Advent at Kearney First UMC

I always find Advent to be a strange-feeling season, at least if I’m trying to be liturgically accurate. It’s the beginning of the Christian year, but it first focuses on the ends of things. It looks forward to our Christian hope of Jesus making all things new, while almost simultaneously looking backward to prophetic utterances about a messiah, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. If all that weren’t strange enough, it’s also a season in which we simultaneously want to slow down and take it all in (to remember the “reason for the season,” so to speak), and a season filled with the rush and bustle of holiday activities, gatherings, concerts, and programs.  

 

This year, we’re acknowledging these tensions and seeking to offer some reminders of the hope, comfort, peace, love, and joy we know is at the root of both Advent and Christmas with the worship series “Words for the Beginning” (created by www.sanctifiedart.org).

  

Here’s what Pastor Jo Ellen had to say about this series in our Advent/Christmas mailing.   

The creative and inspired team at Sanctified Art have chosen the texts and themes, and they’ve created beautiful imagery to correspond to these series. During worship, we’ll help mark the glowing light of God’s presence by lighting the Advent Candles and sharing in a special liturgy for each Lord’s Day. 

 

Please note that on December 29, the First Sunday of Christmas, we will have TWO worship services at 9:00am and 11:00 These services, each identical, will be especially unique ways to celebrate the meaning of Christmas, the gift of God’s presence in Jesus, and the ways in which God’s grace is present in endings and beginnings. 

Sanctified Art has created a devotional for the season that corresponds to the preaching series, which is available from the church office or in the Narthex. This devotional can be used alone or in a group.  

Director of Multimedia Anne Reinhiller has created a quilted image that people of the congregation, children and adults, have begun painting.

 

The sermons will be as follows for the Sundays of Advent and Christmas (with a more detailed schedule below this post):

• December 1 - You Are a Blessing

• December 8 - We Can't Go Alone

• December 15 - Do the Good That is Yours to Do

• December 22 - Hope is Worth the Risk

• December 24 - Christmas Eve - Love Knows Your Name

• December 29 - Don't Forget to Laugh

 

Finally, here is what Sanctified Art says about this series (Kayla Craig, guest writer, and the Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity, founder and creative director):  

“Advent is a season of endings and beginnings. As the calendar year comes to a close, a new church year begins. Christ’s birth ushers us into new ways of living and loving; and yet, the world as we know it spins madly on. In many ways, pregnant Mary was surrounded by endings—large and small, personal and political. But Mary proclaimed hope in a God who was and is making all things new. Christ’s birth offered a beautiful new beginning for shepherds [us all]. […] When we ourselves navigate seasons filled with endings and beginnings, we need reminders. We need words that can feel like steady ground, like a path for our feet to find as we step forward into the unknown. 

 

We have crafted an Advent series filled with blessings, with the words we need to hear again and again as we begin a new season. We imagined the words Mary would speak to her newborn son. What scriptures and stories would she impart to him? What lessons would she teach him as he grew? And so, our weekly themes may feel like the lessons we teach to children, but in reality, these are lessons we continue to learn and relearn as adults. They may sound like the messages we impart to loved ones during special ceremonies or sacred rituals. We intentionally selected scriptures that may be frequently used in weddings, ordination services, or baptisms. And so, we invite you to enter this Advent season as if you are entering a sacred new chapter, holding fast to the reminders that will bolster you for the journey ahead. 

 

As you journey through this season, may you find words for belovedness and hope. May you find words for beginning again. For no matter what you are facing, no matter what this new day brings, love is your beginning.” 

 

*Logo Imagery is by www.SanctifiedArt.org who write this about the imagery: “For the theme branding, we were inspired by the visual concept of quilting because this series feels like a blanket wrapped around you, providing warmth and comfort as you begin again. Like a quilt formed by scraps of old fabrics and meaningful family items, this worship series stitches together the ancient scriptures and reminders we need to hear again and again. The medium of quilting is an ancient craft (dated as far back as 3400 BCE), but it is seeing a modern day resurgence. Quilts have been used for physical protection, comfort, ceremonies, abolition, family heirlooms, advocacy, and more. Quilting is a medium that transcends countless cultures, regions, and time periods, but is a craft rooted in community and storytelling. 

 

In the logo, the main icon is inspired by a design called a “kaleidoscope” quilt. It is formed by basic shapes: triangles, squares, and circles. The simple shapes are similar to the weekly reminders in this series—they are basic lessons we teach to children but they remain essential building blocks of our lives as adults. Kaleidoscope quilts are formed by symmetrical designs that often create star patterns. The five stars at the center of the quilt become like an Advent wreath encircling a central candle. In the design, circles are emphasized, as the Advent season will be filled with endings and beginnings, which roots us in the cycles of time. 

 

In the typography, “Words” is stitched together as if part of the quilt. We wanted to emphasize that the words and reminders in this series are what we want to hold close. Like a quilt, the words provide protection and warmth. They stitch us to the history of generations. They tell our stories.