Advent
8a : Making Room On The Stairs
Stairs are a strange
place. For a start, they are a liminal
space, a ‘between-spaces’ – neither upstairs nor downstairs but between the
two. They have a clear, and fairly limited,
functional purpose; but are in fact used in several others ways too.
The bottom step is the
‘naughty step’ – a place of ‘time out’ for a child who is in need of calming
down, a temporary exclusion from shared space, in order that the child – who
experiences strong emotions, and has not yet learnt the mastery of them – can
be brought back into the fold, into the embrace of the family.
If you are British, you
may well know of the step half-way up, or down, the stairs, which is a place to
sit and ponder on the big questions of life – or, at least, for a child to
ponder the questions that are big to them (the tragedy of most children is that
as they grow they have the pondering knocked out of them by the arrogance of
adults, who know so very much) – immortalised by AA Milne.
The stairs are also a
place of risk. I think all five members
of my family – three children and two adults – have slipped and fallen down the
stairs on at least one occasion.
The stairs are also a
place of memories. On the wall around
our stairs we have photographs of each of our children, as babies, and the
cross-stitch sampler their mother made to commemorate each of their
births. On the window ledge at the top
of our stairs there are photographs of our god-children. Like the baby Jesus, none of those babies
exist – scour the universe and you won’t find them – but they are all still
alive. This is a moment in time we
revisit, with thanks for the gift, and recognising what has become and is yet
to become of them.
How might we make space
for Jesus on the stairs in Advent? Here
are some ideas.
If your stairs are
warm, they are a good place to sit and to read again the Christmas story (we
have a collection of retellings, for children of all ages) – a story of real
risk, from start to finish;
Likewise, the half-way
stair is a good place to sit and reflect on the one in whom heaven (upstairs)
and earth (downstairs) are brought-together; on the one in whom the past (his
nativity) and the future (his return in glory) touch the present; and a good
place to reflect on the liminal tension of living now between the first and
second coming of our Lord;
Place an envelope on
each step of the stairs, allocated to each day (if you don’t have enough stairs
for one per each day in Advent, try doing this in four weekly rotations). In each envelope, place an Advent challenge:
to listen to a CD of Christmas music; to re-read the Christmas story; to donate
goods to a local charity supporting those who are particularly vulnerable at
this time of year; to make an Advent decoration...
Sit on the naughty step
and have a conversation with the one who is both spotless Lamb of God and the
Good Shepherd, who came to bring us back into his fold.
Advent:
making room for Jesus – on the stairs.
Advent
8b : Making Room Under The Stairs
Our first home together
as a couple had open-plan stairs: with no banisters, and no boxed-off space
underneath. The estate agent who showed
us around clearly saw it as a barrier to be overcome in selling the property,
but we loved it: it added real character to the room. We positioned our bookshelves and my
favourite armchair under the stairs, and the space became a mini-den while
still being part of the living space.
And many was the time when we had up to twenty young adults piled into
the room, including sat all the way up the stairs, eating cake and sharing the
stories of our lives.
Another house had two
cupboards under the stairs. One was
small and for the most part inaccessible, and in it we kept most of the gear we
use when we go camping. The other was a
closet in which we kept those things we wanted to hand, but not under-foot
(though they are, I suppose, under foot whenever we climb the stairs) – the
vacuum cleaner, the ironing board, the tool box, the sewing box, some art and
craft material, gift-wrap, a selection of small presents appropriate for when
our children are invited to classmates birthday parties.
How might we make space
for Jesus under the stairs in Advent?
God has made each one
of us with unique personality, unique gifts.
Perhaps you have been told that who you are is more of a liability than
a positive feature: perhaps Advent needs to be a season to make space to hear,
or hear again, God’s perspective.
Why not use Advent as
an opportunity to ‘get out’ and ‘dust down’ gifts that you have been given, but
which you haven’t used or exercised for a while?
Why not use Advent as
an opportunity to ‘sort through’ gifts that you use on a regular basis:
by doing a spiritual
health-check, including asking God what things he wants you to focus on, what
things he wants you to teach someone else to do, and what things he wants you
to lay down for someone else to take up;
or by investing in a
particular gift by engaging with a training event (even if this means
planning/booking on to an event in the new year) or relevant material in
book/audio/video format?
Advent:
making room for Jesus – under the stairs.
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