12.6.2023
Roundup 005. More Resources for Advent and Saying Goodbyes.
A week ago, we sent our dear friends Nick and Kim Bogardus to Michigan, where he will serve as an executive Pastor at Woodside Bible Church. We already miss them.
I met Nick in April 2011 at the Yost Theater in Downtown Santa Ana. He was leading an interest meeting regarding planting a church in Orange County. I joined the church, and well, the rest is history.
It's hard to quantify how much Nick (and Kim) have impacted my life over the past 13 years, so I'll say this. I would not be who I am today without their influence.
When I was single, I spent most of my Tuesday evenings in their living room, reading scripture and attempting to apply it to my life. Nick and I often did the dishes together afterward and had some of our best conversations there.
When I began dating Megan, Nick and Kim invited us over, vetted her, and welcomed her into their lives.
When Megan and I got engaged, they took us through pre-marital counseling, and Nick wed us in a Covid-era backyard wedding during the pandemic.
When Megan's Dad passed away in April of 2021, Nick was the first person to call and pray for us, which he continued to do long after others had forgotten or moved on.
Nick called me to do hard things, to trust God and obey him even when I didn't want to. To lean into suffering and allow the Holy Spirit to work on me.
He also taught me to love fitness, smoked meats, how to open our home to practice hospitality, and that throwing an excellent neighborhood block party is biblical.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 says, "We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work."
Nick, I honor you, brother, and thank you for your excellent work here in Orange County. We are praying for joy in this next season of life.
Thank you for everything.
(Related, this post from First Things, entitled, "Sweet Land of Michigan", which is where they will now reside.)
More Advent Resources
Last week I shared a few resources for Advent which primarily focused on devotional books and music to listen to. While I stand by both of those, I wanted to offer a few more practical resources.
Observing Advent At Home - “We don’t keep the rhythms of the church calendar out of traditionalism. We mark time Christianly in order to honor Jesus, the Lord of ages whose Advent starts a new age of human history. We observe the church calendar to evangelize time.”
For Megan and I, it looks like this.
Reading, Praying, and Lighting the Advent Candles as often as we can. We like to do this in the evening when things aren’t so rushed. While I’m using Jonny Gibson’s “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” in the mornings, our church has a good resource for couples and families that we’ll use at night. Here it is.
Celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas. From December 26th - January 6th, we will try to “pleasure stack” our days with as many good things as we can. This season of Christmastide ought to be reclaimed by Christians with rich celebrations and feasting.
Cocktails and Carols. We throw a party every year, typically the first weekend of December, and go through Justin Whitmel Earley’s Advent Liturgy called, “Cocktails and Carols”. Big idea, get some friends together, pre-batch some cocktails, read the liturgy, and sing some Advent Hymns and Carols. Here’s a link to the liturgy.
Reading
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - I am embarrassed to admit that I have never read anything by Charles Dickens before. Well, maybe that’s not true and maybe I read Dickens in high school. But that was a long time ago and I have no memory of it. So, I’m reading Dickens now and while I’m just a few pages in I can truly say “The book is better than the movie”
If you need any more inspiration to read Dickens, here’s a great post from School of the Uncomformed.
Listening
Watching
We stumbled on this Netflix special, directed by Sofia Coppola, featuring an excellent ensemble cast. While it won’t end up on anyone's “must-watch” list, we enjoyed it.
Until next week…