During the Advent season, we are using Pauses for Advent: Words Of Wonder by Trevor Hudson as a guide. 

Each entry in the guide - beginning November 27 - follows the rhythm of Pause-Meditate-Practice. 

On this particular Sunday, we took time to try and catch the rhythm as a congregation.

PAUSE

Mark 1:1-3

MEDITATE

Darren's homily

PRACTICE

• Find a place that is abandoned. Look at it for awhile. Pray.

• Reach out to a person that is in the wilderness. Write a note. Share a coffee. Make a call.

• Sit on some grass. Ask some questions and take some notes. What do I want right now? Why do I want that? Who am I? Who am I not?

• When you are waiting somewhere sometime soon - and you will wait - look around, see people, and pray.

• Listen to Oprah’s Supersoul conversations podcast with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: “My Stroke of Insight”

BENEDICTION

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know. 

Be still.

Be.

TEXT:

Luke 17:5-6 ; 11-19

TAKEAWAYS:

1

Read Psalm 1 in the morning.

Write “meditate day & night” on a 3x5 card.

Stick it in your pocket.

When you take the card out of your pocket, think about that phrase.

2
Ask God and yourself who you need to apologize to. Write that name on a 3x5 card and put it in your pocket.

Apologize.

Shred the card.

3
Write a note on a 3x5 card to someone you haven’t seen for a month.

Put it in an envelope.

Address the envelope.

Mail it.

4

Write “Nicely Done” on a 3x5 card.

Sign your name.

Leave it under a paperclip on a report from a kid, or on a keyboard, or under the plate at a restaurant. Or just look at it before you go to bed.

BENEDICTION

May the Lord bless you and keep you, May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

May the eyes of your heart be open to all the blessings which surround you; may this awareness produce a harvest of generosity in your spirit.

May thankfulness rise up within you, not just during this short season, but day after day, from the early morning watch until you retire for the night.

May your prayers reflect gratitude, while also acknowledging the needs of others whose situations are so drastically different.

May the thoughts of Jesus fill your mind, and thanksgiving be your response.
Amen.

Every year, we take 5 weeks to go through our Coat Of Arms. It's always about identity. This time, we're looking at it through the lens of access.

TEXT:

Matthew 13:10-15

TAKEAWAYS:

• What do you do? [job]
• What do you do when you do what you do? [vocation, inclination]
• Why do you do what you do when you're doing what you do? [motivation] 

BENEDICTION:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Every year, we take 5 weeks to go through our Coat Of Arms. It's always about identity. This time, we're looking at it through the lens of access.

TEXT:

Genesis 11:4

Genesis 28:10-17

John 1:43-51

TAKEAWAYS:

• Where will you be at this time tomorrow?
• What are the gaps that need to be filled?
• What are the spaces you wish you could climb out of?
• If you could put a ladder in those spaces, what do you wish would climb down into them?
• When we are in spaces we wish we could climb out of, pray for the Kingdom to climb down.

BENEDICTION:

I slow myself down for a moment, and try to realise that God is present.

To me. Here and now. He is present in what I do,

in the people that I meet, and the situations I find myself in daily.

How can I make this reality real for myself?

I remind myself that I am in the presence of the Lord.

I will take refuge in His loving heart.

He is my strength in times of weakness.

He is my comforter in times of sorrow.