Jan Richardson: Places where words alone cannot take us
Moving from darkness to light is part of the Advent journey for an artist, writer and minister who uses the arts to encourage contemplation during the season.
Advent
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Kyle Childress: Old pickups and Advent
At this time of year, a Texas pastor sees much more in his 1977 F-100 than a cantankerous truck and memories of the grandfather he loved. Is an old pickup preparing him for Advent?
Ed Moore: Advent, baptism and blow-dryers
The cult of consumption requires more than the occasional Advent sermon cautioning against “losing the real meaning of the season.” What if Advent became a season of baptismal renewal?
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Resources for Advent and Christmas
Begin your preparations for Advent and Christmas with resources from Faith & Leadership. These sermons, essays and stories invite you into the wonder, challenge and messiness of a season of waiting and then a season of light and joy.
Beth Felker Jones: On a collision course at Advent
December is a time for the familiar cycle of work deadlines and family obligations for a professor at Wheaton College. But Advent overrides these obligations with its season of expectation and hope.
Charlene Brown: Impatiently waiting
The search for a church committed to racial reconciliation didn’t go quickly. But the waiting for it, like the waiting of Advent, was a time to learn to love God and neighbor and find miracles in small and surprising places.
Michael Pasquarello: An impossibly pregnant church
Like Mary, we have been called to be fertile, to be a church from which the Spirit brings forth much fruitfulness and life, says the professor of preaching at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Daniel Vestal: Attentiveness at Advent
The former executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship reflects on spiritual practices that help him experience holy moments in the busyness of Advent and Christmas.
Nancy S. Taylor: Magnify
Mary’s Song is a reminder to all Christians that in saying yes to God, Mary also said no to all that is ungodly, says the senior minister and CEO of Old South Church in Boston.
Allison Backous: Bent to wonder
After recalling the frenetic pace of past Christmas seasons, a writer commits to celebrate Advent as it should be -- a time to embrace desire and hope.