advent recommendations
the season of Advent begins this Sunday, prepare to prepare
It’s the week after Thanksgiving, but it’s not Advent yet. And Advent doesn’t start on Friday, December 1, regardless of what this cat-treat-advent-calendar-from-target that Rosie convinced me to buy tells me.
I’m not here to police your Advent practice, I’m just saying you still have time. I love having a full week between Thanksgiving and Advent. I love preparing to prepare.
This year we have the shortest possible Advent season (following last year’s longest-possible Advent season): the first Sunday of Advent is December 3, and the final Sunday of Advent lands on Christmas Eve. Advent is a deep breath in the dark before Christmas; it’s a season of longing and longest nights, of expectation and self-examination, of looking for Jesus coming and coming again.
Since you still have time, here are some recommendations. None are affiliate links, just things I like:
If the practice of Advent is totally new to you, the podcast And Also With You has an episode introducing it.
For everyone, especially this year: my friend Kelley Nikondeha’s The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope.
For animal-lovers, instead of (ok, along with) that cat advent calendar: All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings by Gayle Boss. (There’s also a new edition of this for kids, which looks beautiful.) Really this is a great little devotional read for anyone who wants something different, or to attend more to the rest of the created world.
For small children: this reusable advent calendar nativity scene has been in my home since the kids were little. At one point, when they were toddlers, I had a simple script I used with it as we opened each day’s compartment.1
For poetry lovers: Victoria Emily Jones has two years worth of poetry advent calendar at Art and Theology.
For the preachers: since Advent is the start of a new church year, it means we’re turning to the Year B lectionary readings, which will focus on Mark’s gospel. I stacked my library with Joel Marcus’s commentary.
For music lovers: my old advent playlist, my favorite pandemic Christmas playlist, my Christmas-but-not playlist, my best of Christmas playlist, my favorite original Christmas song.
Finally: say no to things. Stay home and cuddle. Say it’s too dark to leave the house, and build a fire and read a book and think about the new year starting this Sunday, December 3, and who you are and who you want to be and what you’re looking for and where you’re looking. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
xo,
Where Goodness Still Grows is available wherever books are sold. Dangerous Territory is now available in an updated second edition: buy it in paperback or ebook at Bookshop, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. (Audiobook coming soon!)
Something like this: The idea is that you read the same lines for the first four days, then you add a few lines every couple of days afterword, until Dec 24, when you're reading the whole story.
Day 1-4 (add the stars)
It was hard to see, because of sin. (Is. 9:2)
God said, “The true light that gives light to everyone is coming into the world!” (John 1:9)
Days 5-10 (add the wise men and camels)
God wrote his message in the Bible and in the sky. “A baby is coming to save you!” he said. (Is. 9:6)
Wise men read the message in the stars and began to follow them to find the baby Jesus.
Days 11-16 (add an angel, Mary, Joseph, donkey, and two cows)
An angel told Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus. While Mary was pregnant, she and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to stay with Joseph’s family. The house was full of people, so they slept in the room with the animals.
Days 16-23 (add an angel, shepherds, sheep)
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born.
An angel announced the good news to shepherds in a field nearby, who were keeping watch over their sheep at night. “Your savior was born today! He is Christ the Lord! You will find the baby laying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11-12)
Day 24 (add baby Jesus)
The shepherds hurried to find the baby Jesus, and they worshiped him and thanked God for sending a great light to show the way.
I read All Creation Waits last year and thought about it all year. Looking forward to revisiting it again. So different from the typical, and so profound in its message.