How do you see your world, your life, and yourself? 

How do you describe the life you’ve lived up to this point? What is your picture of your life right now and what dream do you cling to for your future? What is your vision of the world as it is and as you wish it could be? And where do all of these pictures originate? If we have learned anything in the last few years, it’s that we don’t all see things in the same way. It is easy to fall into the temptation of thinking that what we see in our world and in our lives is real and true. It’s easy to believe that our vision is simply a reflection of the way things are. But to cling to that belief is to deceive ourselves.

Everything we see is a perspective. 
When we are unaware of this, we are left at the mercy of unexamined points of view and interpretations. But if we are willing to recognise that our vision is distorted, we can be intentional about how we see, what we see, and how our chosen vision creates the world in which we live.  

And that’s why Advent is such a powerful and transforming season in the Christian Calendar. In the journey from Advent Sunday to New Year’s Day, we are invited to open our eyes, hearts, minds, and souls to a new vision of reality. We are given a Divine Vision that empowers us to see more clearly and live more fully, authentically and creatively. 


VISION QUEST

 Introducing Vision Quest - See more clearly: 
a new Liturgical Guide for Advent and Christmas from Sacredise.com.
Based on the Lectionary readings for Year A (the Gospel of Matthew), each week of Vision Quest offers a new vision of God and God’s perspective on our world as seen in the Scriptures. 

VISION QUEST is available in three options: 
 VISION QUEST Liturgical Guide 
With purpose written liturgies that include specific prayers and rituals for gathering, listening, responding and integrating, Vision Quest is more than just a resource. It’s a journey of transformation that will open your eyes to see everything more clearly in the light of the Divine Vision. 

 VISION QUEST Devotional Guide 
For congregations or individuals that want to follow an intentional Advent journey, the Vision Quest Devotional Guide offers clear and practical devotional guidelines for every day from Advent Sunday to 5 January (which is the last day of the Christmas season). And if your church is following the Liturgical Guide in your worship services, the Vision Quest Devotional Guide seamlessly connects your personal journey with the journey of your community, making it even more meaningful and inspiring.

 VISION QUEST Bundle
Designed for communities that want to journey together, while also providing a meaningful personal journey for congregation members, the bundle includes both the Liturgical and the Devotional Guides.  It also includes a license to share the devotional guides through any or all of the following channels:
 Printed handouts to distribute to congregation members;
Digital copies sent to members via email;
Posted on your church's social media channels;
Posted on your church's website.

VISION QUEST
Liturgical Guide includes:
● Prayers, liturgies and rituals for every week (including a weekly Advent candle lighting liturgy);
● Sermon starter chapters for every service of the series;
● A Hanging of the Greens ritual for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres for Advent Sunday;
● A purpose written script for a Nine Lessons and Carols service;
● A purpose-written Table Liturgy that can be used on any Sunday through Advent and Christmas, including Christmas Day;
● Decor suggestions with printable icons for each week of the series
● Theme-based graphics for your projection software, including welcome screens and backgrounds for song lyrics, liturgies, and sermon notes.

VISION QUEST
Devotional Guide includes:
● Reflection chapters for every day from Advent Sunday to 5 January;
● Prayers, response exercises, and integration practices for every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons;
● Daily guided reflections to enable you to listen more deeply to the Scriptures and apply them to your life
● Additional Scripture readings to add more insight and guidance for your journey.

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VISION QUEST
includes the following chapters:

Advent Sunday: A Vision of Divine Presence
One of the best ways to learn to open our eyes to the vision of God’s Presence is to make a habit of looking for things to wonder about. It’s not easy to learn to pay attention, to stay alert in this turbulent world, but it is worth the effort. Paying attention and seeing the Divine Presence even in the midst of the pain, can help us to live a little easier and sleep a little more restoratively.

Advent 2: A Vision of Divine Purpose
God does indeed have a purpose for the Cosmos and for every one of us who live in it. Our most important purpose is to trust that who we have been created to be is enough and to seek to live our truest, most authentic lives possible. And when we do this then, even when we’re not trying, we will usually find that we do make a positive mark on the world.

Advent 3: A Vision of Divine Prestige
It can be tempting to interpret Jesus’ teaching as creating a new prestige system based on turning the world’s values upside-down. But that’s not what Jesus meant at all. Rather, Jesus sought to do away with prestige, with valuing some people over others. And until we learn to see the sacredness and dignity in every one of God’s creatures (including human beings), we haven’t really understood the reign of God or the incarnation at all.

Advent 4 / Christmas Eve: A Vision of Divine Process
God is always at work in our lives and world. But we don’t always see it because our vision is not attuned to the Divine Process. It can be hard to break free of the patterns of thinking and seeing that are drilled into us by our culture, religion, family, and society. But as we train our vision to notice the hidden Presence of God, so what we see and how we see changes, and we find ourselves living in a very different world—one that is saturated with sacredness and in which the reign of God becomes more evident every day.

Christmas Day: A Vision of Divine Pleasure
It is not hard to focus on the pain and suffering in our lives and world. We do that without thinking. But it is joy and pleasure that give us the strength and motivation to keep going when life is tough. Sometimes, in our very Christian approach to joy, we put a lid on anything that is too raucous, wild, or unrestrained. But pleasure is God’s idea. Nothing heals us, lifts our spirits, soothes our souls, and restores our hope like an experience of deep pleasure or a good, long belly-laugh! If there’s one gift we all need to receive this Christmas, it’s a new vision of God’s Pleasure and the courage to dive as deep into it as we can.

Christmas 1 / New Year's Eve: A Vision of Divine Compassion
It costs nothing to smile at strangers, make space for others in a crowded subway, or be considerate on the roads. Every day offers us hundreds of chances to be kind, if we will only recognise them and respond. And the more we practice compassion, the more aware we will become of opportunities to show compassion and the easier it will be to offer kindness. Imagine what this year could be like if even just a few of us made the commitment to recognise the Divine Spirit within us and others and to live with compassion, knowing that whatever we do to the people around us we do to Christ.