“Attentiveness is the root of all prayer”, Mary Oliver once said.
During the season of Advent, we focus. We need to. We know that if we cannot find some way to find a focus for our lives, we will live as people who are constantly unsatisfied.
Advent tells us to hush. Advent tells us to be quiet. Advent tells us to pay attention, open our eyes, and wait.
This is all very countercultural. The culture guides us to do more, and buy more, and keep busy.
Because Advent keeping is countercultural, we need both company and help if we are going to practice Advent with any success at all. But it is so worth it.
When we find ways to practice Advent as a spirit-filled season of its own, we discover peace even in the midst of busyness. We get in touch with our own need for a savior. And we catch a fresh glimpse of the joy of Christ-mas unfolding as gradually the dawn.
December 1st, we will give each other company and start this journey together. Some of us will get to work, making wreaths for our home. Some will have brought along evergreen branches we can share. Others of us may want to simply gather to discover some new devotional resources we will have at church, or for worship to hear the different prayers we use which will mark this new season.
I believe that the best Advent disciplines are ones that are simple. Perhaps an ideal practice for you to adopt would include planned times for breaks from technology, periods of silent prayer, time spent by the Christmas tree in a dim room or a fire in the fireplace.
In our home, a goal I have is to try to keep the Advent wreath busier than my smart phone. We place our wreath at the very center of our dining room table. I like to have my time of daily devotion in sight of the wreath, and we gather around it when we pray before we share meals together.
There is nothing magical about our advent wreath, of course. It is simple. But what it does is help us focus. And when we focus, we can pay attention; and when we pay attention, we can pray.
Advent is here. It is a perfect time to consider where you want your focus to be over the next few months. I look forward to walking this joyful journey again with you this year.
Giulianna+