2020 Advent Meditation

I breathe in hope as I stand today:

Now let’s spend about one minute using part of this prayer as a breath prayer. On the in breath, say: “I breathe in hope.” On the out breath: “… as I stand today.”

Today we’ll pray for someone we care about, saying, “God, give [my loved one] hope for _________.” For example, “God give my mom hope for a happy future.”

Story from the Advent book, All Creation Waits, written by Gayle Boss and illustrated by David Klein—today’s story is about the muskrat.

The author talks about the muskrat making a shelter for a bit of breathing room. Let’s take a minute for a little breathing room right now, thinking about what other things help you find breathing room in your life.

Go in peace

I breathe in hope as I stand today:

Now let’s spend about one minute using part of this prayer as a breath prayer. On the in breath, say: “I breathe in hope.” On the out breath: “…as I stand today.”

The theme of the first week of Advent is hope, and today we’ll ask God to give us hope for something specific in our daily work. Let’s start by thinking about what we hope for in our work lives—and work life of course includes you moms or dads who stay at home with kids, those of you who are unemployed and seeking the next thing, and those of you who might be retired or on disability…who define your vocations differently at this stage in life. Ask for hope for something in your daily tasks or outlook.

“God, give me hope for _________ in the work that I do.”

Story from the Advent book, All Creation Waits, written by Gayle Boss and illustrated by David Klein—today’s story is about the painted turtle.

The author talks about the simplicity of utter quietude. Let’s take a minute to practice utter quietude right now, and perhaps you can find another moment or two in your day for focused silence.

Go in peace

Each podcast lasts approximately 8–10 minutes, and the format goes like this:

The word advent means waiting—it’s a four-week season when we practice waiting on the presence of God to show up, symbolized in the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.

In the Julian calendar (which was a later version of the Roman calendar), Dec. 24 or 25 was winter solstice. In the northern hemisphere daylight diminishes between summer solstice and winter solstice and then increases again starting at the end of December. The Romans celebrated the day when sunlight started its renewed expansion, Dec. 25, as the birth of the Sun god.

And so it seems that Christians in the third century adopted the birthday of the Sun god as the birthday of the Son of God. The idea being that, after increasing darkness, there appeared a great light. When we celebrate Advent we practice waiting in the darkness for the Light of the World to appear.

I want to note that darkness has several meanings in Scripture. In the modern Western world, the metaphor of dark and light historically has racist tinges—as if dark implies nefariousness and light implies goodness. But in Scripture, which predates our modern associations, darkness far more often simply means “things which are hidden and unseen”; it can mean evil; and it can also mean something like “powerfully holy.” A few of the most profound moments in the Bible depict God surrounded by darkness or by dark clouds.

During this 2020 Advent we meditate on the stories of how animals wait and survive in the dark and learn from them what it means to wait on God—and on hope—when things seem hidden from us.

The word advent means waiting—it’s a four-week season when we practice waiting on the presence of God to show up, symbolized in the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. Advent season begins on Sunday, Nov 29, and culminates on Christmas Eve. We’ll publish meditations on Monday–Saturday each week of the Advent season.

Our 2020 Advent podcast includes guided prayer and meditation, as well as stories of how animals wait and survive in the dark and learn from them what it means to wait on God—and on hope—when things seem hidden from us. Part of the podcast includes stories from a book called All Creation Waits by author Gayle Boss and illustrated by David Klein.

We hope you’ll join us.

Note: the Advent meditations are part of our ongoing Blue Ocean Daily Prayer series. New listeners can also subscribe to the Advent series separately (search for “Blue Ocean 2020 Advent Meditation” in your favorite podcast app).