The one when the angel visits

by Karen Krueger

“Let the Advent season pass through you instead of pass by you,” said the pastor last Sunday.

Family-friendly actions accompany Bible verses in an Advent observance idea from the Northeastern Iowa Synod.

There are lots of ways to invite IN the season of preparation – besides cookie baking, shopping and taking pen to greeting card in the now cramp-producing practice of cursive. The Episcopal Diocese of Washington compiled a great list of Advent calendars and devotions at www.edow.org/article/preparing-for-advent-2014/. Many have a twist: like Instagram photos, audio offerings and Pinterest craft ideas.

On the synod’s Twitter feed (@dcsynodelca), we’re recycling and slightly retooling something from the Northeastern Iowa Synod. A brief Bible verse and family-friendly action idea offer a daily prompt to mark the coming of Christmas. When our ELCA neighbors introduced this Advent resource (download available from www.neiasynod.org/youth-ministry/ideas-resources/liturgical-seasons/), they arranged them as paper ornaments that could be decorated and hung in the home, like on a refrigerator or stairwell.

Since I’m not a new Christian, the Gospel verses remind me of my cable company advertising a Seinfeld episode: “The one with the puffy shirt.” “The one when the angel visits.” That points to the risk of a shallow, fleeting Advent. So I read the verses again, and contemplate the gradual unfolding of grand news.

How do you let Advent pass through you?