Sunday, December 2, 2012

A Pause In Advent

Joining in with Floss in France who has offered to sponsor a Christmas Blogger Event Termed "A Pause in Advent," where we stop a moment and reflect on the spiritual season, this article from the late 1980's gave me pause to think about a different turn on Christmas. Perhaps you will like it too.  An excerpt...
I direct a Christian theater company and this Christmas season we have a play running called "0, Little Town of Bagels, Tea Cakes and Hamburger Buns." The play is about the contemporary experience of Christmas based on the fact that the people to whom Christ came that first Christmas are the same kinds of people that we are today. Bethlehem means "house of bread." Bread means bagels, tea cakes and hamburger buns. Christmas is not a remote event. It is not a memo tucked away in a history book and forgotten. It is a celebration for right now — for the people who are now, as were the people who were then — some of them hurting, some of them alone, some of them angry, some of them tired, some of them separated from their family, some of them ill. Unto those people, God sent his Christmas card.
Click on the highlighted title to read the entire essay O Little Town of Bagels, Tea Cakes and Hamburger Buns by Jeanette Clift George.  It is a thoughtful writing.


You can read others' Pauses in Advent here.

source
click here to join in the pause

11 comments:

  1. Hi Nancy! I'm going to click over and read the whole article.
    Funny, I'm into eating bagels again. I forgot how good they are!
    It's so nice to pause together! Yay!
    Have a great day, sweet and artistic friend!

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  2. Lovely to share your Pause in Advent Nancy and thanks for your comment over at mine - looks like we are kindred spirits. Betty x

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  3. Hope this comment goes thru, I have tried several times:) I am going to read the entire essay! Have a blessed day dear friend, HUGS!

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  4. Nicw to read your Pause today. We dont often see Bagels here! I shall read more.

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  5. What an interesting essay - as a big fan of Ecclesiastes myself I echo a great deal of what Jeanette says. Thank you so much for the heads up on the Pause In Advent link up. Not quite sure what I need to do to iink in but hope to. E x

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  6. I didn't know Bethlehem meant house of bread! I knew "Beth" meant "House" (and in Welsh, it means "What"). I like the line about Christmas also being for people who are hurting ... there's so much forced cheer this time of year. I know that's a grouchy thing to say, but we spinsters tend to be grouchy ;-)

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  7. Hi Nancy, Thanks for commenting on my blog. I haven't even written my advent pause for Floss yet! Thanks for your thoughts though - interestingly, bread seems to be an important theme in most of my reading at the moment.

    Feel free to use the "post I wish I'd written" thing, and the "none" FB status too (although I can't claim to have done that one, it's just that the FB widget isn't working properly!)

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  8. I love the title of that play, and what it represents. In France, it would be O Little Town of Baguettes, Brioche and Pain de Campagne, I guess! I shall think of Bethlehem whenever I eat one of them, now - thank you for helping me to link 'now' to 'eternity' in this way!

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  9. Thank you for this link - I wasn't going to read it, but I'm SO glad I did. The lines "One of the things I have learned is that not all questions have answers; not all hurts heal; not all breaks mend. In that reality, Christmas is to be celebrated. I have also learned that sometimes when I want to be the most together, I am not. Sometimes when we get to Christmas we think, "I'm too tired. There's too much to do. It comes so suddenly; I'll never get it all done." really struck home with me. Blessings to you, Nancy.

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  10. Hi Nancy..*hugs*
    What a wonderful thing to be doing Nancy....directing a play. I like the title and I will read about it. We are trying to find some kind of short skit/play to do at work in a couple of weeks. I don't think we'll be up to that but I wonder whether you might have something else you could suggest we do. We would like something funny....

    Thank you for sharing the play...and the inspiration...
    thank you for your sweet comment also...
    Judi

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  11. What an interesting article to read. It had great thoughts.

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