Advent Devotional by Kristen Drumgoole

Colossians 3:12-17

Dance Your Prayers Before God. (Colossians 3: 16)

December 26. Oh, the letdown. I remember being a child and crying hot tears as I went to bed on December 25, because while I knew I would wake up and have wonderful toys to play with and books to read, that magical build-up to Christmas was over. I loved Christmas day, but for me, the magic was in the waiting. The eager anticipation. The Christmas concerts and tree decorating and cookie baking and present shaking. It was the rising action in my personal holiday-spirited story, reaching a fever pitch on December 25. Only to land with a devastating crash the following day.

As an adult, I find the post-Christmas letdown is often accompanied by a return to the worries I tried hard to set aside in pursuit of Christmas joy. There’s no ignoring them when the merriment has ceased, and they often weigh heavy.

Today’s passage is Colossians 3:12-17. It is rich, and I could write many inadequate words, attempting to extract wisdom from it. Instead, I want to share a snippet of the passage from the First Nations Version, an indigenous translation of the New Testament (a precious gift to me from a dear friend and 2BC member). Verse 16 encourages us to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, “as you dance your prayers before the Great Spirit with glad and thankful hearts” (FNV, 2021).

Isn’t that a beautiful image? Dance your prayers and your worries before God. Don’t let them stay only in your head, but feel the full weight of them in your body. Then dance. Release. Let go. Your dance may be a walk in the cold, a scrawled prayer in a journal, or a vigorous post-Christmas cleaning (if that feels meditative to you). Whatever it is, I hope you embrace it instead of pushing it aside. And may the peace of God flood the place in your body, mind, and spirit where that worry used to live (and may well return to inhabit again tomorrow, in which case, you return to the dance).

Grace and peace to you in the dancing, on December 26 and always. Amen.

Kristen Drumgoole

IVP, an imprint of InterVarsity Press. (2021). Colossians 3:12-17. In First Nations version: An indigenous translation of the New Testament (pp. 369–370).