Nature’s BountyĪnother beautiful ritual to share with family on Christmas Eve is to scatter seeds and crumbs outside. This is also a great opportunity to perk up your ears and listen for any local owls. Only a few days after a new moon, there should be very little light from the moon to block your view of the stars. What other ways can you and your families respond to each week’s theme?Ĭonsider a candle and lantern-lit Solstice Walk on Thursday, December 21. A family might then look for ways to help a local refugee family displaced by violence. For instance, lighting the peace candle could lead to talking about war and its impact on people’s lives. The ritual of lighting a new candle each week in Advent gives families an opportunity to reflect and respond together. The four colored candles around the wreath symbolize hope, peace, joy and love. Then an oak twig is burned to symbolize the hope one has for the future. In one Celtic solstice ritual, a holly twig is burned to symbolize the habits and sorrows one is ready to let go of. Candles are also important symbolic accessories to our Christian rituals. Lighting the DarknessĮveryone – especially kids – love candles this time of year. Others give us space for much needed quiet and time for reverence. Some of the rituals are fun and create joy and connection with our families and friends. We contemplated the lives we live now and explored what traditions and rituals we wanted to include in our celebration of Christmas even as we diminish the ritual of buying lots of presents Almost all were activities and fun shared with family and neighbors: caroling, the maybe rare experience of a parent’s undivided attention, multiple generations baking and cooking together or telling stories or sharing the beauty of nature and the magic of church on Christmas Eve. In our workshop we shared some of our favorite childhood Christmas memories. But McKibben points out that we live now in very different times and lots of gift buying no longer meets our deepest needs and longings. Through the mid century, people who’d had nothing in the depression or barely survived the war were thrilled to be able to give their children what they’d never had and to give themselves what they’d never thought possible. In a country where many people were just starting to hope for a more comfortable and affluent way of life, the acquisition of things and the gift giving at Christmas could create a childlike happiness. In his book Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas renowned environmental advocate, Bill McKibben says that Christmas was always celebrated in a way that met the needs of people in the time they found themselves. The rise of department stores and advertising, the proliferation of catalogues and the availability of so many new manufactured goods in the early twentieth century ushered in a brand new era of consumerism in America. But the Christmas of abundant gifts, decorated trees, and Santa Claus which most Americans associate with the holiday wasn’t part of our collective culture until right after the Civil War. Since the Middle Ages, celebrations of Christmas outside the church have always had an element of abandon and “blowout”. We’re also aware that the stuff we buy will probably soon be forgotten and eventually make its way to our overflowing landfills. Many feel anxiety and even dread as we contemplate shopping (and inevitably overspending) as we try to find gifts and things to make our loved ones happy. We recognize that most of us have enough ‘stuff’- probably too much stuff – in a world where so many don’t have enough. We’re ready to declutter our homes and our lives. So many of us are ready to simplify the way we celebrate Christmas with our families and friends. She led the Decluttering Christmas event on Saturday, November 11, 2017. Martin-in-the-Fields’ Climate Action Team. Yes, we know it’s July 25! We’re choosing to publish this today - “Christmas in July” at many Christian summer camps- as a way of connecting other Christians with this wonderful piece well in advance of Advent 2018, giving everyone time to plan!Īuthor Kathryn Lewis is a member of the Church of St.
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