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Preparing our Hearts for Christmas | a conversation with Ian Speir · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

0:27
SPEAKER_00: Hi friends, welcome back to the Simply Wholehearted Podcast.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: And if you are new here, we are so glad you've joined us.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Ashley Pittman and I, Amy Wicks, are your hosts of the Simply Wholehearted Podcast.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to encourage and inspire you to live more unplugged, purposeful, and intentional in every season of life.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: We share stories of our friends, new and old alike, who are living out their calling and purpose with passion.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: This is another special holiday podcast with the beautiful music in the background, written and recorded by our friend John Thurlow.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: His Christmas album is available on iTunes as well as his other eight fantastic albums.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: His newest one, Different Story, just released last month.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: And on our holiday podcast last week, John shared some of his three-year journey to writing and recording this much anticipated release.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: On today's podcast, we're going to be sharing about Advent.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Advent is the holy season that precedes Christmas.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: And it's a time of hope and expectancy when Christians can take time to prepare their hearts for the coming of Christ.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: So I've got to be honest with y'all.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: As much as I love the holiday season, I mean the feasting, the festivities, great cookies, all the gift giving, the month of December feels exhausting and emotionally loaded.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think some of you can identify.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: We always end up traveling way more than I like, and we inevitably get sick or the whole family gets sick, and even one year we had a battle lice.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: That was not fun.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: And I definitely don't want to repeat that year again.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: We also miss our loved ones, the ones who have gotten into heaven before us.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: And we tend to feel their absence a little bit more during the celebration and some of the traditions that we enjoy.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: This year, though, I decided it was going to be different.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: We actually were thoughtfully trimmed down some of our travel.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: We simplified our calendar.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: And really, we've been experiencing great health.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: But last week, for some unexplained reason, my soul was feeling really heavy.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: I had no pressing or extenuating circumstances that I could blame it on this year.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: I had great health.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: I have a wonderful marriage and I have three beautiful kids.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: And of course, so many of the privileges a first world country offers my life.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: It was just how I felt, and I couldn't seem to shake myself out of it or self-coach or talk myself out of it.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: But this time I had to take my feeling my spirit to the Lord and ask him what was up with my downcast spirit.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: I normally take the circumstances that are bothering me, and I've had plenty to blame my disappointed heart or the frustration.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: But this year there was nothing, nothing that was causing it.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: It was just heaviness that I couldn't shake.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: But this time I had to take my feeling, my spirit to the Lord and ask him what was up with my downcast spirit.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, in the past I've had circumstances and issues that were troubling me.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: And so I would, you know, of course, ask the Lord to change them.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: But there wasn't any of that this time.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: I just had heaviness that I couldn't lift myself.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: So I asked him last week to show me what it was and to free me from what was unexplainably robbing my joy.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: So if you followed me very long on Instagram, you may have caught on that every weekday I share something which personally spoke to me from my daily proverb.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: I have a whole process, which maybe someday I'll explain, but this month of December, I'm purposely tying it to some of the scripture in my advent reading.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: And so that morning scripture really spoke to my heart.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: The morning I was feeling especially heavy and discouraged, and I I really wanted to answer from the Lord.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: I found um Isaiah 53, verses 3 and 4 to speak to me in a unique way this time.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: I just thought I would read it here right now to kind of give some background of what I was feeling and wrestling with.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: He was like someone people turned away from.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: He was despised and we didn't value him.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: Yet he himself bore our sicknesses and he carried our pains.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: But we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: I was reminded how he suffered and he can identify personally with my human struggle, this side of heaven.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: And I I really felt a peace that followed after identifying and reading this reminder.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: And so I decided to go ahead and share my honest wrestle and come to find out many of you feel the same.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: Just a few hours later in that day, Ashley and I had our scheduled conversation with Ian about Advent.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm from a non-liturgical background, but I've noticed lately some of the traditions from the church calendar is making a resurgence within the evangelical or non-denominational community.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: And I really have wanted to know more as I see how observing the liturgical year can create a life-giving rhythm, enriching my faith and understanding of God's word.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: So during our conversation, I had a moment of epiphany to my struggle.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: I've approached December as if every day should be or could feel like Christmas, as if every day should be full of joy and celebration.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: When in reality, I've actually needed to view it as though we are preparing our hearts, the much healthier lens of Avent.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Avent is a holy season of preparing my heart for the coming of Christ or for the celebration of Christmas.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: It's a time to remember the ache the Jews felt for centuries while waiting for the Messiah.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: It's a time to fast and wrestle with my personal need for a savior and realize the things this temporary life offers will not satisfy me because I'm still waiting for my eternal home, free from the trials of this broken world.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just beginning to learn what Avan is here to teach me.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: And we covered a lot in our hour-long conversation.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't wait to share it with you all.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: So this last weekend, as I was listening back and uploading it so that way Ashley could help me edit it, I found out that we had a glitch that I can neither successfully identify or repair.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: So I'm sad to say half our conversation is unrecoverable.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: But we do have a great portion of the conversation and a solid 20 minutes that I'm really excited for you to hear.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: But because of that, I'm gonna take some extra time to introduce you to our guest today and give some helpful background information on keeping admin and the church calendar.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: This year, ABM begins on December 3rd and it always encompasses the four Sundays and weekdays leading up to Christmas.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Beginning the fourth Sunday before Christmas.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: The length in the season varies.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it's the Sunday immediately following Thanksgiving, but this year we had a whole extra week.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I was excited to have it.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: I definitely needed it.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: So if you've never learned before about this thing called a church calendar, don't worry, you are not alone.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: Advent is a perfect place to begin as it's actually the start of the church year.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: And Luke's gospel begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the way for Christ.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: The church's yearly cycle begins with the preparatory rhythms of Advent.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: To sum it up, the church calendar is the observation of fasts and feasts, which invite us to prepare and celebrate corresponding key events of Christ's recorded life and ministry.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: And to help you understand my revelation, I stated earlier, this explanation from Ian changed so much for me.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: To be a father of Christ is to stand between his two arrivals, his birth in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago, and his promised second coming at the end of the day.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: So Advent pertains to both.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: As we remember with joy the day that Christ came, we can look forward with hope to the day that he will come again.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: At its root, Avent is a season of messianic anticipation when Israel's ancient longing for Messiah echoes deeply in our own hearts as we watch and pray for Christ's return.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: So to reflect these themes, Avent is traditionally divided into two parts.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: The first two weeks, remember it's four weeks long, is to focus on the second coming of Christ.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: We have prayers, scripture readings, and hymns that are more solemn, maybe more melancholy.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: And my four friends on the Enneagram love it.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: But it does draw us to repentance as we look forward to the last days.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: And then the second two weeks, the last half of Avent, the mood lightens.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: We turn our focus to Christ's birth and begin our joyful preparations for Christmas.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: The turning point in the season is the third Sunday of Avent.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: And it's called some name in Latin that I won't try to pronounce here, but it's Latin for rejoice.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: And so we call it the Sunday of joy.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: And I can stick to that, the Sunday of joy.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to that.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: On this day, the themes of longing and repentance give way to expectant delight.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: And we are able to rejoice because Christmas is almost here.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time hearing Avan explain this way, I hope you found this helpful and encouraging.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and you might be asking, who is this Ian guy I've brought up anyway?
10:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, Ian is the husband to Brianna and a dad to his three kids.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: And they get to live in one of my very favorite places, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: I did get a little bit of a Christmas tree envy when he was sharing about their story of how they got their Christmas tree this year and their yearly traditions.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: He happens to be an attorney for nonprofits and many religious organizations.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: He also serves as a chancellor for the Anglican Diocese of Colorado, which he mentioned is basically a fancy term for providing them free legal advice.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: In our last conversation, he thanked his pastor Glenn Pacquiaum of New Life Church downtown for introducing him to the concept of the church calendar and helping to stir a passion for sharing helpful resources with other families on how to keep Advent.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: So to be sure and check out their website with tons of great information like I've shared here and in greater detail at keepingadvent.com.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: So just as I'm learning to accept the invitation to a rhythm of rest, I'm also excited to discover the beauty of the rhythm advent and it can provide our weary souls and lead us to a place of wholehearted celebration.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Here's our conversation with Ian Spear.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: Um I wanted to know more about okay, so Advent is kind of a it's more of a buzzword, actually.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's starting to get circulated out there.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: I know she reads truth, he reads truth, they they've kind of been able to grow and they write um you know something for Advent the last few years and just you know, just kind of circulating a little bit more out there.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: But because there's all these different plans, I just don't know is there a constant for what scriptures you read every day?
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Like is is there a set or is it thematic in staying true to the church calendar of Advent in the process?
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Because you did talk about the two weeks, but I didn't know how that all fit in.
12:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so let's see.
12:23
SPEAKER_03: There's there's a there's a few there's a few questions in there.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, sorry, and I didn't even ask you these ahead of time, they just came up as we were talking.
12:32
SPEAKER_03: No, that's totally fine.
12:33
SPEAKER_03: That's totally fine.
12:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, so the the church has historically had something called the lectionary, and the lectionary is really just a strange sounding word, I think, for scheduled readings.
12:48
SPEAKER_03: And the tr the the lectionary for the certainly for the Protestant churches, and I think also for uh for the Catholic side as well, follows a three-year cycle.
12:59
SPEAKER_03: So in the lectionary, there's uh year A, year B, and year C.
13:03
SPEAKER_03: So last year was we were in year A, this year we're in year B.
13:08
SPEAKER_03: And the idea is to um for the different seasons of the church calendar, the church year, um, the readings from the Old Testament, from the Psalms, from the New Testament, and the Gospels will usually emphasize um themes or stories that coincide with that particular season.
13:31
SPEAKER_03: So you guys you can imagine for Christmas, the lectionary readings will emphasize themes and stories connected with Christmas.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: Um, and the same is true of Advent.
13:41
SPEAKER_03: So there are specific readings in the lectionary um that are connected to Advent.
13:46
SPEAKER_03: And again, those follow a three-year cycle.
13:48
SPEAKER_03: So those readings will change every year, but they'll sort of come back around every third year.
13:54
SPEAKER_03: And the idea is to the idea of the lectionary generally is to allow Christians and churches um to read through the Bible um and hear different voices throughout the Bible um within that three-year cycle.
14:09
SPEAKER_03: Um and so and so I guess there are two there are two things I'd say.
14:14
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's certainly appropriate in my view for folks to find scriptures that um that that they're led to or that um that the spirit leads them to in the context of the season.
14:28
SPEAKER_03: But in terms of what the church historically has done and continues to do kind of around the world, um, there are definitely kind of um set readings, if you will, that are on this lectionary.
14:42
SPEAKER_03: Um and so and actually keepingadvent.com at our pay our resources page um under prayers and scriptures has all of that.
14:51
SPEAKER_03: So for Advent Week One, for example, which we're in right now, you can go there and it's got the lectionary readings for year B, which is the year we're in.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
15:00
SPEAKER_03: And so throughout this week, during our Advent reads um lighting for dinner as a family, um, we began the the week by reading the Old Testament reading, which is out of Isaiah, I think.
15:13
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then it was the Psalms, and then we'll do the New Testament and then the gospel reading.
15:18
SPEAKER_03: And then for next week, there's a new set of four readings from the lectionary, and so we'll do those.
15:24
SPEAKER_03: So that's that's um that's I I think I don't think there's a right way to do this.
15:30
SPEAKER_03: I mean, one of the things we emphasize, and certainly our own church and the Pachiums our pastors emphasize is something I said earlier.
15:39
SPEAKER_03: You know, this is not a legalistic thing.
15:41
SPEAKER_03: There's not like a right or the right way to do Advent or Christmas or really any other season.
15:47
SPEAKER_03: Um, but but the church calendar and the lectionary, for example, really just give you kind of tools or starting points, I think, that can really be a blessing and help kind of focus your mind on Christ.
15:59
SPEAKER_03: I mean, these are all that's the whole point, right?
16:01
SPEAKER_03: These are all signposts for our souls in some sense to kind of redirect our attention and focus on um on Christ.
16:10
SPEAKER_03: And indeed, the the whole church calendar is centered around that.
16:14
SPEAKER_03: I mean, the seasons of the church calendar are centered on the life of Christ and seek to observe or celebrate different aspects of his life.
16:24
SPEAKER_03: So Advent and Christmas, of course, are about his birth, Lent and Easter are about his suffering and his death and his resurrection.
16:31
SPEAKER_03: And then there are other seasons of the calendar um that are key to other aspects of his of his life and his ministry.
16:39
SPEAKER_03: But that's really what that's really what this whole thing is about.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:42
SPEAKER_03: And how we do it.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: So I love that some of this stuff is making a kind of a comeback.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: And I say comeback because it never left certain segments of the church.
16:49
SPEAKER_02: But just for the ones of us out here kind of in the non-denominational sector, right?
16:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we miss a lot of the the history and the unity.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: I think there's something to me really attractive about the idea of knowing the entire kind of church universal this week.
17:05
SPEAKER_02: This is what we're all focusing on and talking about.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, there's something about that that's I don't know.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: I just love that we're kind of digging into our history a little bit more through some of these celebrations of Advent and Lent and things like that.
17:16
SPEAKER_02: That it's not legalistic, but I feel like we've missed some depth.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: So I love it.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's an invitation to really know more and to school ourselves on the why instead of just you know base it on the feeling and it's just because it's what we do.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: Right.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: And it's and it's kind of a great launching point.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Like you said, it it just made sense to start at Avent, but for families as well who are trying to incorporate a little bit more of a rhythm of doing, you know, week at least weekly, if not daily, scripture readings with their kids.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: It's a great entry point.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: It is a good entry point where it becomes and speaking of, do you do you have any methods or bribes that you use to get your kids to participate?
17:55
SPEAKER_00: I know someone who used to like, I don't know, promise chocolates or pennies or something like that.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: We do treats.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: Hey, uh did you tell us how old your kids are?
18:02
SPEAKER_02: Did we talk about that?
18:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: Tell me again what are their ages again that you're doing?
18:07
SPEAKER_02: Okay, you're right in there with us.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: So what are you doing?
18:09
SPEAKER_02: What's your method?
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he has really great kids and they probably don't have a problem.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they're awesome.
18:17
SPEAKER_03: Well, my kids are rambunctious and active and they talk a lot.
18:21
SPEAKER_03: So getting them to settle down and listen is sometimes a challenge.
18:25
SPEAKER_03: You know, one of the things I've learned from Holly Pacquiaum and from Glenn is it's okay, like when you're reading a story to your kids, it's okay to let them do something.
18:34
SPEAKER_03: In fact, it helps them many times, depending on other personalities.
18:38
SPEAKER_03: Um, it helps them to be doing something, whether it's building, you know, something with their hands, maybe drawing or coloring, that actually helps them to listen.
18:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:48
SPEAKER_03: I think that's one of the that's a misperception we have that if the kids are not sitting quietly and looking right at the page but they're not listening, that that's actually not true.
18:56
SPEAKER_03: And so um I I don't know that I'm always consistent about that, but I do at least intellectually understand that that's um that that's an appropriate way to help your kids unless and actually let them kind of do something else while they're while they're listening.
19:12
SPEAKER_03: Although we also do use bribes, so when we we do the advent calendar each evening of Advent, we we pull out a little booklet, we read the piece of the story um in our particular calendar, and we give them, I think this year we're using the little bitty York peppermint paddy, so they're chocolate, which are just delicious.
19:34
SPEAKER_03: I love them perfect for this.
19:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so that gets them to kind of sit.
19:41
SPEAKER_03: And um the the little booklets we read are very short.
19:44
SPEAKER_03: They're you know, so the calendar pieces it doesn't require their sustained attention, but the devotional that we do at bedtime is a little story, and so that requires them to sit for a bit.
19:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so those are some techniques that we use, you know.
19:58
SPEAKER_03: And then on that point, let me just uh also say I love what Holly is doing along with Sally Clarkson through Storyformed Home.
20:06
SPEAKER_03: I think that's such a wonderful project, and they have um some great resources for Advent and Christmas as well.
20:13
SPEAKER_03: So if you get on her website, it's storyformed.com, you'll find some great recommendations for books for kids of all ages, appropriate for this season and for many other seasons.
20:25
SPEAKER_03: Um but but Holly does such a great job of curating um resources for parents in that regard.
20:32
SPEAKER_03: And we we use that website and we we love it, so I can't endorse it enough.
20:36
SPEAKER_03: It's great.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: In fact, she just pulled out one or posted something about a St.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: Nicholas story because of St.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: Nicholas, and I was like, oh, I need that book because we've talked about it and I've given more of a wiki Wikipedia rundown to my kids, but I'm like, oh, I think they'd really value, you know, getting a colorful story of the history there.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: So anyway.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, and that that brings up another topic.
21:00
SPEAKER_03: I don't know how much you guys want me to keep talking, but keep going.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: We really like we do this because we love to learn, right?
21:06
SPEAKER_00: So it's good.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: Well, so I was gonna say that that brings up a another uh great um benefit or aspect, if you will, of the Advent and Christmas seasons and recovering them historically.
21:20
SPEAKER_03: And and that is uh the concept or the idea of feast days.
21:24
SPEAKER_03: So you mentioned St.
21:25
SPEAKER_03: Nicholas.
21:26
SPEAKER_03: Um we we traditionally celebrate St.
21:30
SPEAKER_03: Nicholas Day on December 6th, which is as of this recording yesterday.
21:35
SPEAKER_03: Um and there are other feast days throughout Advent and Christmas, so another one that's somewhat common is called St.
21:42
SPEAKER_03: Lucy's Day, that's celebrated on December 13th, so week after St.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: Nicholas' Day.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: And then during the Christmas season, there are a number of feast days.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: So the the day after Christmas is the feast of Saint Stephen, um, that observes you know one of the first deacons of the church in the book of Acts, um Stephen.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:01
SPEAKER_03: And then December 27th is the feast of St.
22:04
SPEAKER_03: John.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Ooh, that's my birthday.
22:06
SPEAKER_03: Ah, perfect.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Another reason to feast.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:08
SPEAKER_03: And then December 28th, uh somewhat oddly, I I've always thought is what's called the feast day of the holy innocents.
22:16
SPEAKER_03: It's a remembrance of the children who were killed by King Herod as he was seeking to kill baby Jesus.
22:27
SPEAKER_03: You know, holding seeking to hold on to his power and maintain his control.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: And it's a strange, it's kind of a strange day in which sorrow kind of intermixes with joy during the Christmas season.
22:38
SPEAKER_03: But that's traditionally when it's celebrated.
22:40
SPEAKER_03: Anyway, the the feast days just help to um bring to our attention um certain events that are important to the church or to our faith.
22:51
SPEAKER_03: And also certain people throughout history, like St.
22:53
SPEAKER_03: Nicholas, for example, who might be a role model for us as we you know as we walk out the Christian faith.
23:00
SPEAKER_03: None of none of the people we celebrate as, quote, saints is perfect by any stretch.
23:06
SPEAKER_03: But but there are people who, by virtue of their example, really are role models for us and for our kids.
23:11
SPEAKER_03: So St.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: Nicholas is um a great one for our kids.
23:14
SPEAKER_03: So on that day, based on tradition, our kids leave um a shoe outside their their bedroom door.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: And Saint Nicholas comes uh during the night, of course, and uh leaves behind a small gift.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: So we usually give them gold coins.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's fun.
23:31
SPEAKER_03: Some other families do when I say gold coins, gold chocolate.
23:38
SPEAKER_03: Um and some I know some other families like to do socks, like a new pair of socks in the shoe.
23:43
SPEAKER_03: I think that's a good idea.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: Um so it's just and then and then our kids make um little gift bags for some of their friends that they give away on St.
23:51
SPEAKER_03: Nicholas Day to help you know kind of develop that sense of of who St.
23:55
SPEAKER_03: Nicholas was, which was someone who cared very, very much about other people and the poor and children in particular.
24:02
SPEAKER_03: And um and so it's a it's just a great day for kind of focusing us on some of those themes.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, and I I can think all of that, instead of adding feeling like it's adding more stuff, I think it can bring a lot of life because then we're re- actually re-centering ourselves.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: If we can say yes to these things, then that's the more important yes than you know, than some of the other busyness we kind of get caught up in in the season.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: You know, yeah, all of that.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: So I love it.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: I I think this is really, really great.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: So now, you know, as we go into um sorry, Ashley Edit.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Um going into um the new year, like what does that look like afterwards?
24:46
SPEAKER_00: So we have the advent, we have this big celebration, and I know, and I'm just throwing this at you because I know you also you really observe the church calendar as a whole and you share about that.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, what does that look like between now and Lent?
24:59
SPEAKER_00: And and how does that incorporate into our faith and some of the practices that we can do, you know, as we look at the church calendar as a whole?
25:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so like I said earlier, you know, the church calendar, it's a it's a year-long um cycle and it's uh it's centered around the life and the ministry of Christ.
25:20
SPEAKER_03: So as we move beyond Advent and Christmas, and the Christmas season ends with um what's called the Feast of the Epiphany, which observed, among other things, the Magi's arrival and worship of of Jesus.
25:34
SPEAKER_03: As we as we move beyond that, you move into uh, real quick?
25:39
SPEAKER_03: Because I had January Yeah, Epiphany is January 6th every year.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't floaty.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: I think it's this guy's birthday too, January 6th, right?
25:49
SPEAKER_00: Ah okay, and it's the day of Epiphany.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: That is, yeah, yeah.
25:53
SPEAKER_03: So you you guys just have birthdays all throughout this month.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: And my daughter and my husband and my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law, I am not kidding.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: It's it's crazy.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: It does.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, sorry.
26:05
SPEAKER_03: So Epiphany is always January 6th.
26:08
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I I should say this is all um very Western church focused.
26:12
SPEAKER_03: So in the Eastern Church, the dates are slightly different than ours.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: Um, but but this is a we don't have to get into all that.
26:19
SPEAKER_03: So uh Epiphany is always January 6th, and then after that, we enter into a season of what's called ordinary time.
26:26
SPEAKER_03: Okay, which um doesn't celebrate or observe any particular feels like January, ordinary time.
26:34
SPEAKER_03: There, yeah, very much so.
26:35
SPEAKER_03: And then of course, and then the the next major season after that is is Lent and then on into Easter.
26:41
SPEAKER_03: And you know, both of those are weeks long seasons.
26:46
SPEAKER_03: So most of us think of Easter as a as a Sunday, Easter Sunday.
26:50
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
26:50
SPEAKER_03: Easter tide um is actually a series of seven Sundays, um, and it culminates in um uh oh, I think it's day of Pentecost.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
27:03
SPEAKER_03: After Easter Tide.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
27:05
SPEAKER_03: And then we enter the season after Pentecost, which is another season of ordinary time.
27:10
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, Lent is the preparatory season for Easter.
27:14
SPEAKER_03: It's when we reflect on themes of penitence and repentance and our own brokenness.
27:19
SPEAKER_03: It's a little bit like Advent.
27:21
SPEAKER_03: Advent is sort of a little Lent, if you will.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
27:23
SPEAKER_03: Um and of course, Easter, then we're celebrating Christ's resurrection and what that means for our world.
27:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then of course, on Pentecost, we celebrate the kind of the birth of the church and the coming of the Holy Spirit, and then the the ministry of the church in in the world is kind of what we focus on throughout the rest of the year until of course Advent begins again.
27:46
SPEAKER_03: Ordinary days in church is new year.
27:47
SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, our it helps to be in a church that that follows the calendar, yeah.
27:52
SPEAKER_03: So that when we go to when we go to church on Sundays, the um the liturgical um materials or the garb, if you will, like what what the altar is dressed in, um those are colored in certain ways that reflect the the colors of the season.
28:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh that's cool.
28:13
SPEAKER_03: And then our pastor Glenn will um will you know remind us of what what is this season we're in, what is this day about, and why is it important.
28:23
SPEAKER_03: And then that becomes a tool for us in the home to talk to our kids about you know what Lent means and what Easter means, what Pentecost means, um, and what the you know the season after that, the ministry of the church, um, and the this sort of waiting season that we're in, you know, waiting for waiting for Christ to return.
28:44
SPEAKER_03: So it helps to be in a church.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there you go.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: All right, here we go.
29:13
SPEAKER_03: We can hear you, can you hear us?
29:15
SPEAKER_02: And you were just saying, you were saying it helps to be in a church.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: So you could see that.
29:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it helps to be in a church that is observing the the calendar in that way, but but you certainly don't have to.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: I mean, there are enough resources out there um that can help you through that.
29:30
SPEAKER_03: You know, keepingadvent.com has some resources for that.
29:33
SPEAKER_03: We're pretty focused on Advent and Christmas.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: Um, if you're if you're a little more interested, um there's a book I'd recommend.
29:41
SPEAKER_03: It's called Um Ancient Future Time by Robert Weber.
29:45
unknown: Okay.
29:46
SPEAKER_03: And and Weber comes from a kind of non-liturgical background, um, much like many of us.
29:53
SPEAKER_03: And um he he kind of ushers you into and explains what these different seasons of the church calendar are and what they mean.
30:00
SPEAKER_03: Um and then finally, you know, Glenn's blog, I think it's just glennpaccium.com.
30:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:07
SPEAKER_03: Glenn is with two lens.
30:09
SPEAKER_03: Um Glenn does it has done quite a bit on the church calendar and and uh the different seasons of the year.
30:16
SPEAKER_03: So that's another great resource that's easy to tap into if people are interested.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I I love it.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: I think it's great.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: And I and I do, I will really recommend people to check out keepingadvent.com because they have the music and the scriptures.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: And I I didn't recognize the ABC, or maybe I did and I was confused by it.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: So that that's really helpful and insightful too.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: I I had no idea.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: And it it's kind of fun because it just shows kind of the way of you know, it's the same information, different perspective, and oftentimes, you know, because each year is different for us, how we view it then you know speaks uniquely to our hearts and helps us refocus.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: So that's really great.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: All right, well, before we let you go, um, we've just been asking our Christmas guests um something that they're really looking forward to doing this Christmas, this holiday season with their kids.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: You shared some of your traditions um that are really fun.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: So what do you guys got in store?
31:11
SPEAKER_03: Uh well, so this is not really religiously focused or anything like that.
31:15
SPEAKER_03: That's okay.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: That's not what we're going for.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: No, it's good.
31:18
SPEAKER_03: The first thing that came to my mind, so because we live so we've lived in Colorado Springs now for five years.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
31:24
SPEAKER_03: And up to this year, every year we've just gone to a tree lot and bought our Christmas tree.
31:30
SPEAKER_03: And the the trees have always been great, they're beautiful.
31:32
SPEAKER_03: This year we decided um because my brother-in-law, my wife's brother and his family, they live in town, they traditionally go up into the mountains and cut down their own tree.
31:41
SPEAKER_03: And so we decided this year that we were gonna do that, and we did.
31:45
SPEAKER_03: So last weekend we went out and I man, I tell you, we I think we searched for about two hours for like the right tree.
31:53
SPEAKER_03: And we found we found one.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: It was about it was over 20 feet, so we we chopped it down and now we've got about a 12-foot tree in our house, which is the biggest one we've ever had.
32:06
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, and it was just it was a great experience going up.
32:10
SPEAKER_03: The with the weather was really nice too.
32:11
SPEAKER_03: So we just went up on a tree, brought it home.
32:14
SPEAKER_03: It's a it was it was a lot of work, it's a full day, much harder than going to the tree lab.
32:19
SPEAKER_03: But that was just we uh it was so fun.
32:21
SPEAKER_03: So fun experience for the kids.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm jealous.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: One of the last years I got to do that, I was very pregnant with our first daughter who was born eventually on December 23rd.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: But I like, but we've had some scenarios where my dad and husband, um, yeah, they were gone all day, but they found the perfect tree.
32:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they brought home the the fattened calf, so to speak.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes, totally.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so fun.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: And it's one of the many reasons why I love Colorado Springs.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who get who else can do that?
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Not many.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: I've never ever ever ever done it in my whole life.
32:57
SPEAKER_03: Such a blessing for sure.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Great.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, Ian, thank you so much.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: I just I know we've really kind of glossed over it, but I feel like this has been really helpful.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: I've learned, and it also makes me excited to just continue to learn more.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll keep digging in.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for your time.
33:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, thank you guys so much for having me.
33:16
SPEAKER_03: It it was it was a real privilege and honor to talk to you.
33:18
SPEAKER_03: So blessed admin, and Merry Christmas to both of you.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: You too, Merry Christmas.
33:24
SPEAKER_03: Okay, bye-bye.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: I am loving learning more about how I can better prepare my heart for the celebration of Christmas, and I hope you are as well.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: What a treat it has been to record and share these seasonal conversations.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: I feel so privileged to get to do this podcast, and we sure appreciate you all listening, chiming in, and sharing our conversations.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And as usual, we'll be putting all the resources we mentioned in the show notes.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: And while you're there, we'd be so grateful if you'd take a quick minute to leave an iTunes rating and maybe an additional comment about your favorite episode.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: Next week, we'll be sharing our conversation with holiday, our holiday season sponsor, seedeffect.org.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Melissa was so kind to take time to share with you all the incredible work they are committed to doing.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: Seed Effect is bringing economic empowerment and Jesus to the world's most unstable communities.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: They help the financially poor to provide for themselves and their families with dignity.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: I know you will feel so much richer after hearing the encouraging stories she'll be sharing next week.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: So, until then, we hope you'll be finding more ways to live simply wholehearted this season.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: More unplugged, purposeful, and intentional.