Behind the scenes peak into creating the Advent devotional and other materials for this coming season.
Advent is a season of waiting and hoping…. this year, I’ve had an extended advent. I began working on the devotional and liturgies last spring… a little before Lent. It hasn’t been constant but more like little bursts of advent throughout the year. In the last few weeks, deadlines have been hit, I’ve gathered all I needed from the other writers, and the website is live for pre-ordering the devotional, Dear Pastor: Advent Letters.
The devotional is a play on “Dear Abby” letters. In the letters addressed to “Dear Pastor” are questions about the advent and Christmas season that are a mix of practical and spiritual. The questions are seeking advice and finding Christ’s wisdom and compassion in the answers written by twenty-one pastors who donated their writing and a piece of their hearts. Many of them have contributed other work to the Outlook in the past and a few are new voices for the Outlook. I loved reading and editing these thoughtful responses. Now they are in the hands of a copy editor for a final polish. After that, they will go to a designer for formatting and art work. They will be ready for download on November 6th. The devotions are a set price, $35.00.
The Presbyterian Outlook’s Advent liturgies, worship services, and congregational materials from this year and previous years are available for free. There are suggested donations for each piece and I hope that you will be generous as these donations fund future projects.
One of the joys in this project was recruiting friends!
The Rev. Dr. Laura Strauss wrote Comfort, Comfort, An Advent Candle Liturgy. Laura writes beautiful liturgies and devotions. I’ve experienced her writing through the pilgrimage experiences she creates for clergy and lay leaders that include curated study material and her devotional writing. Her advent candle liturgy will be perfect for your congregation.
The Rev. Dr. Charissa How wrote Waiting Together for the Dawn: A Blue Christmas Liturgy. Charissa has worked in and with agencies that serve people who experience the holidays through grief and pain. I’ve seen her hold space for all varieties of community and congregation in pastoral ministry with creative and meaningful holiday services. The Blue Christmas liturgy includes an interactive prayer including a tactile reminder of God’s steadfast presence.
In creating the list of questions for the devotional, I called, emailed, and sent several messages to group texts to get ideas and feedback from my clergy friends. It was really special to share stories and experiences together, some of which made it onto the pages of the devotionals and others will never leave the sanctuary of the group chat. Writing the devotional, pageant, liturgies, and congregational resources had me walking in memory lane and finding myself on holy ground.
A simple Christmas pageant – this came directly from my memories of Christmas pageants with my seminary field placement church. I share practical advice, a funny story, and an outline for the simplest and best Christmas pageant I can recall.
Hanging of the Greens – is an amalgamation of different churches I’ve attended and/or served each with a different way of preparing the sanctuary for advent. I remember a couple of places do one big decorating event. One with Christmas music, hot chocolate, and lots of fun. Another with a more serious liturgy and choreographed placement of advent decor. The church I served as an associate pastor had most of the advent decorations put in place by the congregation at one event and then each week the church custodial staff would add more lights on the trees, bows on the wreaths, and more poinsettias so it seemed like each week of advent built towards Christmas. Then on Christmas eve they placed tall candles stands on each pew that lit the ceiling when the lights went out for silent night. It was magical and sacred. My hope is that this congregational resource can enhance your church’s practice.
Star Words for Epiphany – I’ve never done a service like this but they are gaining popularity and I thought I would get in on the fun. This resource includes stars that you can print and distribute as well as a prayer that uses those star words after everyone has received their star. Hearing or noticing our star word throughout the year can be a guiding light as we seek connection with the divine.
Poinsettia Christmas gift card – it never fails that when I’ve delivered poinsettias to shut-ins (or everyone during the pandemic) I would arrive when someone had a doctors appointment or made a quick trip to the store. In those instances, I like to leave a little note so they know the church sent them the poinsettia, prayers, and love.
Advent was a lot different for the Outlook this year. In a typical year, Teri McDowell Ott, The Outlook’s editor/publisher, will write the devotion material for the season. This year, they decided to pull on a contracted project manager (me) to curate the devotional and allow Teri some time to work on other projects. One of those projects was to update her past advent materials so they can be sold in any year. Advent can be as short as 22 days and as long as 28 days, so materials were updated making devotions the same length also changing calendar dates to days 1-28.
And you know I can’t help but draw some parallels between a 28 day advent season being the same length as the average menstrual cycle…. waiting… hoping… new life… renewal… etc. The process of creating a devotional with multiple contributors, editors, and designers was like the formation of the uterine lining, there was a build up and a release; creating and letting go. Like counting days and noticing changes in my cycle, I would write, edit, and release the work to the next editor. And like my body, things didn’t always go like clockwork and sometimes there was an oops… panic, reworking, waiting, writing, finalizing, waiting again.
This season with the Outlook (Starting with the GA project – Advent) has allowed me to try on being a project manager and editor. I’ve adore the Outlook staff, each of them is professional, kind, and creative. I’m learning new things, making mistakes, and frankly “not being good” at something has been good for me. It’s given me something to strive towards. And its taught me to be kind to myself when I drop the ball.
I’m learning again (and again) that my job is not my identity, I can be who God has called me to be in a variety of settings, and most importantly anything and everything can change but God’s steadfast love which sustains me.
Period Pastor Pad 