Ready! Pregnant Preparation circa 1992.

The thought behind the photo:
The idea of being ready or making ready led to the idea of preparation which led to the quote below about active waiting. As a mother of two, it’s easier for me to connect to images of active waiting, pregnancy, and midwives than some of the other Advent images. (i.e. preparing a road in the wilderness, making ready for battle, apocalypse) I’m especially drawn to the idea of breathing with someone as they labor in birthing new life. Lamaze class and two unmedicated births will drive that home.

This season and every season, we have the privilege of joining Christ in intimate, creative, labor. Incarnational, Compassionate, Companioning.
How else would you describe it? – Lisa <><

Advent, meaning “the coming,” is a time when we wait expectantly. Christians began to celebrate it as a season during the fourth and fifth centuries. Like Mary, we celebrate the coming of the Christ child, what God has already done. And we wait in expectation of the full coming of God’s reign on earth and for the return of Christ, what God will yet do. But this waiting is not a passive waiting. It is an active waiting. As any expectant mother knows, this waiting also involves preparation, exercise, nutrition, care, prayer, work; and birth involves pain, blood, tears, joy, release, community. It is called labor for a reason. Likewise, we are in a world pregnant with hope, and we live in the expectation of the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. As we wait, we also work, cry, pray, ache; we are the midwives of another world. – Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Enuma Okoro, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

SCRIPTURE: James 1:16-22 NRSV
Do not be deceived, my beloved. Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 1:8-9, 13-16 NRSV
Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls….Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

The December 7, 2013 devotion from http://umrethinkchurch.tumblr.com 
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 24:43-44 NRSV
Advent is a time when we watch, wait and prepare. In the coming days, the photo-a-day words will help us prepare our hearts, our minds, our lives for Immanuel; God with us. Have you imagined what may have been going through Mary’s or Joseph’s head during this time? What would people say? How would this all play out? What responsibilities would change their lives forever?

It’s not like they had been through this before. What expectations did they have to let go of to allow God to lead?

What expectations do we need to let go of this Advent so that we are ready to receive what this season brings? What are we doing to ready ourselves? How will we receive the living Christ in our midst?

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Thank you Rethink Church for a great way to make preparing for Christmas more meaningful. Join me and thousands more in setting aside time to reflect, focus, and literally picture the deep themes of Jesus’ birth.

Click here for more information on Advent Photo-A-Day from Rethink Church.

Click here for a master list of links to my submissions. Lisa <><