Advent Hope

This week of advent my theme is "family love and joy". One way I show my love is to maintain a well-ordered and peaceful sanctuary for my family and friends, and a welcome space for nature; also, maintaining my home and my land in good order is the honorable and sustainable thing to do, and is one way that I show reverence for the Earth and for God.

As I've said, my Earth-Quaker way of celebrating is to acknowledge and mark the changes of the season as they progress. The season of advent is when I celebrate the darkness, and the hope of returning light.

Darkness is not all bad; it can be cozy. Darkness leaves space for mystery, reflection, and quiet growth. But the world holds so much chaos, grief, war, famine and hunger; it's important to remember to have hope, and shine the light.

Agenda:

1. Love meditation

2. Read a novena

3. Read "Active Hope"
4. Rosy Future

5. Dawn prayer for Creation

6. Make a gingerbread house

1. Love meditation:

This fall I began a set of practices every month that brings me to love and receptivity. After the full moon, in the quiet-energy yin time of the waning gibbous moon, I practice this Love Meditation for a few days to help me to open a door to bodhichitta - a completely open heart and mind.

1. 1 minute - Relax your body, and focus on the tender emotion of generous love. Allow a smile to settle on your face and in your heart.
2. 1 minute - Visualize love as soft, tingly, warm, pink light, and see it move from your heart to every part of your body so that every cell is glowing and vibrating.
3. 1 minute - Now see the pink light of love radiating to fill the whole room, then the whole city, and the whole planet earth.
4. 1 minute - See that all people, plants, and animals feel warm and happy.
5. 1 minute - Send an extra dose of love light to those people you want to have a better connection to.

On this first day I open to receive blessings, and send a prayer to the universe asking to be showered with love, kindness, health, and happiness.

2. Read a novena:

This is the third day of the Christmas Novena, a Catholic ritual of a prayer recited or sung during the nine days leading up to Christmas Day. I am reading this Creation Novena from the Indian Catholic Matters site:

Day 3: A Prayer for the Plants 

Creator God, we give thanks for every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit. We thank You for all that plants provide and offer us, and for all the ways they connect us with all life on Earth. Thank You for the sustenance—physical, emotional, and spiritual—that we draw from the plants. We give thanks for the grain, fruit, and vegetables we eat, and for the shrubs and flowers that fill our homes and parks. We give thanks for the oxygen they produce and the stability they bring to our world. And we give special thanks for the wheat and grapes that, through the work of human hands, become our offering of bread and wine, which you lovingly return to us as the body and blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

As we see the unimaginably rapid destruction of rainforests, grasslands, and aquatic habitats, we ask that You give us courage to speak for the voiceless and to change our lifestyles. Help us encourage our neighbors and policy-makers to care for Your creation.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

3. Read "Active Hope":

I think this might end up being my book of the year: "Active Hope - How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy", by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone (2012)."Our approach is to see this as the starting point of an amazing journey that strengthens us and deepens our aliveness. The purpose of this journey is to find, offer, and receive the gift of Active Hope."

I'm still reading the introduction, which goes on to describe what Active Hope is: "Active Hope is a practice. ... It is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First we take a clear view of reality; second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we'd like things to move in or the values we'd like to see expressed; and third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction."

We don't need to feel optimistic; even when things seem hopeless, we can set an intention and let it be our guide. Our Active hope is a gift to our world, "our finest response to the multifaceted crisis of sustainability."

4. Write a Rosy Future letter:

Once  every year or so I use my imagination to listen to my Inner Guide; I let myself get carried away into my perfect future, a utopia - where the world is safe, the earth is thriving, and I'm happy and healthy.

In my imagination, I can create a future that is positive and perfect, but I need to suspend my pessimism about the human race. For this exercise, I need to imagine a world where the best of humanity has won out.

Also, I will need to accept that I'm capable of anything I put my mind to. Set aside all limitations and imagine myself accomplishing my biggest dreams.

Today I will take out my journal and pen, put on some imaginary rose-colored glasses, and fast forward my life 10 years in the future:

1. Close your eyes, and relax your body. Bring up an image of an older you, in your best possible life, in your own personal paradise. Picture where you are, what you look like, who you are with, and what you are doing. Most importantly, feel how you are feeling - excited, happy, clear, and satisfied.
2. Open your eyes, and begin to write a letter from your future self, a rosy vision of your future life. Include as many senses as possible (sight, sounds, smells, touch). Write about the dreams and goals you pursued and succeeded at. Make it as positive and perfect as you can manage without feeling cynical. If cynicism arises, take a breath and say, "Anything is possible," then continue. Write about:  the state of the world, your career / retirement, your family and your friends, your activism or service, your home and your hobbies.
3. Take a break for a few minutes. Get a fresh cup of tea or go outside to look at the sky, then come back and read what you wrote. Write a P.S. that includes anything you forgot to mention.

5. Dawn prayer for Creation:

I'm an early riser, and I'm always up before dawn. A couple of years ago I started going outside to greet the morning at dawn, most mornings.

I stand on a patch of earth and do this short visualization:

Feel the earth under my feet, and send my roots downward. Sense the hugeness of this earth, and breath in, drawing power inward.

 

Raise my arms upward and expand towards the sky. Sense the vastness of the cosmos above me, and exhale love outward to the universe.

Lastly, look around me and notice the weather, the birds, the condition of my garden, etc.   

In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Kimmerer often talks about becoming indigenous to a place, but Randy Woodley calls it being married to the land. He says that in order to be married to my land I need to spend time alone with her, risk intimacy, be humble, gentle and tender - like a lover. 

This little ritual helps to ground me, and remind me of my place on the earth. It's really the keystone to my personal sacred practices.

6. Make a gingerbread house:

Gingerbread shaping is a tradition in many parts of the world, but the people of Bergen, Norway, build an entire city of gingerbread houses each year before Christmas!

I used to make gingerbread houses with my art classes, four houses at a time. This year I'm making one house only, with my pre-school grandsons.

Supplies: Parchment paper, large pastry board, rolling pin, card stock for house patterns, pizza cutter, small board for a base, foil, frosting bags, candy, marshmallows, ice cream cones

Ingredients:

• 1/2-c. shortening
• 1/2-c. sugar
• 1/2-c. molasses
• 1/2-tsp. salt
• 1/2-tsp. baking powder
• 1/2-tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2-tsp. ginger
• 2 1/2-c. flour
• 2 Tbsp. water

For royal icing-

• 2 pasteurized egg whites (or 4 tsp. meringue powder + 4 Tbsp. water)
• 1 lb. powdered sugar 

Makes 1 small house- 

1. Cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger. Blend well, then gradually add flour, alternating with water. Refrigerate overnight (or spread the dough out on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes).

2. Make the patterns: You need 3 pieces-  a side (4 x 6-1/2 inches), an end (4 x 4-1/4, with a 1-3/4 inch peak), and a roof (3-1/4 x 3-1/4 inches).

3. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Divide the dough in half for each set of 3 pieces.

4. Set out a sheet of parchment paper on your pastry board and pat the dough, then roll to 1/4” thick. Use a pizza cutter and knife to cut around pattern for 1 side piece, 1 roof, and 1 end piece. Remove excess dough, cut around the parchment and place onto a pan.

You might also want a pattern for the window- not too large, and a door. Cut these out with a knife.

5. Repeat with other 3 pieces.

6. Crush some hard candies such as Jolly Ranchers or butterscotch in a plastic baggie, with a hammer.

7. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove to fill the windows with crushed candies- this melts to create a stained glass effect. Put the pans back in to melt, and cook the houses until crisp, for 3-5 minutes. When baking is finished, spread out and leave to cool.

8. Meanwhile, cover the base board with foil, and make royal icing: Beat together egg whites with powdered sugar. Put some into a pastry bag.

9. Decorate all the walls flat first, by piping on the frosting and adding candies.

10. Spread royal icing onto the foil-covered board. Glue two walls together on the board, and let dry, then add 2 more walls. Let that set for awhile before adding the roof.

11. Extras: Marshmallow snowman, ice cream cone trees, jelly bean stone wall, Stegosaurus and Batmobile.