The Wonderment: A Faithful Life. Mourning the death of Nelson Mandela, I am intensely grateful for his perfectly imperfect example of a faithful life. Like most of us, he struggled with violence as an answer to violence, hate as an answer to hate, and division as an answer to division. But then Mandela change. In that shift to understanding responsibility as peace building, to making dignity for all real by embodying dignity, to supporting processes to bring about reconciliation which is still in process, because we cannot heal a history of hate and violence and be without struggle in a few years -- in that shift, we were given another example of a faithful life, true to himself, his land, his peoples, his faithful struggles and faithful promises. During Advent christians are looking back and anticipating forward at the same time, grateful and wary with the themes of judgment and purification that are in the texts at this time of year.
Are we responsible for poverty if we are not poor? Winter holiday resources for uu families. Home / Spirit / Winter holiday resources for UU families Recommendations from the UUA's Lifespan Faith Development staff.By Staff Writer 11.28.05 Looking for help celebrating the winter holidays with your family, Unitarian Universalist-style? Barbara Gifford and Tracey L. Hurd, who develop programs for children and families for the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations's Lifespan Faith Development department, identified a variety of resources you can use to celebrate the winter holidays at home: General Resources "Winter: A Garden of Activities for Family and Fellowship": Includes Christmas, Hanukkah, Posada, Saint Lucia Day, Advent, New Year, Kwanzaa, and Yuletide celebrations.
Advent "Celebrate Advent. " Hanukkah "What Is Hanukkah? " Winter Solstice "Sharing Inner Gifts: A Family Celebration for Solstice," adapted by Betsy Williams (Connections, Church of the Larger Fellowship) Christmas "Why Do We Go to Church on Christmas Eve? " New Year's Day Celebrating instead of consuming. An Advent for Unitarian Universalists « A Unitarian Universalist Minister in the South. The congregation I serve in Mississippi had a guest minister (whose theology is Universalist Christian) come and preach on November 29th. He asked the church to have an Advent wreath with candles to light. The congregation decided to keep the Advent wreath for the remainder of the season up to the Christmas Eve service.
Advent isn’t something that Unitarian Universalists note every year any more. Some congregations will have a service about the season of Advent but I bet these congregations are in the minority. Advent is from the Latin word meaning coming. It refers both to the coming of the birth of Jesus at Christmas as well as the second coming of Jesus at the end of the age. It is a time of preparation, of expectant hope, of waiting for the Messiah to come. It is most likely because of our ambivalence to Jesus as being Messiah or in his second return that we Unitarian Universalists have not made much about the season of Advent.
Like this: Like Loading... Advent Resources. During the four weeks of Advent, we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth through prayer and reflection. We contemplate the First Coming of Jesus as Savior, and anticipate his promised Second Coming. And amid the flurry of Christmas preparations, we look for practical ways to observe the holiness of the season in our everyday lives. Ignatian contemplation and reflective prayer encourage us in the season of Advent. Below we highlight Advent resources in the tradition of Ignatian spirituality. Arts & Faith: Advent Each week we’ll provide a video commentary about a work of art inspired by the Sunday Scriptures of Advent. Use these videos to take a new look at this season of preparation through the lens of sacred art.
First Week of Advent, Cycle ASecond Week of Advent, Cycle AThird Week of Advent, Cycle AFourth Week of Advent, Cycle AChristmas Day Advent Weekly Video Reflections Week One: Love Is Coming by Joe PaprockiWeek Two: Waiting by Tim MuldoonWeek Three: How Does Hope Shape Us? A Counter-Cultural Quiet in Advent. For some people, the Advent season on the church calendar is one of the most anticipated times of the year. For some, there is no other time in which their love of God is stronger, there is no other time in which they are more aware of God's mercy in their lives and in the world, there is no other time in which their hearts go out to others with such affection, and there is no other time in which their joy is more profound.
I am not one of those people. For me this time of year has always been a spiritually dry time. There is a line in a Counting Crows song that says "You can see a million miles tonight, but you can't get very far. " I experience a deep division within myself during Advent. I think my personal division reflects a broader cultural division. The problem, I think, is that our culture doesn't know how to truly celebrate. Many of us in the church live in the tension of this religious and cultural ambivalence. Resources for the Christian Year. CMEP Advent 2011 Reflections: "Peace, Love, Justice, Hope, and Joy" Rethinking Christmas | a community of advent conspirers. [The Advent Conspiracy] - Advent Conspiracy.