24 Days of Nooma

I like Christmastime.
I like the idea that we can actually meditate and reflect on the birth of Christ among the chaos and commercialism. It certainly is hard to do.

Remember how there was no room at the inn for the very pregnant Mary, Joseph and the Christ child? Well, I think the same question applies to us today. Will we prepare him room this time of year? Are our thoughts and schedules more consumed with online gift purchasing, credit card debt, shopping mall insanity, or the newborn baby sleeping peacefully in a manger?

I try to create space in my heart.

Over they years, I try to create meaningful Christmas moments & times of reflection. Times of appreciation. A way to actually enjoy the season, for what it's worth.

I have always been a lover of poetry. Last year I became aware of, and intrigued by Advent Poetry. Poems celebrating and anticipating the arrival of Christ in the flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. Then, by chance or divine luck, I happened to stumble upon this great blog.

adventpoetry.blogspot.com

I think it was started by one of the members of Jars of Clay (Charlie Lowell). He posted a poem a day, starting November 30, leading up to the day that we celebrate Christmas. The title of his very first blog was "Welcome! Come in and slow down."

Slow down. Pause. Breathe. Enjoy.

I read one poem a day. It was a wonderful experience and I encourage you to try it. May you enjoy it as I did.

This year, I wanted to do a similar daily observation around the Christmas season.
I have always been a fan of Rob Bell. I was familiar with his Nooma films, but I had only seen 2 or 3 of them. At some point, I knew that I wanted to watch them all, perhaps in some creative or meaningful way. I saw that he created 24 of them over the past 10 years. Wait, 24? Do you see where this is going?

I approached my wife with the idea of watching a Nooma film every night, starting December 1 and leading up to Christmas. 'Twas a perfect plan!

So, here we are, half way through our Christmas-Nooma watching experience. Man, it's been great. You gotta love that cute digital "Nooma" voice that introduces each film.

So far my favorite ones are Rhythm and Dust (the latter really blowing my mind.)

There are many things I appreciate about Rob.
His creativity.
His writing style.
His gifted delivery.
His gentle questioning.
His authenticity.
His Jewish-Hebrew context emphasis.
His ability to facilitate engaging spiritual conversation.

And that's what me and my wife have been enjoying this Christmas season.
Each night, we watch a Nooma, and we talk. About God, about Jesus, about the Spirit, about the scriptures. You may comment that Nooma films have nothing to do with Christmas, but I can tell you that I am looking forward to December 25 nonetheless.