Advent Word 2021: Coming Soon!

 Advent Words 2021: Coming Soon!

We are just a few weeks away from the Advent season. This is my sixth year hosting the Advent Words Challenge and I have been thinking a lot about how to proceed this year. I had a number of new ideas, but then a few weeks ago I was studying for my weekly Bible study, and a passage was cross-referenced that I am very familiar with. Only this time when I read it I noticed that both of the Advents of Christ were referenced. Somehow I had never noticed this before even though I have studied the passage many times. That passage was Titus 2:11-14.

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

It's not a traditional Advent or Christmas passage, but I really like that we see Christ's first Advent, "the grace of God has appeared" and His second Advent, "the glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ". This is what the Advent Season is all about! Too often in our present day, we tend to focus mainly on the first Advent, the birth of Christ. But the Advent season is a call for us to both look back and look forward. We look back and connect with the longing for the Messiah the Israelites had, rejoicing in the Incarnation, and looking forward we connect with our own longing for the Messiah's return - the second Advent. And in between the two Advents - grace to glory - we must connect with God's call on how His people are to live out the life of Christ in this present age.

For the Advent Words Challenge we will spend the first half of the Advent season digging into Titus 2:11-14 and explore the Advent words we find within it. Words such as appear, grace, salvation, hope, wait, glory, Savior. etc. Then for the last half of the challenge we will look at some of the more traditional Advent and Christmas words and passages.

I enjoy having a separate journal for each year's challenge, so I made a new journal to create in for this year. I ended up miscalculating the number of pages I needed and now have double the amount! So, I may end up putting study notes in the back.

I decided to play some more with the painted paper torn collage style I have been doing recently, and have begun making background pages.

I hope you will join me this year. The Advent Words Challenges are meant to be done in community. I so enjoy seeing how people interpret the words and Scripture passages into various creative expresssions - art journaling, collage, photography, poetry, digital art, etc. And I enjoy the conversation and study insights in the Words Challenge Facebook group.

In the next few weeks I will post a calendar with the words and Scripture passages. Here's how it will work and how you can join along:

• I will post daily Bible study devotions, along with how I responded creatively, on this blog each day beginning on November 28 through December 24. You can follow this blog by email or there will be daily links to the posts in the Words Challenge Facebook group
• Respond with whatever creative practice you choose: art journaling, mixed media art, scrapbook, photography, digital art, poetry, creative writing, calligraphy - any way you choose! As you take in the Scripture and devotions into your heart and mind, let it sink even deeper as you practice creatively with your hands.
• Join the Words Challenge Facebook group where you can share your art and ideas and join the conversation through the Advent season and beyond.  I host a number of Words Challenges throughout the year. 
• Share on Instagram and other social media with the hashtag #adventwords2021.
• In the weeks before the Advent season begins reflect and prepare: choose the creative form you will use for your daily practice. Make or buy a journal that fits your creative form.

Bullet Journal and Art Journal

Bullet Journal and Art Journal

This year I decided to return to a journaling format I used a few years back to record daily life as well as to keep a record of my word of the year. I am also intrigued with many of the aspects of bullet journaling as a means of documenting life and tracking some of your habits. As I said at the beginning of the year, I'm using a Leuchtturm 1917 journal with grid pages. My post about why I chose this journal is here.

In this journal this year I am working through how to live out my word of the year, fruit. Previous posts over the past few weeks have highlighted how I chose this word, how I do a word study for my word, doing a mind map for my intentions for my word, and then, this past Friday, about the difference between intentions and goals. You can access all of these posts by clicking on January in the blog archive column on the right side of this page.

Some of the other ways I'm using this journal is to record events through weekly page spreads:

I"m also tracking a few things this year:

My non-fiction reading list

Birds I spot on my walks and in my backyard 

And finally, I'm adding in pages as things happen or as I am inspired. Such as a page remembering our weekend in Traverse City, MI to celebrate my daughters 40th birthday with a girls road trip.

Then there is a page of some of the little phrases I say a lot. These little sayings or mantras tend to reflect what we value or things we've learned over time. They tend to reflect who we are and can serve as reminders when we need encouragement or motivation. This page also gave me an opportunity to play with the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pen set I recently purchased.

So far, I am enjoying the Leuchtturm 1917 journal. At first I was concerned with shadowing - seeing the shadow of what your writing or the items you glued on the following page. But as I have gone along it hasn't bothered me too much. I love the grid paper and its a nice sturdy journal. But because I like making journals and binding books, and because I like a variety of journal and art styles, I have a second journal going. I made a junk journal out of an old book and I'm using it to play in and to do pages for different art challenges or groups I participate in.

#livingyourword2020 #junkjournaljanuary, #getmessyartjournal, #gmseasonofhome, #jan202020creativechallenge

If you choose a word of the year and are looking for ways to live it out through the year, I am a part of a faith-based Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year 2020. Join us!

Some of the art supplies used in this post:

Vintage paper packs, Dennison red border labels and tags can be found at Found On Brighton Etsy.

Disclosure:A note about Amazon links on my blog:

I am giving Amazon affiliation a try, which means I may receive a small percentage off sales made through clicking on the Amazon links found on my blog. There is no additional cost to you.

Introducing Advent Words 2019

Introducing Advent Words 2019

This year for the Advent Words challenge we will look closely at the Word in John's prologue (John 1:1-18). Using the prologue to John’s Gospel for Advent is a bit different than using the traditional Christmas accounts found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. John does not start with Jesus’s genealogy and birth or include the prophecies of the Messiah as Matthew does. John does not give us the stories and details surrounding Jesus’ miraculous birth as Luke does. In John’s Christmas account there are no mangers, no Bethlehem account, no wise men or shepherds, no virgin birth, no angels or starry night. John simply begins with the main point of Christmas – the Incarnation. 

For Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation, and John helps us focus on God’s Divine revelation - God has come to us in human form. Jesus is God incarnate and God is with us.

Over the years I have used the practice of art journaling as a way to intentionally slow down during the Advent season. This intentional period of slowing down has provided time to reflect and ponder the deeper things of this season - it's a time of preparing my heart for the coming of Christ.

Click on calendar for a PDF version without the image for easier printing.

Would you like to join me in slowing down the Advent season? It's simple:

• The daily Bible study devotions, along with how I responded creatively, will be posted on this blog each day beginning on December 1. You can follow this blog by email or there will be daily links to the posts in the Words Challenge Facebook group. If you are a part of the Living Your Word of the Year Facebook group links to the blog post will be posted there as well.
• Respond with whatever creative practice you choose: art journaling, mixed media art, scrapbook, photography, digital art, poetry, creative writing, calligraphy - any way you choose! As you take in the Scripture and devotions into your heart and mind, let it sink even deeper as you practice creatively with your hands.
• Join the Words Challenge Facebook group where you can share your art and ideas and join the conversation through the Advent season and beyond.  I host a number of Words Challenges throughout the year. Join here:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wordschallengegroup/
• Share on Instagram and other social media with the hashtag #adventwords2019. 
• In the days before the Advent season begins reflect and prepare: choose the creative form you will use for your daily practice. Make a journal if that fits your creative form.

In the past I have kept my Advent Words art journal pages in a variety of style s of journals.

This year, for my Living Your Word Journal, I had made a journal out of an old ledger. I made it with two signatures, which ended up being too many for my A-Z challenge in that group. So I decided to continue in this journal using the second signature of pages for Advent Words.

Q is for Quiet

Q is for Quiet

In our Living Your Word group we are exploring our word of the year with an A-Z inspirational challenge. For Q I chose the word quiet. I enjoy solitude and quiet, whether I'm in my studio room making art or doing Bible study or out walking in nature. Here in the Midwest we have been experiencing fall-like weather, cool nights and mornings with warm days. Without the heat of summer I have been drawn outside and last week I went to one of my favorite parks along the Maumee River. It felt so good to be outside walking with my camera, enjoying the quiet  of God's creation, interrupted only by the sounds of birds.

 

The picture is not very good because the bird was so far away, but I stopped along the trail when I heard a bird I did not recognize. So I spent time searching and listening until it made itself know. Cedar Waxwings!

There is a small lake off the trail. In the distance I could see Egrets and Cormorants sitting high up in the trees.

I stopped for a while and watched this young Downy Woodpecker eating berries and hopping around in this tree.

My Q page has one of my favorite verses. Isaiah 30:15.

"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I facilitate a Facebook group about Living your Word of the Year. In it we share insights through blog posts and connect with other like-hearted and like-minded people who want to live out a word focus throughout the year. We offer participants a bi-weekly A-Z Inspiration to help prompt reflection and creativity. as well as other inspirational ways to connect with your word of the year. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word throughout the year, explore new ideas, record thoughts, prayers, and events, you are invited to join our Facebook group.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Please use #livingyourword2019 on social media.

Check out the other blogs:
Bernice: www.newlycreative.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog