PASSPORT TO CHRISTMAS

PREPARE FOR FLIGHT

Advent is a time to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Christmas. You are invited to take time alone or with family or friends to engage each week with the lighting of Advent candles and the reading of a devotional.


FIND YOUR LIGHT

Set up a place where you can put 4 candles for the four Sundays of Advent and a Christ candle for Christmas. (If that isn’t possible, use the same candle each week). It may help to set aside the same time each Sunday to light your candle(s) and read the devotional.



A devotional for each week will be available near the end of the week and at church on Sunday morning.

WEEK ONE

Preflight Checklist

Read Matthew 24:36-44

You may also want to read Romans 13:11-14


Our Matthew reading reminds us to stay alert and be prepared. When you get ready to go on a journey, you prepare. You gather the things you will need for the journey – clothes to wear, the right shoes for the kind of trip you are taking, a passport or other identification, plane tickets or a full tank of gas… All the things that help to make the journey successful. A pilot prepares for takeoff by going through a very specific preflight checklist – all the things that need to be ready in order to take that plane down the runway and lift off.


As we enter into this season of Advent

  1. What do you need to do to prepare for Christmas? Not just the shopping and baking and attending events. 
  2. How do you need to prepare your heart to enter into Christmas?

One of the ways in which we prepare our hearts is to take time to light Advent candles each week, beginning with today. Today we light one candle, reminding us of the hope that Christ brings into our lives and into the world.


LIGHT 1 CANDLE

If you are lighting a candle with family or friends, you may want to take some time now to share with one another the hopes you have for this season of Advent. When you are ready, share the words of this prayer with one another – or read them silently or aloud by yourself.


PRAYER

Holy and gracious God, we come before you on this first day of Advent, aware that the ways in which we plan to prepare may not be the ways in which you need us to prepare. Open our hearts and minds to your ways, to the ways that will lead us to the manger. We give thanks for your presence with us and ask that we might recognize how you walk beside us through each day of Advent. Help us to stay alert and to recognize your presence with us.

In Christ’s holy name we pray,

AMEN


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WEEK 2

THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING...

Read Matthew 3:1-12

You may also want to read Romans 15:4-13


Have you ever gotten on a plane and noticed the pilot up front, thinking to yourself that the person dressed in a pilot’s uniform doesn’t look old enough to fly a plane?


John the Baptist is a fascinating person. He wears clothes of camel hair and preaches in the wilderness. How many people wondered if he had anything useful to say? And yet, we are told that people from all throughout the area came to John, to confess their sins and be baptized.


When we fly on an airplane, we are expected to listen to the pilot and to treat that person with respect. We trust those who are flying the plane to get us safely where we are going.


When we read about John, we may hesitate and wonder if this is someone we should listen to or not. John doesn’t point to himself. He points toward Jesus. He tells us to “change our hearts and lives”. John is preparing the way for Jesus.


During Advent, we too are preparing the way for Jesus as we journey toward Christmas. Perhaps we have gotten off track or complacent or have lost hope. Advent is an opportunity to come back to the right path. John says, “Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives.”


LIGHT 2 CANDLES

Light last week’s candle and a new candle for today.


If you are gathered with family or friends, you may want to take time now to discuss what the fruit you produce looks like in this season of Advent. Ask yourself who you trust; to whom do you listen


If you are entering into the Advent ritual on your own, you may want to take time to write down your reflections on the questions above.


PRAYER

Holy God, on this second Sunday of Advent we come to you seeking peace in our lives and our world. Quiet our hearts and minds. Help us to see the path that you put before us, a path to change our hearts and lives and produce the fruit you ask of us. We give thanks, O God, for the ways in which you lead us during these days of Advent.


In Christ’s holy name we pray,

AMEN


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WEEK 3

Get There-itis

Read Matthew 11:2-11

You may also want to read James 5:7-10


How many of us have heard, or said, “Are we there yet?” At some point in traveling, we often get tired of the journey and want to be at our destination. The same is true of our Advent journey. The house is decorated. We have made as many cookies as possible. The gifts may even be wrapped. We just want to be there – to arrive at Christmas.


And yet we must be patient. It is when we rush and hurry that we make mistakes, say things that we don’t really mean, have expectations that are unrealistic. When we rush, we often miss the most important things. Today’s reading from James reminds us of our need to be patient, to have patient resolve and steadfastness.



Slow down. Live in the moment. Set aside the list of to-do items for just a little while and spend time with God. What might that look like for you? How might it change your need to be there already?


LIGHT 3 CANDLES

Light the two previous candles and a pink candle for today.


We light one more candle each Sunday to remind ourselves that we must slow down, take time to reflect and listen as we journey toward the manger. We light a pink candle today, to remind us of the joy that we anticipate in the birth of the Christ Child. This isn’t Hallmark joy of happy endings and everyone sitting around a beautifully decorated table enjoying each other’s company. The joy of this Sunday exists in our relationship with Christ, in the ways in which we experience God’s compassion and mercy.


If you are gathered with family or friends, you may want to take time now to discuss the following question:

Where, and how, can you experience patience in this Advent season?


If you are entering into the Advent ritual on your own, you may want to take time to write down your reflections on the question above.


PRAYER

Holy God, we have come to this third Sunday of Advent wanting to be there already. And yet you remind us that the journey does not always move at our pace. Help us to slow down, to listen deeply, to reflect on the small ways in which we experience joy in these days.


In Christ’s holy name we pray,

AMEN


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