The Joy of Advent with authors Rebecca & Stephen Grabill

Pastor Tara  welcomes authors Rebecca & Steven Grabill to discuss their new book, The Joy of Advent: Family Celebrations for Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas. Explore how this resource helps families find deeper meaning and joy during the Advent season. Learn about the inspiration behind the book, practical tips for creating family traditions, and the importance of nurturing faith in the home. Plus, enjoy a special prayer and blessing for the season adapted from Saint Augustine.

Transcript

S5 E27 The Joy of Advent with Rebecca & Stephen Grabill

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: [00:00:00] Welcome to Holy Shenanigans. I'm your muse, Tara Lamont Eastman, a pastor, podcaster, and practitioner of Holy Shenanigans. I encourage the spiritual practice of looking and listening for the sacred in everyday life. Thanks for joining me on this always sacred, never stuffy journey. The season of Advent is just around the corner.

And so to help you live into the season with a little more joy, I welcome to the podcast Rebecca and Steven Grabill. Rebecca and Steven are authors of a brand new book called The Joy of [00:01:00] Advent, family celebrations for Advent and the 12 days of Christmas. It's a book that can help families make memories together and experience joy, hope, peace, love, and more.

 Rebecca and Steven, I am so happy to have you here with me. 

 We've just gotten past Halloween and I'm sure you have noticed that already you've seen ads for Christmas and you probably have seen decorations all set up in the store and things for sale 

Rebecca Grabill: oh, absolutely. I even before Halloween, I'm seeing the Christmas sections expanding out pretty quickly. 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I used to work in setting up displays in retail. Even back then you would be working three months ahead whether you were doing, you know, end caps or decorating, aisles [00:02:00] or, filling in the big ceilings of all these box stores.

It would be working well ahead of time. There's a reason, obviously, why the commercial world does that. But I was just curious what inspired you both to create this collaborative book, the joy of advent

Rebecca Grabill: It actually started at least 20 years ago. Our oldest was a toddler then, and his little brother was, do any day. And we just could not get beyond Christmas and Advent being a cardboard calendar, you know, with the little doors that you open each day with a chocolate behind it.

 For a three year old that's enough to get excited about, and that's enough to make the season magical, but I was imagining the future, you know, what's going to hold his attention at four at five at 10, the chocolate only has so much draw and how is Christmas going to be something that is [00:03:00] more than just the displays at the stores, the glittery lights and the glitzy music, how is He and his siblings, how are they going to really have Christmas in their heart, the true meaning of it and a real understanding of who Jesus is and why he became human as an itty bitty little baby for us. And so throughout the years we tried to find something to do during Advent that would kind of ground the faith that would make it real, make it tangible, make it something that, we could grow through and that our kids could, hang their memories on, , like a Christmas tree of memories. And it was just so, hard to find. We discovered the Jesse tree tradition, which is a beautiful ancient tradition that works. Wonderfully for kids because it's so visual and we struggled to find a resource that could meet the needs of our whole growing family, some meat for the parents to have a little growth, a little moment of reflection and [00:04:00] feeling like, we're growing in our face too, but then to have Something that's relevant for various age groups in the home.

And since that didn't exist as a writer, I felt like I had to create it. And just year by year, bit by bit, we started creating this resource and eventually it grew and took on a life of its own. I mean, it was truly a gift to us. I think as much as it's a gift now to everybody to be able to share.

With every family. 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Wow. So, 20 years in the making. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Mm 

Stephen Grabill: Yeah. Literally 20 years. And along the way, Tara, what we realized was how faith has been challenged, how many people are walking away from the faith at this point. Even saw that it was more of a mission, you could say, to keep the Christian imagination of our children and really ourselves active and engaged and, tracking with life.

 We didn't start [00:05:00] off this way, but part of what we've leaned into over the years is this idea that the home is a sort of domestic church. And it's where faith. Is incubated. And if, we alter doing that in the home environment, it's just no wonder that imagination gets sort of trampled on or not cultivated.

And as kids get older, as they move into the various stages of their life, They sort of have a been there and done that kind of attitude. We did not want to do that. And we knew that developing practices that really entailed all the senses would be critical part of that. We didn't start there, but that's what we leaned into over time because we existentially felt those. Threats, concerns, challenges coming at us from all different sides. 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: when my Children were younger, I remember trying to find some kind of family devotion that helped us live our faith out in really practical ways in the world. [00:06:00] And one of the resources that sometimes we would look at were the table talks that Luther

Stephen Grabill: Oh, sure.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: all the way back.

Right. But that is not the only tradition that has this kind of. Spiritual grounding foundation. There are lots of different folks that I think could engage. With an advent practice and because it's so creative and it's so engaging for so many different ages the way you've presented it. I think that this is just a wonderful resource for people, even if they're just getting introduced to this idea.

Rebecca Grabill: I think, especially for those who might not have celebrated Advent before, because we've been in a lot of different traditions over the years, we were in sort of a reformed or Episcopal tradition for quite a while. And, , we've also attended Bible churches and in some.

Traditions the church year is celebrated and it's really utilized to grow families together in their faith. Other traditions it's a little more Sunday worship, [00:07:00] you've got Christmas on Christmas and the advent calendar is just the doors, the chocolate, you know, things like that.

And it's so exciting to share a tradition that goes back, centuries to the early, early church with families for whom it's brand new, during the season of Lent a lot of Christians give something up, right. And Advent is a very similar season in the liturgical year.

That's the same color. It's this color of sort of reflection and penitence, but instead of giving something up, it's a great time to add something that nourishes. your soul and that nourishes your family, it's so much part of the culture that what we want to add is just, more toys or more cookies, you know, just more of the bling of the holidays.

 And, it gets me so excited that families are adding memories instead.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I remember when one of my children was very, very little and we had gotten the advent calendar and I [00:08:00] had gone, , upstairs to grab something. And I came back downstairs and as many of the little doors could be opened in that little bit of time and the chocolate that could be stuffed in their cute little mouth. I think it's to the metaphor that you're trying to express. Your hope is that this provides some spiritual and theological depth for folks. That's not just, do you have that sweet and it's gone?

Rebecca Grabill: Oh, that's such a great image. It is because I think people can very easily almost gorge themselves because Christmas lends itself to beauty. There's so much joy, so much excitement. You're waiting with Mary for this moment. Beautiful birth of Christ God human form. And that's. worth celebrating, but so many people can, forget that there's a whole, scarlet thread of the reason Christ came woven all throughout scripture. That's why even the Jesse tree is a structure. It starts at creation and it's [00:09:00] tracing that scarlet thread through the major characters in Jesus's own family tree if my kids remember anything from childhood and from their sort of faith formation Sunday school lessons, all of that, if they can just remember that thread. That's going to be important.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: So I noticed when I looked at your beautiful book for each practice, there are two different approaches. 

Rebecca Grabill: Each day, there's a personal reflection. And I envisioned that being, the parent, the grandparent sitting down at their morning cup of coffee, reading that kind of filling up their soul a little bit. And then that's. Same topic, but with a different take.

So they're not redundant. It's not the same thing repeated at a different age level, but it's some of the same themes. Then that is part of the family celebration that they can do together later.

 There's that richness for. The heart of [00:10:00] the adult or the older teen. And then there's some gems that are more accessible for the younger audience too, but feeds on what's already been there for the adults and teens. So it's like they get the, extra dose of the beauty and the inspiration.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: like course one and course two,

Stephen Grabill: Yeah,

exactly.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: There's also an online resource component to the book. Can you tell me more about that? 

Rebecca Grabill: At joy of advent. com. There's all sorts of content right there on the homepage. You'll see subscribe button and various other resources. There's whole printable pack that goes along with the book. It's right on the book page and you just put in the date you ordered it and boom, it's delivered inbox. main thing that goes along with the book is , that daily email, that digital advent calendar. 

Stephen Grabill: And that has some reflective pieces, the longer scripture passage, which is all right there. So you don't have to look it up. But really [00:11:00] beautifully curated Christmas carols from YouTube and other places. It's really a rich collection of how the global church celebrates using songs that we're very familiar with. And then activities for kids and other resources. 

Rebecca Grabill: And that just comes, every day during Advent and the 12 days of Christmas, 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Is there a portion of the book that you would just like to share with us?

Stephen Grabill: Yes. December 12th. Hannah's prayer is really what, this is. What is a prayer of the heart? The obvious answer is that it's not a prayer spoken aloud, rather said in thought, in the heart.

It's also a prayer that fills our whole heart. It's a deep longing, so big, so great, like Hannah's desire for a son. Hannah begged, give to your servant a son, she said. Then she promised. [00:12:00] Then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. God heard the prayer of Hannah's heart and gave her a son.

Surely God wouldn't expect Hannah to give preschool age Samuel back to the temple. Would he? The law of Israel didn't require Hannah to give her son to God. She could have given money instead. But Hannah had promised, more than promised, she had vowed. We live in a world of contracts. We sign on the line, and if we change our minds, we hire a lawyer.

A vow, a covenant, is not a contract. Strangers can enter into contracts one another, but a covenant requires a relationship. It's a promise backed not by lawyers, but by love. Hannah received the desire of her heart, and in obedience, she [00:13:00] gave him back to God. God's promise to Abraham was not just a promise, it was a covenant.

God would also give his very own son to us. To bless the whole world. Yeah,

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: So what do you hope your readers will gain by engaging with this book and with your website and the email resources?

Stephen Grabill: What I really hope is that families can come together. There's so many forces that pull the family apart, right? I mean, even eating together can be a challenge these days, but to grow in faith together, to learn to pray together, to discuss and process life.

Through the lens of faith or through the church year seasons, like Advent and Christmas, that actually requires intentionality [00:14:00] and it requires new habits. And we started doing this 20 years ago, but. we would be very honest with you, Tara, that it was difficult to keep everybody's attention focused, even for five minutes on this.

At times, and what we've seen over the years is that all of our attention spans for faith. have grown because they've become more disciplined. And we have processed so much of our lives through the lenses and through the biblical figures and characters that are discussed in the book and really are discussed in lots of other times and places too.

So creating new habits is essential. And since this book goes through Advent and Christmas, it's literally 37 days and up to epiphany. So if you do anything in whatever new habit for 30 days or [00:15:00] more, it becomes second nature. And what we've found over the years is that giving it five minutes a day, what, what happens is you look back on the season and the entire season seems meaningful.

 And Christ was at the center of that the whole time, not for just a day or two or a Sunday or two, but for that entire time. And that's pretty phenomenal, actually.

Rebecca Grabill: This past year, all of our college students were home and Some of them thought, you know, we're too old for Advent. We're too old to be up there at the table while the younger siblings, , have their chocolate or color their pictures or whatever.

 So we didn't make it a big deal. We just said, okay, we're going to do Advent. So, you know, if you want to stay watching TV or writing your emails or, , doing whatever it is you're going to do, that's okay. But so many nights. We would look up at the end and we would notice that they had drifted from whatever they were doing, [00:16:00] wherever else in the house, they had drifted in and they were just on the outskirts.

They were watching. They wanted to be part of it, community, and the draw of the Holy Spirit. it just, pulled them up the stairs or down the stairs or inside or from wherever they were in the house. 

I would say that speaks into my hope for it. And that would be for individuals and families to really fall in love with Christ like, like Jesus's mother, can you imagine at the nativity she is holding God, she is looking on God's face revealed in human form for the first time ever. It's just. The unspeakable joy of that, I want families to experience that to experience Christ the way Mary did to see her kiss his face and realize came [00:17:00] here for us, for that purpose. 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Holy shenanigans. Comes from an idea that the Holy Spirit or the divine is a part of everyday life that surprises us. And I love to say that it's always sacred and never stuffy because I think about even the story of Christ coming as this newborn baby, in the midst of shepherds and stable and noise and animals.

That's definitely. A very earthy arrival.

Rebecca Grabill: Absolutely.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And I think this book and your work together to help people to be more aware of how the Holy Spirit is showing up in everyday life. So from one Holy shenanigator to another, thank you.

Stephen Grabill: Thank you for the initiation,

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: You're welcome. Is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners?

Stephen Grabill: just to be intentional, to really develop new practices with your family and to [00:18:00] persevere through that, because it's really not easy to do that. And the payoff is in the long term.

Rebecca Grabill: Yeah, exactly. Being intentional is important. And it's also important to remember that Christmas isn't just a single day. Christmas is actually the first day of Christmas and the next 12 days are all a celebration. So I would say like keep the party going. Yes,

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I'm an epiphany baby. 

Stephen Grabill: Oh, 

Rebecca Grabill: Like keep that party going 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: so before I let you go and start preparing for Advent, cause it's not that far away. I wonder if you could give an invocation or a blessing for our listeners to help us make our way to those beginning days of Advent. Let

Stephen Grabill: to do that. And this is a prayer that's taken from the book, The Joy of Advent. this is a prayer that's been adapted from Saint Augustine from the early church so let's [00:19:00] pray. Oh Lord, my God, say to my soul, I am your salvation. Say it so that I can hear it. My heart is listening, Lord. Open the ears of my heart and say to my soul, I am your salvation. Let me run toward this voice and seize hold of you. Amen.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: it be so Steven and Rebecca blessings to you in your journey together as co authors of this beautiful book and as partners in life you and your family. And I really am thankful for advent and the season to come and the focus on joy. So thank you so much for your work.

 And also a shout out to Paraclete Press for connecting us and getting us together for this conversation and for sending me an advanced copy of the book. It's [00:20:00] beautiful. I love it so much. And I'm so glad that we've had the chance to learn more about it in the 20 year journey it's taken to arrive as it is what a gift.

Rebecca Grabill: The Lord laid this on our hearts as something important for our family. And we're just so thrilled that we can give this as a gift to the broader community now too. 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: The book, The Joy of Advent Family Celebrations for Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas is published by Paraclete Press.

 It's in stores now, and I just love it. Thanks to Rebecca and Steven for the conversation today.

 You can find more resources to have a meaningful Advent and Christmas season at thejoyofadvent. com. I'm your [00:21:00] muse, Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman. Thank you for joining me this week on Holy Shenanigans. This podcast is the place of thoughtful conversations that are always sacred, but never stuffy. Thank you for listening.

If you're in northwestern Pennsylvania, please consider joining me in person for Sunday worship at First Presbyterian Church of Warren, Pennsylvania. May this Advent be a season of hope, peace, and love, and especially joy.