Making Room: Spiritual, Ecological Reflections for Advent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“In the desert someone is shouting, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord! Make a straight path for him.’” Mark 1:3, Contemporary English Version

What if welcoming Jesus meant changing the ways we treat our human neighbors? Our animal neighbors? All of God’s creation? This year, Immanuel’s Advent blog devotional series invites you to join us in preparing our hearts for Christ’s coming through outward, tangible actions of earth-care. 

Each day during Advent, we will share a simple step you can take to better care for the earth and the environment around us. Each tip, habit, or challenge comes from an Immanuel member or staff person. We’ll pair each daily eco-practice with a piece of Scripture and a connected prayer. 

We hope that these daily challenges provide ways to live out your faith by becoming more faithful stewards of creation. But more than that, we pray that these daily actions also offer a source of spiritual awakening. Advent is a time of preparation, but it is also a time of repentance. These daily earth-care actions and prayers are opportunities for us all to consider how our daily habits affect our neighbors and our environment. 

You can find the daily devotionals on the Immanuel blog, ipcmclean.org/blog, or on Immanuel’s Facebook or Twitter accounts. We’ve also created a monthly calendar for you to track your progress (although, in the spirit of this journey, please think carefully before you decide to print the calendar). 

Lastly, throughout the season, you’re invited to share your experience and responses with the hashtag #IPCAdvent on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. What are you learning? How did you adapt our ideas for your family? We’ll collect your responses and respond with our own.

Happy preparing!

Billy Kluttz
Immanuel blog editor