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Pastors create Advent calendar to share hope with world

Dec. 9, 2005

NOTE: Art is available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Feature
By Sandra Brands*

Each year, as the Rev. Tom Mousin and the Rev. Merry Watters of the
United Methodist Church's Troy Annual Conference release the yearly
Advent calendar they create, they wait, appropriately enough for the
season, to see how far their gift to others will travel.

"While we have distributed it to churches in Troy Conference, there are
also many friends and colleagues beyond the United Methodist Church who
look forward to using it each year," says Mousin, an elder in the
conference now on honorable location.

For nearly two decades, the pastors have been producing the calendar,
which counts down each day of December. They view it as a gift to
whomever can use it.

"I know some folks who make copies and send them out instead of
Christmas cards," Mousin says. "One reason we have reproduced (the
calendar) in black and white is that many people like to color in each
day as they move through the month.

"I still recall getting a letter from a woman who wrote that she and her
husband read each devotion at the breakfast table every morning," he
says. "What was remarkable about this was that while she had a vibrant
spiritual life and was an active member of her church, her husband never
participated in that dimension of her life. She commented that the
Advent calendar was the first experience they had in their married life
of a shared devotional time.

"It's just fun for the two of us to give this gift, and really give it
in secret because we don't know where it goes," says Watters, pastor at
First United Methodist Church in Saranac, N.Y. "I have a friend,
Presbyterian, in Florida who uses it as a placemat for their Advent
dinner; another friend in England who distributes it to her
congregation. One woman told us she put it up in front of her exercise
bike, and as she exercised, she reflected on the devotions."

Watters began creating an Advent calendar in 1987 as a gift for her
first congregation at Essex Center, Vt.

"I did it on a typewriter," she says. "I sketched a couple of things,
used clip arts, but essentially it was similar to what we do today."

She sent copies of the calendar to her colleagues, including Mousin. "He
called me and said it was a great idea and asked if he could do some art
for it."

In 1988, the pair produced their first calendar together. "Looking back
at it, the first one looks pretty ancient," Watters says. "We
streamlined it so there's a lot less writing. We've made it a lot more
accessible."

Mousin began writing a poem for the calendar in 1991. Watters says
Mousin's poem sets the tone for the calendar, and the meditations and
suggestions for activities are inspired by his art and poems.

The two usually work on the calendar separately, though they do discuss
ideas for the calendar.

"Often, I look at the lectionary texts for the season as a starting
place for writing a poem," Mousin says. "Other times, events of the year
pull me in a particular direction.

This year, for example, the poem was influenced by the reality of seeing
so many lives uprooted - whether by tsunami, hurricanes, earthquake or
warfare - and the pain and uncertainty that resulted from those events.
The poem and overall design thus emerged with thoughts about the meaning
of 'home.'"

In recent years, Mousin says he writes the poem so that it can be used
as an Advent hymn. "This year's poem is written in common meter and can
be sung to any tune with that metrical setting. One possibility would be
'Morning Has Broken,' Hymn 145 in the United Methodist Hymnal," he said.

Once Watters receives the poem, she begins seeking material for the
devotions. In addition to the lectionary, she also uses A Guide to
Prayer by Bishop Rueben Job, which offers suggestions for more reading.

This year, she sought passages that reflected the poem's yearning and
hope. "Hope is a hallmark of this year's poem," she says. "At this cold
time of year, we may feel despair and hopelessness, but there is hope.
We are watching for the star. We are watching for God's presence in our
life."

The readings are shorter this year, Watters says, so that families with
children would be able to use it together.

"To some degree, the meaning of Advent over the last 15 years has been
shaped by the process of creating the calendar," Mousin says. "In my
life, if a primary theme for Lent is repentance, then a primary theme
for Advent has become renewal."

"It's been a privilege for us to do it," Watters says. "People ask for
it each year and it starts the season off for us in a good way."

The Advent calendar can be downloaded from the Troy Conference Web site
at www.troyac.org.

*Brands is director of communications for the United Methodist Church's
Troy Annual Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org