The Advent Prayer Garden – December 2024
Advent. Every year I try to think of something a little different to help me live through the liturgical season well.
Yes, we know Advent is a time of waiting. But it is also the first part of the word ADVENTure.
What adventure are you preparing to have, this Advent?
What are you hoping to do differently?
It has become popular in recent years to go on Advent Wreath Making Courses – and TikTok and various Facebook pages do give ideas for making the season a little different. It was on social media where I found this beautiful idea! An Advent Garden - a centre piece for the kitchen table. A garden which although tiny, encourages conversation and acts as a reminder.
Heidi Haverkamp’s ‘Advent in Narnia’ says this about C.S.Lewis:
“Lewis, by placing Christianity into another world, makes it unfamiliar again. He gives us the chance to feel a newfound wonder at the depth of God’s love, the power of Christ’s grace and the totality of his sacrifice and the wonder of a world infused with the Holy Spirit”.
Making Advent unfamiliar again!
I wonder if part of our Advent reflections could be to look for the unfamiliar. What does waiting and watching (and weeping) look like - a story of cousins (Jesus and John), of old and young, of light bearers and step-dads.
Why not have some fun and create your own little garden. Write words on the stones, words that mean something to you. I wrote: Love - Joy - Hope - Peace – Gratitude.
It offers me a focus. It isn’t just something to look at though – you can pick up the rocks and feel them. You can put your hand in the soil. You can trace shapes around the plants (whether real or silk… or even plastic!).
It is just another example of entering the story.
I would definitely recommend you becoming Advent Gardeners!
Have a Peace filled and Love filled Christ-mas
Jo
For more on ‘contemplative gardens see: https://christandcascadia.com/2022/11/17/advent-gardening/
Previous Monthly Devotions
16 - The Preacher's Wife - Susannah (September 2024)
15 - The Preacher (August 2024)
14 - Paddling in Streams (July 2024)
13 - Pets and Companion Animals (June 2024)
11 - Doors - open, closed or slightly ajar? (April 2024)
10 - A Guide to the Garden (March 2024)
9 - This Year's Great Overlap Ash Wednesday and the Day of Love (February 2024)
8 - The Cuckoo Clock (January 2024)
7 - Decorations (December 2023)
6 - The Unknown Soldier - Then and Now (November 2023)
5 - Conkers and Spiders (October 2023)
4 - The Parable of the Accidental Sunflower (September 2023)
2 - We're all going on a Summer Holiday - Rock Pools (July 2023)
1 - The Lost Horse (June 2023)