Monday, December 05, 2005

An Advent Prayer Journey: Into the Light



If I were clever, I would have taken pictures of the trail and used the trail as a kind of bloggy Advent calendar. Without photos, it's alot less exciting, but might still be good food for thought if you're feeling as stressed as I have been...so I'll pop up a couple of stations a day for the next few days, and you can think your way through the actions, if you've time!


We're on a journey: a journey towards the light that is God…and out again into his world.
A journey of receiving, and then giving.
Walk with expectancy.
As you journey, reflect on what you think.
Expect to discover the unexpected.
Open your eyes wide,- use all your senses.
This is no senseless journey.
Relax.
Don’t rush.
Savour the moment.
This is an Advent journey.
Advent…time of waiting
Time of preparation
Advent, the darkest season of the year…the time of short days and long nights….
Advent… the busy time, the time of manic preparations…
Are you ready yet? Are you ready?
What are you waiting for?
Waiting for Jesus to be born as a baby in Bethlehem
Waiting for Jesus to be born in our hearts and in our lives…to change us as he makes his home with us
Waiting for Jesus to come again, to set everything to rights…
Advent…time of waiting
Time of preparation.
Are you ready?

At the beginning of time the world was in darkness and we were in darkness.
Then God spoke the word, and the Word was God.
And there was light.

God’s voice spoke through the centuries, messages from heaven, reminding us of the way things ought to be
The prophets spoke for God…time to change….time to get ready. Their message broke into our darkness like news from another world. Read some of their messages on these postcards from heaven, and then write your own

Prepare the way of the Lord…make his path straight in the desert.
But we like setting up roadblocks, allowing our own agenda, our concerns, our needs and wants, to get in the way of God’s work in changing our lives.
Think what might be blocking God’s way in your life…
The path through the sand is blocked with stones…move a couple to one side, and ask God to help you to clear a route so that He can reach out to make Himself real in your life.
Take a stone with you to the next station

We need to be ready for God to come and live in us,- as the carol says to be “Born in us today”
Here is what God says
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will take from your body your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh
Place your stone as part of the cairn and use the plasticene to make a heart to remind you of this…Take this with you if you like!

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