Dear Friends,

As Advent begins, I am once again delighted to share the Advent calendar that I create with my friend, Merry Watters. Copies are available at church, and you can also download it by going to the calendar website, clicking here.

It’s been almost 30 years since we first started this mutual endeavor, and in that time, here is what I have learned:

• The smallest of efforts can grow in ways one cannot imagine. Our first calendar in 1989 was for our two respective congregations – it reached maybe 300 persons. There was of course, no such thing as the internet or the web. Now, I receive comments from persons I have never met as it has made its way out into the world, and I marvel at the places it has gone.
• As with any discipline, there are times when we have wondered if we could “keep it up.”  “Shall we take a break this year?” we have asked ourselves more than once in the last three decades.  Yet somehow the Spirit has always prompted us to move beyond any weariness or lack of energy, and then I am grateful that we have persevered.
• Don’t hide your light under a bushel.  I used to fret and fret about whether the calendar’s design was good enough to be out in the world. I’ve long ago let go of perfection as the goal, and oh, has that been a good lesson to learn.
• Sometimes the smallest of offerings makes the greatest difference. One comment I have received again and again is that people appreciate the suggested devotions, ones which are often broad enough to be performed in different ways, but also simple to achieve. In seasons like Advent and Lent, we can set great and grand goals for our spiritual growth. Yet sometimes it is simple words like “Make room,” or “See the growth,” that become transformative as we move through a day.

I hope you enjoy the calendar, and the daily meditations I will be sending to you all each morning. It’s one more way we can walk the pilgrim path of Advent together.

Faithfully,

Tom