1st Sunday of Advent and Looking Forward to the 2nd Sunday in Advent

 

As promised, on this first Sunday of Advent I will recap this 1st Sunday and look forward towards the 2nd Sunday of Advent.

I hope that you have taken the past couple of days to prepare for your Advent activities -- chosen a devotional to follow and prayed about what God is calling you to focus on during this season of Advent.  On my Facebook page for this blog, I shared a template for you to use to either write or draw a word or icon for each day of Advent. Here's a jpg of the template that you can use for December 1st through 23rd:

And here's a jpg for the template you can use for December 24th through Epiphany:

Once you've downloaded the template and printed the cards on cardstock, your completed cards for each day can be bound together using a binder ring or you can create a garland and either thread the cards on the garland or attach them to the garland and hang it somewhere in your house where you will see it every day -- perhaps in your office where you do your daily devotionals.

Now let's look at this first Sunday in Advent.  Tonight I lit the candle of Hope on my Advent Candle Wreath.

Tonight I read the devotional from my church's Advent booklet.  The key verse was Isaiah 9:2.  Below is what I sketchnoted as I read the devotional. 

Isaiah 9 was also the key scripture for today's sermon.  Below is my sketchnote of today's sermon.

 

Looking forward to the 2nd Sunday in Advent, here's what I'll be focusing on this week:

On Monday & Tuesday, I will be focusing on establishing my daily Advent devotional plan which will include reading the daily Advent devotional furnished by my church and drawing my daily icon (remember that I'm finishing up November's thanksgiving icons).

On Wednesday, along with my daily Advent devotional plans, I will be adding "When God Calls the Heart at Christmas."  The first devotional in the book includes a recipe for "Marnie's Christmas Brownies."  I'll be baking these brownies and blogging about it on my Baking Blog.  My RAK (random act of kindness) will be texting a friend and letting them know that I'm thinking of them.

On Thursday, I will continue my daily devotionals.

On Friday, My RAK will be delivering a cookie message to someone.  I'll bake sugar cookies & write a message on the cookie to someone special.

On Saturday, I will be making "Deb's Scones" from "When God Calls the Heart at Christmas" and blogging about it on my Baking Blog.  

On Sunday, I will Sketchnote the sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Advent.  I will bake "Granny Cole's 4-Flavor Half Pound Cake" from "When God Calls the Heart at Christmas" and blog about it on my Baking Blog. In the evening, I'll light the 1st and 2nd Advent Candles on my candle wreath and read the Advent devotional for the 2nd Sunday.  I look forward to recapping the week for and with you and looking forward to the 3rd Sunday in Advent.

**Baking Blog:  Please view my Baking Blog for the recipes, if you wish to bake along with me.

As you join me on this journey, my prayer is that you will establish your own plan for your Advent devotionals.  Write it down and make it a priority each and every day to savor it, reflect upon it, and use it as your own personal time of worship each day.

Have a blessed first week of this Advent season.  May your week be filled with the light of hope, Jesus Christ, that fills our hearts.

 

 

 

Advent 2021: Prepare the Way of the Lord

 

 

 

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him. 

 Every valley shall be filled in,
    every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
    the rough ways smooth. 

 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

Luke 3:4-6

This year has been a season of change for me.  I'm now a retired church music director.  But that doesn't mean that my passion for worship planning has gone away.  And so with this blog, I'm starting a new emphasis on inspiring authentic worship for everyone.  We can all agree that worship has changed during this past year as we dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic.  Many of us chose to not worship in person for a better part of a year.  And some of us are still choosing to stay home and worship virtually.  We're seeing our churches making changes in their worship format and the ways that they reach out and connect with their members.  But our message is still the same -- bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to all.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Advent.  It is important, perhaps now more than ever, to establish, if you haven't already, a daily devotional time.  Our lives are busy, but we need to take time each day to continue our attitude of gratitude that we just emphasized during the month of November, leading up to our celebration of Thanksgiving.  So right now, pick a time a day that you are going to carve out to "prepare the way of the Lord."

Here's what I am planning on using for my daily devotional time during Advent: 

1.    I will be using the Advent devotional published by my church.  You can use your own church's devotional or one of your own choosing.  I will also be setting up my own Advent Candle Wreath in my office area.  Every Sunday evening during Advent, I will light my Advent Candle Wreath and use my church's Advent devotional book for my devotional to end the day & prepare for the coming week.

2.    Starting December 1st, I will be using "When God Calls the Heart at Christmas" by Brian Bird & Michelle Cox, based on the Janette Oke book series, "When Calls the Heart," and the inspiration for the Hallmark series of the same name.  Besides the daily devotionals, this book also includes recipes throughout the book.  How wonderful!  Because this incorporates one of my other loves -- baking.  In fact, I have a Baking Blog -- Joan Loves to Bake -- and I'd love for you to follow it and my Facebook page.  I'll be cross referencing the Christmas recipes from the devotional on my Baking Blog.

3.  Random Acts of Kindness:  Every year, "Woman's World" magazine publishes an Advent Random Act of Kindness calendar.  I may not do every one of them, but through the month of December I will be sharing which ones I've done.

4.  December Doodle Icons:  I love to Doodle and one of the Facebook pages I follow has a year-long "iconology" challenge.  Each day we doodle a different icon & share it.  So I'll be sharing those icons with you.

5.  And finally, I have an Etsy store that incorporates my love of doodling and my desire to share my faith.  I also have a Facebook page for my Etsy Store and I will also be cross referencing this blog and my baking blog on it.  Included in my store are my Advent Candle Wreath and Christmas Cards to purchase.

I will update this blog once a week on Sunday with a recap of the previous week (ie: my activities & thoughts from the week) and a guide for the following week (for Monday through Sunday).  Your assignment for tomorrow is to prepare yourself for Advent:  set up your Advent Candle Wreath and choose a daily Advent devotional. 

I hope you will join me during this season of Advent as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.