ASBURY FIRST MONDAY READER | DECEMBER 01, 2025

CONTENTS: CHRISTMAS IN ACTION

ADVENT DEVOTIONAL WEEK 1: STREAMS OF LIGHT

Christmas in Action by Rev. Pat Dupont

As our church leadership was planning for Advent and Christmas this year, the Federal Government was experiencing its longest shut down in history. Headlines were dominated by the impending crisis of SNAP benefits going unfunded. Thankfully, the shut down has ended and food aid is being received…but the number of eligible recipients on the rolls of SNAP is still expected to be drastically cut in the near future.

Our planning coinciding with this national conversation led us to wonder: How can our observance of Christmas speak into the current reality of deepening poverty and disappearing resources in our local community and country? The Christmas story, after all, is about God being born to a working class family without shelter. How could we draw people further into this story and its intersection with our modern world? What does the Christmas that Jesus calls us to observe look like?

After conversation amongst church staff, the Worship and Arts team-which includes representatives from the Altar Guild, and other congregational leaders, we came to the following decisions about how best to steward our resources and adorn our campus for our observance of Christmas this year:

• Where the outdoor Christmas tree on East Ave has been previously, we will put out a decorated outdoor food pantry (or ‘Blessing Box’) and signage explaining its rationale and purpose.
• Where the Gathering Center tree has been previously, we will have a decorated food donation drop-off “tree.”
• We will still have two lit trees in the chancel area within the Sanctuary.

The goal of this plan is fourfold:

1. Deepening our observance of Christmas and centering it around an acknowledgment of how poverty seems particularly threatening to our community this year.
2. Concretely redirecting a portion of our budget for Christmas decorations into direct food aid.
3. Inviting our congregation and broader community to share material abundance.
4. Clearly communicating our priorities as followers of Jesus and our congregational identity to those visiting or passing by our campus this holiday season.

These “decorations-in-action” will be festive and beautiful, and we pray that they foster a renewed spirit of Christmas hope, peace, joy and love. May we remember together the poverty of the Christ child and once again devote ourselves to Him this holy season!

As you shop this month, please include items for the donation tree, so that we can care for our neighbors in a tangible way this season. Items can be placed in the Gathering Center drop-off area beginning next week.

ADVENT DEVOTIONAL WEEK 1:

Streams of Light

"Greetings, Oh Favored One" Luke 1:28-29

Artists through the centuries have depicted Mary receiving her message from God that she is carrying God’s Beloved Son. In a favorite depiction of mine, similar to the one pictured above, Mary is sitting on a bench in a garden, as if in meditation or prayer, as streams of light beam upon her. In those moments, it's as if through the light, Mary—grounded in deep prayer, communal sensitivity, and celebration—"knows" she is sitting in the presence of the loving Creator, and her life dramatically changes. She now knows of the "indwelling" Spirit of God.

According to the American Heritage dictionary, the root of the name Mary is the Hebrew Miryam meaning “rebellion.” The presence of God made known through these “streams of Light” comes to one in a land amid conflict with political authorities and actions against her people; this young maiden, through God’s Spirit of unconditional, love becomes God’s “hope for change”! Holy is the place within me where God lives”!

The author Ann Johnson in her book Miryam of Nazareth speaks of this "life transforming happening" in this way:

Forever now in the life of humankind people will sing of this loving encounter; through remembering this moment, the faithful will know all things are possible in God. God's tender streams of light reach out from age to age to touch the softened inner spaces of those who open their souls in hope.

And that re-telling brings each of us this Advent Season where we carry within us the knowledge and impetus to open the innermost spaces of our hearts to encounters with the Loving Creator. God’s encounter with Mary in the expectancy of Jesus is also a metaphoric message for us about the amazing encounters with God offered to us day by day. In prayer, we can turn our souls inward . . . in awe with the firm beats of our hearts, we can listen for God’s interactions . . . in stillness we can reach out, mind reflecting, inviting God to inspire us. The loving God can stream into our being calling us to carry the loving Spirit of God within us. The message of God can be told through us as it was through Mary so long ago, but differently.

May we open our souls in hope this day and every day.

REFLECTION:

• Do you believe that God’s indwelling Spirit can be in you?
• What do you hope for or what have you experienced in your life in the encounter with the Holy?
• What would another encounter be like? Pray for it!