Advent Encouragement

I shared with my husband that it’s been tricky to plan our Advent times this year, because I’m trying to provide more depth for our ten-year old but might be losing our (almost) five-year old in the process. In our activity last week (see Advent Week 2 post) related to the Psalms that ask, “How long?” she asked “How long until Christmas? How long till my birthday?” Age appropriate questions, for sure!

Then I was encouraged by a conversation a few nights ago.  I was tucking her in, and she mentioned a friend from Bible class that she hasn’t seen since March. I echoed her feelings of missing people that we used to see every week. Then she said, “Maybe we could add that to the box. How long until I see Aleah?”

I have to remember that we’re planting seeds. They’ll each take different things from this season and find their own ways to connect to the scriptures.

Keep at it, parents. They’re listening.

Advent 2020 Week Two

This year has been full of questions of “How much longer?” and “When will it end?” so for the second week of Advent, we’ll focus on God’s sovereignty over time.

We’ll begin by rereading Psalm 33 as we look at our paintings from last week. Then we’ll recap the stories we’ve read this week about God’s promise to Abraham and how it’s carried on through Isaac and Rachel, Jacob and Leah. It took a long time for the people to see how God would fulfill his promise. 

For a long time, God’s people have been asking “How much longer?”

• How long until we reach the promised land?

• How long until we’re freed from the Egyptians?

• How long until we’re delivered from the Babylonians?

• How long until the Messiah comes?

• How long until he returns?

Again, we’ll look to the Psalms (90: 1-4) to hear what the poets and songwriters of the time believed to be true.

Since God is forever in either direction, his timing may feel different than ours. AND it’s okay to ask God “how long.” We can ask questions at the same time that we have confidence that he is in control. We’ll look to Psalm 13 as an example while the kids count how many times they hear the “how long” question.

We’ll give examples of “how long” questions we’ve asked before. How long until we have a baby? How long until a new job? How long until we find a house? 

I have a small wooden craft box that we’ll each put a how long question in to save for next year’s Advent. We can share them or keep them a secret, but next year we’ll see whether our “how long” questions have been answered. 

We’ll close with 2 Peter 3:8-15.

Advent 2020 Week One

Advent begins this Sunday!

For 2020, the year of the Nashville tornado, worldwide pandemic, and national elections, we are focusing on God’s sovereignty.

We’ll begin every week with a reading of Psalm 33. Then we’ll define the word sovereign (and practice saying it) as “having supreme or ultimate power.”

Our focus for this week is the affirmation that God is sovereign over creation. 

The Jesus Storybook Bible is our go-to for Advent, because as the subtitle says, “every story whispers his name.” We’ll read the introduction to set the stage, then use Gerald McDermott’s picture book, Creation to retell and act out the story of Genesis 1.  

The Psalmists were the poets and musicians of their day. Many of the songs they wrote were about nature. They didn’t have copies of the Bible that they could hold and read but instead looked at the world around them to learn about God. We’ll ask the kids to listen for what the psalmist was learning about God when he wrote Psalm 24:1-5. 

Questions* we may ask to guide our conversation:

·      Where do we see evidence that God is in control of nature/creation? 

·      When might we have a hard time believing that he is in control? 

·      What might it mean when it says in verse 5 that “the God who redeems will right what has been wrong”? 

We’ll sing songs like Psalm 95  (Come Let Us Sing) and He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands then give the option of writing a psalm or painting a picture that tells of God’s sovereignty over creation.

*Note: It’s important for us not to stick to the questions and answers that are easy or make us feel good. Sometimes, it feels terrible not to be in control. We hate it when God doesn’t do what we want him to. Submission is hard. We want our kids to hear us struggling and leaning into the mystery of faith even in the midst of that struggle.

A Teacher's Lament for the Disregard of her Well-Being

This prayer is not for everyone. 

Parents, administrators and students have their own laments right now. Those cries have definitely come from inside my own house, but this prayer isn’t for you. 

I have heard from teachers who feel safe in their schools, listened to and cared for by their administrators, and appreciated by parents for the work they do. I’ve also heard from teachers who don’t think Covid-19 is a big deal. This isn’t for you, either.

This one is for the teachers who are frustrated, overwhelmed and scared by what’s being expected of them. The ones whose voices haven’t been heard, not only during the Covid-19 crisis, but also for the decades since the feminization of the profession. The current pandemic is not the first time that teachers’ well-being has been an afterthought.

You can download the prayer here.

A Teacher’s Lament for the Disregard of her Well-Being

In a system built on power over, 

who will listen to the voices

echoing down the hallways of our schools? 

Where will my help come from? 

I will raise up my voice. 

I will speak the truth of our days.

We have been abandoned and betrayed

by the ones who claim to have our backs. 

With one breath they hang banners in our honor

and with the next they send us to play

a game of chance with our wellness. 

They keep a safe distance, 

behind our bodies, their titles,

and layers of red tape. 

They set their guidelines but do not uphold them.

They make promises and forget

that such things require funding. 

Do they consider us so insignificant,

expendable and replaceable?

When tensions rise and decisions must be made,

they are deaf to the cries from the classrooms. 

We are here and we know the realities,

yet rarely do they ask 

what we believe is right or good. 

Instead we are told,

and to respond with anything

but compliance

is considered lazy,

uncaring, and uncommitted. 

We want to be with our students

and do our jobs,

but must it cost us our lives

and endanger the ones we love?  

We are cast as villains,

while the enemy lives on

in the air we breathe. 

My hope comes from you, Lord.

They are deaf to our cries, 

but will you hear us?

Turn to us and consider our pleas. 

We need protections

and the funding to keep them in place. 

Draw boundaries around our spaces and our health. 

Hear me, Lord, and I will give you the glory! 

Preserve my life, and I will serve you!

Amen.

Reclaiming Good

Language is a fluid and evolving thing, much like a living organism. I’m okay with this in theory. In practice, there are times when it frustrates me. One such example is the current connotation of the word “good.” Good used to imply something deep and full. Being good was significant. Good had weight to it. It was substantive.

Now it seems to convey “meh.” It’s on writing teachers’ bulletin boards of “overused words.” Leaders resist good and strive to be great. Consider the conversation on the way home from school.

“How was your day?” 

“Good.” (accompanied by a noncommittal shrug). 

Maybe I wouldn’t be so bothered by good’s demotion if there were a suitable replacement. But the offerings in the thesaurus fall short. They overlook the depth and breadth of goodness. 

Dinner with my family is not always great, but it is always good. And that’s better, I think. 

An awesome man might have been fun to date, but I’m grateful to have married a good man.

Our dog is nothing fancy or fantastic. She is a good dog.

So, this is me being an old stick in the mud. I refuse to say irregardless. I will only use the word literal to refer to meanings without metaphor, and I contend that good is better than great.