Make the Season Kind

CBC is embracing a heartwarming campaign to spread the Christmas spirit. Their public service announcements feature a series of recognizable public figures sharing the message of “make the season kind.” To augment this message each celebrity stands holding a cardboard box filled to the brim with groceries. These PSAs encourage us all to make the season kind, highlighting the importance of giving.

Reflecting on these powerful messages, I found myself pondering a “what if.” What if people calculated the amount they spend on Christmas shopping and redirected a portion of it to their local food bank? Historically, tithing has meant contributing a tenth of one's income to a faith community. What if we considered applying this same practice to food security by calculating 10% of our Christmas spending and donating to a food bank. In light of your calculated amount, making a donation, in whole or in part, would be a meaningful, modern twist or addition to a long-standing practice.

I donated 10% of the amount I calculated that I spent on gifts this holiday season to my local food bank. I offer a friendly challenge to those of you who are fortunate enough to enjoy food security -  make your own donation.

Let us make this season one of giving in a way that truly nourishes our communities. ‘Tis the Season. 💗

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: JESHOOTS.COM @jeshoots/ Unsplash

Rebuilding the World

The Danish construction toy company, Lego, promotes the “Rebuild the world” campaign to create a better, kinder, more fun place. Current times are often best described as unsettled, uncertain and often unkind. Now is the time to respond to the clarion call for people of goodwill to help fashion a better, kinder and a more fun place, in which to live. How might we envision this place in which all would be welcomed and safe? As you imagine this better world, focus on what you see around you. Next, consider what needs to change to take this fancied place to a wholesome world that all can experience as reality.

In my Advent reflections, I recognize that the role I can play to make a difference is in my everyday interactions, small acts of kindness, and the manner in which I use my words and actions to build trust and understanding. I can listen more carefully, speak with empathy, and take steps to ensure that others feel heard. I can advocate for fairness and justice, using my voice to support those who need it. Most importantly, I can create and nurture spaces where others feel safe to express themselves without fear of judgment.

As we move through Advent and into the new year, I commit to engaging in actions — big and small — that help to build this better world. It’s in every moment that we choose to act with courage and kindness, and every time we look beyond ourselves to see the needs of others.

As Thomas Douglas, a Canadian politician, who championed universal health care against all odds urged fellow Canadians, "Courage, my friends, ‘tis not too late to build a better world." Let us take his confidence to heart, and through our words and actions, add one more Lego block in the creation of safer, kinder towns and cities.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: Xavi Cabrera @xavi_cabrera/ Unsplash

Spreading Goodwill - Giving Tuesday

True giving from the heart is an expression of love.

~ Cara Stein

Spreading Goodwill

Each year, businesses capitalize on the media frenzy surrounding Black Friday and Cyber Monday, hoping to lure in early Christmas shoppers. These high points of consumerism, however, are the opposite of what Giving Tuesday represents. Giving Tuesday, held on the first Tuesday after American Thanksgiving, is an international day of giving that kicks off the Christmas and holiday season. It has grown in popularity and received positive reception, with large corporations like Google and Microsoft acting as supporters and promoters.

On Giving Tuesday, individuals are invited to respond to the calls for support from a wide spectrum of charitable organizations, contributing funds that enable these groups to continue providing vital, supportive services.

This December 3rd, consider yourself invited to participate in the spirit of the season by contributing to one of our local charities, thereby gifting neighbors and spreading goodwill in our community.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: Unsplash/Lina Trochez @lmtrochezz

Poking Holes in the Darkness

It is common in Advent to encounter the juxtaposition of the themes of light and darkness. In fact, they are found in the familiar, beautiful words of the prophet Isaiah alluding to the coming of the Savior.

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
They lived in a land of shadows,
but now light is shining on them.. (Isaiah 9:2)

A friend of mine shared a childhood experience of the novelist, Robert Lewis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island. The gist of the story was that on one occasion the delicate, young Robert was discovered by his nurse sitting with his nose pressed up against the glass of his bedroom window. He was thoroughly captivated by the scene of a lamplighter busily lighting the streetlamps below. The nurse, worried about her fragile charge, beckoned him away from the frosty windowpane into the warmth of his bedroom. Her charge, the young Robert, resisted her bidding, insisting that he wanted to continue to watch the man who poked holes in the darkness.

Is it not Advent’s clarion call to spread light as we go about performing our daily duties? Each of us has the potential to be a "lamplighter," whether through kindness, compassion, or simply being present for others. The Advent season invites us not just to wait for the light but to actively participate in spreading it. How much brighter our neighborhoods would be if there were more “lamplighters” among us poking holes in the darkness.

You might be interested in reading the late Pastor Dr. Peter James Flamming’s sermon on Christian Life: Poking Holes in the Darkness.  

“The Light Shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:5

 -Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: Paolo Nicolello @paul_nic/Unsplash

A Prayer Book for Advent and Beyond

Are you, by any chance, on the lookout for a book which would help you to observe one of the three traditional practices or pillars of Advent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving?

May I suggest a little, fifty-some page book following the ancient format of morning and evening prayer. I found this deceivingly simple prayer book drawing my heart to quiet prayer and a deepening relationship with the Sacred One. Praying with the Earth, A Prayerbook for Peace by John Philip Newell.

Each of the two daily offerings begins with a beatitude and a prayer of awareness followed by the call, “Be still and aware.” The author then offers three quotes from the inherited scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments  and the Quran, putting us in touch with the wisdom of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Each quote is followed by an invitation to pause and savour the sacred text.  Next, we are given words to pray for the world and to offer silent prayers for peace. Our time of prayer,  concludes with a blessing to grace us on our way.

John Philip Newell offers us a simple, contemplative way during Advent to pause, pray, and linger in stillness as we prepare our hearts to welcome the Prince of Peace anew.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Header Image: Anthony DELANOIX @anthonydelanoix/ Unsplash

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John Philip Newell (born 1953) is a Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being. Canadian by birth, and a citizen also of Scotland, he resides with his family in Edinburgh and works on both sides of the Atlantic.