Advent, Christmas, Lent (huh?) and a Blessing

Things to inspire your worship planning this season and the next

Things have been quiet on Cooking with Elsa. Have you missed me? There have not been so many prayers to appear after the pandemic has changed to whatever phase we are now. I am not sure what will come next though I started redesigning the site with great intention and hope. Then, well, I’m not sure what happened.

I am pleased to share some new ingredients for your worship as Advent approaches. I cooked up four weeks of candle lighting liturgies. They evoke the theme of a resource I’m proud to celebrate with Vibrant Church Communications — and you’ll find out more if you keep scrolling. It is not based in the Revised Common Lectionary but there are some suggestions about how to use it in the post.

Photo by manu schwendener on Unsplash

While we are still in Germany, I’ve got big plans to attend all of the Christmas Markets in Europe in the weeks ahead but I know your calendars will be full with other things, dear pastor. This is one of those years that Christmas has the nerve to show up on a Sunday and that makes even more work for you. This fireside service might be what you are looking for or you might be interested in this new service I just created meditating on the stars and using a children’s storybook to tell the old, old story.

Writing this service really made me want to write something new for Blue Christmas or the Longest Night or whatever you might call it. I’m not sure what that might look like yet as I find it really hard to fathom the grief that might be felt in congregations right now when I’m not doing all of the funerals and sipping cups of coffee in parlors and hospitals like you are, dear pastor. I do have a resource to offer though that isn't pandemic-focused. It’s several years old now and still the most popular item in my kitchen. Twinkly Lights in Blue Days is currently on sale on Dandelion Marketplace. I’m thrilled to partner with this collaborative of progressive Christian resources.

I had shared awhile ago about my desire to start these small groups as part of my spiritual direction practice. It’s something I’m calling WORSHIP THREADS. I love writing prayers and I work mostly with clergy so it seems like a good fit to combine all of these good things into small groups that focus on worship imagination. For a variety of reasons, these groups didn’t take off but I’d like to try again for Lent with a tiny bit more focus. In the editing and writing I’ve been doing with Seasons of the Spirit, I have come to really love writing stations and so this will be the focus of our planning. It will be a collaboration in creating a sensory experience that makes this resurrection hope something to hold in our hands. Especially after the pandemic where so much of our interaction was on screen, I’m interested in how we take hold of what is real and true together. If you are unfamiliar with stations, I commend the brilliant work of Theresa Cho to you. She is a master and I love what she creates in what seems like weekly worship.

Over on Cooking with Elsa, there’s only one set of stations reflecting on stones and Mark 13. You can find it here. I was astonished to discover that I haven’t cooked up more than one set of stations. This will indeed need to change and this will be one way that might happen.

During the week of January 16, 2023, I invite you to consider becoming part of this small group. It will be limited to only six people. You’ll be invited to bring an object to our 90-minute Zoom session and share why this thing feels, looks, smells or sounds like new life. We’ll share in some sharing and group direction. From that experience, I will write a series of prayers that will be available first to this small group and then to my new newsletter called Prayer Threads. If you are even the tiniest bit interested, please reach out with questions. I would so love to share this with you.

Last year, I wrote a series of mediations that have become this blessing that just released from Vibrant Church Communication. Shadow and Light leads through the season of Advent with scripture, song, prayer and practices to wander through this season looking for light. Jo Nygard Owens, the talented woman behind Vibrant Church Communications, has added a whole lot more than I wrote including resources for children and youth as well as her usual bundle of gorgeous social media images. I commend it to you personally and to use with your churches.

Last but not least, I pray so much blessing upon you. You are doing amazing work and I’m so grateful for you and all that you do for love of this world and its people.