GOF session from Dec 2017 at Incarnation Parish

1. Generations Of Faith:
Advent & Christmas
December 2017

2. Opening Prayer: Our Father
This session on Christmas will:
1. Separate symbol and fact about Christmas.
2. Deepen our understanding of what it means to be a
member of our faith community at this time of the year.
3. Help prepare you for where you want to go on your spiritual
journey during the Christmas season. 2

3. Our Journey Together
• We are each on a journey from this world to the next.
• We each proceed at our own pace determined by:
– Our past learnings from experience,
– Our openness to current learnings, and
– Our current situation – what is currently occurring in our life.
• The Church assists us on this journey through its liturgical
calendar and set readings.
– The first reading (usually from the O.T.) follow the same theme as
the Gospel reading.
– Gospels follow a 3 year cycle: Year A Matthew; Year B Mark; and
Year C Luke.
– The second reading usually introduces a second theme.
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4. The Liturgical Calendar
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5. Our Liturgical Journey
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Liturgical
Calendar

6. Christmas: Secular Style

7. Which Can Leave After-Effects

8. So What Are Good Catholics Supposed
to Do?

9. So What Are Good Catholics Supposed
to Do?
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When you think of it, we are called to be Contrarians:
• As the secular world tells us to speed up and be reactive
to get things done …
• Advent asks us to slow down and be reflective …
What am I doing well in loving God and everyone else
and therefore should continue to do?
What can I do even better in loving God and everyone
else?
• Instead of denying ourselves, ask what we can “take on”
to be even better!

10. Let’s Start From the Beginning:
Mary
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• How Many Times Was Mary Visited by an Angel of God
in her lifetime?
• What did the Angel Gabriel ask of her (Luke 1: 26-38)?
• “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you
shall name him Jesus”.
• What did she ask?
• “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
• After she is told “the Holy Spirit will come upon you” what
was her reply?
• “May it be done unto me according to your word.”
• “Then the angel departed from her.”

11. This Lead Mary to …
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• Uncomplainingly trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem on the
back of a donkey while in her 9th month of pregnancy.
• Distance is 98 miles … had Joseph drove today in light
traffic it would have taken 1 hour and 53 minutes.
• Since they walked … probably it took a week’s travel over
rough terrain.

12. Let’s Start From the Beginning:
Joseph
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What do we know about Joseph the Carpenter’s interactions
with angels?
• He is told in a dream by an angel “… do not be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because what she has
conceived is in her by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1: 20-21).
• After the Magi had left, an angel appears to Joseph again
in a dream “Get up, take the child and his mother and
you, and escape into Egypt and stay there until I tell you”
(Matthew 2: 13-14).
• After Herod’s death the angel appears for the final time in
Joseph’s dream “… go back to the land of Israel”
(Matthew 2: 20-21).

13. Mary & Joseph as Examples
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As we are embarked on our liturgical journey through
Advent, we have these two very personable examples.
Together they:
• Exhibit tremendous trust in God and His plan.
• They are each given major tasks to accomplish and their
collective response is “Yes”.
• They know their place in the grand design and without
much fanfare carry out their responsibilities.

14. We Enter the Christmas Season
with Certain Images
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• Silent Night
• The First Noel
• Joy to the World
• Oh Come All Ye Faithful

15. The Reality Was Quite Different
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Challenges the Holy Family Faced:
• Woman suspected of adultery,
• Man nervously planning a divorce,
• Family forced to emigrate to a foreign land, and
• Innocent children murdered

16. From Reality to Aspirations
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• Silent Night
• The First Noel
• Joy to the World
• Oh Come All Ye Faithful
These images of “peace and joy” for the world are aspirational.
We can unpack the Nativity narrative to gain insights into how
we should live in order to attain this “Peace and Joy” of the
Christ.

17. Unpacking the Narrative:
When Was Jesus Born?
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• The bible only gives one historical marker … the census of
Caesar Augustus … so why December 25th?
• Our pre-history ancestors were frightened by things they
could not understand e.g., the seasons of the year and the
apparent disappearance of the sun.
• Pagan festival occurred around the winter equinox (when
days begin to get longer) telling folks to wait for the “new
life to come” in the spring. All will be well.
• Symbol of continuing life was the evergreen – the
Christmas tree.
• The ancient Christian Church adopted the symbolic date of
new life replacing the pagan festival with the birth of Jesus.

18. Unpacking the Narrative:
Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel
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Emanuel means “God with us”.
• Instead of the Greek, Roman, and early Hebrew notion of
God living away from us on a mountain …
• God is present with us each day.
• We have a personal relationship with the Divine.

19. Unpacking the Narrative:
Shepherds Summoned First
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Why shepherds first … what significance do they have?
• Messiah is first promised to Israel.
• While God comes for all, He starts with the marginalized,
those living on the social fringes … the shepherds.
• This God is for everyone and everyone has standing in
his eyes.

20. Unpacking the Narrative:
Magi Next
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Why Magi … what significance do they have?
• Probably did not arrive right away … Herod kills all the
children in the surrounding area who are 2 years old and
younger.
• The Magi are “gentiles” and probably give entry to us as
we are fellow seekers of the truth.
• Again, this God is for everyone and everyone has
standing in his eyes from the lowest to the highest.

21. The Nativity Narrative:
Its Meaning for Us
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As we celebrate the liturgical year, December 25th marks an
opportunity for new life … a time when:
• We deepen our relationship with an ever-present God.
• Our love for God and for everyone else replaces the
world’s anger/hate/short-sightedness.
• We come together as a faith community to continue our
journey of deepening our faith throughout the year.

22. What About the Gifts?
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23. What About the Gifts and the
Fun They Bring?
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24. The Gifts
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We express our love for God and for everyone else by the
gifts we share with our:
• Family
• Faith Community
• Others
• Ourselves
Whether those gifts are tangible things or actions we take!

25. The Gift of Giving
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I can still recall asking why my grandparents are not
opening presents.
• They said because they enjoy watching us open our
presents.
• And I remember thinking that is the craziest thing I ever
heard!

26. The Gift of Giving Hope
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As a first time therapist I leaned through my clients’
experiences that Christmas time is not automatically a fun
time for everyone:
• Folks can be vulnerable to issues that get stirred up by
this the second seasonal visit to their family of origin’s
home.
• Sadness and despair can deepen especially if they are
surrounded by people who seem to be happy.
• We can be a support to our saddened brothers and
sisters by merely being physically present to them.

27. The Gift of Giving Hope
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Christmas time is also …
• A time when people who do not have loved ones can feel
their loneliness intensely.
• Once again, we can be a support to those who are lonely
by merely being physically present to them.

28. The Gift to Self:
The Precious Present
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In 1981 Spencer Johnson, M.D., published a book entitled
“The Precious Present”.
A boy listens to a wise old man who says there is such a
thing as a “precious present” by saying:
• “It is a present because it is a gift”, the contented man
explained.
• “And it is precious because anyone who receives such a
present is happy forever”.
The boy sets off on a journey to find this “precious present”.

29. The Gift to Self:
The Precious Present
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The boy learns:
• “My past was the present.”
• “And my future will be the present.”
• “The present moment is all I really have.”
• “As long as I continue to stay in the present , I am happy
forever.”
• “Because forever is always the present.”
• “The present is simply who I am, just the way I am …
right now … and it is precious.”
• “I am precious.”
• “I am the precious present.”

30. The Gift to Self:
The Precious Present
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The boy’s learning can be expressed in two different
sentiments:
1. Stay in the present moment, and
2. Accept yourself for who you are.

31. The Precious Present: Staying
in the Present Moment
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So how do I stay centered in the present when all about me
is a swirl of seasonal activity!
• Take time out for your self … e.g., 5 minute breathing
exercise:
Sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed.
Silently count to yourself 1-10.
When you reach 10, begin again at 1.
If you lose count be gentle on your self and simply
restart at 1.

32. The Precious Present:
Accept Yourself
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Since God loves you for who you are right now!
Recharge your spiritual
batteries each week!

33. What We Attempted To Do
This session on Christmas attempted to:
1. Separate symbol and fact about Christmas.
2. Deepen our understanding of what it means to be a
member of our faith community at this time of the year.
3. Help prepare you for where you want to go on your spiritual
journey during the Christmas season.
You can decide how well we accomplished this by what you do
from here!
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34. Final Prayer
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Prayer is from Hillary Clinton’s Methodist Minister, Rev. Bill
Shillady, who celebrated the funeral rites for Hillary’s mother
and the marriage ceremony for Chelsea and her husband.
“We pray that we may:
• Do all the good we can,
• By all the means we can,
• In all the ways we can and all the places we can,
• To all the people we can,
• For as long as we ever can.
• Amen”

35. December 2017
Thank you for being with us today!
Generations Of Faith:
Advent & Christmas