Advent for the Overwhelmed
Anticipation, darkness, hope, waiting – it seems like Advent started in March this year. This might explain why I haven’t been the most willing participant. After I set up my candles and wreath, I almost forgot about it. The candles have been lit only briefly and the free seasonal devotionals are still sitting in my email inbox. I was a bit overwhelmed by it all.
Instead of diving headfirst into daily readings or weekly devotionals, I explored a “small bites” approach. Smaller portions helped prevent impending overwhelm and still gave me plenty to reflect on.
In case you’ve also felt a little disinterested or fatigued, I wanted to share a handful of quotes and images that helped me honor the season. Sometimes less is more.
This IG post series on decolonizing advent from Erna Kim Hackett.
“The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before… What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.”
— Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas
“Into this world, this demented inn
in which there is absolutely no room for him at all,
Christ comes uninvited.”
― Thomas Merton
“…And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas
And finally, this image and quote from Britney Winn Lee.
How did you approach Advent this year? Did it look any different than before?
Wishing every one of you a merry and wonder-full Christmas!
Read more on my journey through the liturgical calendar.
