Advent Daybook, 10: Delight
An Advent daybook for these 24 days of prayerful expectation. Join me, won't you?
For an introduction read this post: Advent Daybook explained. You can see previous Advent daybook 2018 posts here.
Note: If you're reading this in email, the formatting usually looks much better at the website. Just click the post title to get there.
Look: Christmas Dance, Henri Masson
Listen: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” from A Christmas Cornucopia, Annie Lennox (lyrics)
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Listen to my entire playlist on Spotify: Advent Carols & Hymns 2018. Add it to your account by clicking ‘Follow.’
“Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.”
*
”Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.”
*
”Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
*
”‘But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’”
Sunday Scripture readings are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the Book of Common Prayer (Year 1).
Pray:
Taken from Evening Prayers For Every Day of the Year by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, NIV
”Father in heaven, we thank you that we may feel your leading, your lordship, for you have blessed us with every spiritual and heavenly gift in Christ. We thank you that we may be among those who receive true life always anew, who praise and glorify you, exulting even in difficult days. For it is just in the difficult days that we need to belong to those who are thankful and joyful, who always find new certainty in their lives. With them may we experience the good you give on earth so that humankind may be blest and come at last into your hands. Amen.”
Do:
Laugh
Enjoy an impromptu chuckle with a friend today.
“They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.” (Ps. 36:8)
G.K. Chesterton has taught my family more about the true spirit of celebrating Christmas than almost any other teacher. (I've written about these lessons here, here, here, and here.) Above all, this theologian/social critic/blustery Englishman insists that we Christians learn the discipline of not taking ourselves too seriously.
Here's a couple examples from Advent and Christmas Wisdom from G.K. Chesterton:
"You cannot be too solemn about golf to be a good golfer; you can be a great deal too solemn about Christianity to be a good Christian. You may put into your neckties solemnity, and nothing but solemnity, because neckties are not the whole of your life—at least, I hope not. But in anything that does cover the whole of your life—in your philosophy and your religion—you must have mirth. If you do not have mirth, you will certainly have madness." (Lunacy and Letters)
People are losing the power to enjoy Christmas though identifying it with enjoyment. When once they lose sight of the old suggestion that it is all about something, they naturally fall into blank pauses of wondering what it is all about. To be told to rejoice on Christmas day is reasonable and intelligible, if you understand the name, or even look at the word. To be told to rejoice on the twenty-fifth of December is like being told to rejoice at quarter-past eleven on Thursday week. You cannot suddenly be frivolous unless you believe there is a serious reason for being frivolous. (“The New War on Christmas,” G.K.’s Weekly, December 26, 1925, quoted in Brave New Family.)
p.s., I'd love to hear what makes you laugh? Drop me a comment below.
(See all Advent Daybook posts from 2017 here.)