Sam and I went looking for an Advent wreath. We looked all over and couldn’t find anything Advent anywhere. We finally ended up at Hobby Lobby, where I put together a candle wreath, candles and holders. It was kind of ugly, but it worked.

Then we came home and realized we needed to go to Wal-mart. We checked out the candle section and found these. I like this much better. It’s sitting on our kitchen table and next to it is another candle holder that was my mom’s and the Bread of Life readings, also my mom’s. Each card has a verse on one side and a kind of poem thing on the other in KJV, very Baptist all over, not just the KJV. I thought I’d spread a little spirit of Christmas love and togetherness by including the Catholic Advent “wreath” next to the Baptist Bread of Life, though, of course.

We didn’t get our Christmas decorations up yet, but we hung our wreath on the door! We actually just bought this one from Hobby Lobby today, but it’s pretty much an exact replica of the one I already had, except the one I already have is a bit thicker and nicer. I was kind of afraid it’d get stolen though and it’s from my mom’s funeral (it was covered in beautiful purple flowers for the funeral), so we bought a cheapy one for outside. We’ll hang the nice one in our bedroom probably.

We set up the Advent candles and Sam read a prayer for the day before Advent that was found at: http://www.fisheaters.com/customsadvent2.html .

The Day Before Advent
Blessing of the Wreath

O God, by whose word all things are sanctified, pour forth Thy blessing upon this wreath, and grant that we who use it may prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ and may receive from Thee abundant graces. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We have an actual book of readings for every day, so we’ll be using that for the rest of Advent.

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In looking for new blogs to read, I happened to come across this site. I haven’t had much of a chance to explore it, yet, but I think it’s an interesting idea.

The idea is to make an “active, visual, meditative” way to pray, by drawing a person or group of people’s names, and then what you want to pray about around them. The website better explains it and gives visuals, but the idea behind it is as you are expressing yourself creatively, you are both taking the time out focused on these prayers, and naturally meditating, by default of what you are doing.

I do not often see prayer and worship in the arts, and though this is a small fraction of it, it’s freeing to see the way others pray to our Father.

In my own personal experience, as someone who has been raised in the church, it is easy to get caught up in common language– Christianese– and really quickly make your prayers meaningless. Trying to remove this habit is very difficult; it is often hard to find the words to say to God, even though He is our Creator. The Bible tells us ways to pray, and we could pray as Jesus did– Our Father, who art in Heaven– and we could recite historical church prayers, or talk to God throughout the day. These are all things I’ve done and are meaningful and intimate, as God has already outlined our prayer for us, but the idea of involving a passion in this way, well, I believe could be soul changing.

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