for more faithful daily action steps than anything else.

Today I celebrated with a small group of my family from ages 1 to 81! Tomorrow I will celebrate with more of my family and that will be wonderful as well. I have much to be grateful for and I am deeply loved.

And then Monday starts a new week and the birthday is over and the new year has begun. Join me throughout this coming year and grow with me in small steps to change for good.

But before this day comes to an end, let me share with you the fun small group that celebrated me with such love and joy today!

Until tomorrow,

Be kind to yourself and others,

Trish