Something different for Advent
Prepare the Way for your life with God
It started as a conversation between friends…
Carrie Craig - What should we do for Advent this year? It feels like a particularly hard time for many.
Since we're both on this new platform (Substack), what would it be like to do something different than the traditional Advent course or meditation? Something more conversational…
Cathie Caimano - I like that idea! I feel like it’s the time and place for more of a conversation of what I would call ‘practical’ faith.
Advent is a time set aside to look for light in the darkness - to prepare for God to be born into the world as a baby. Born for us.
Carrie Craig - So what does it mean? What are we preparing for and how do we prepare?
Cathie Caimano - I love those questions! What if we use this format - through both of our Substack accounts, and with the people who follow us - to have this conversation together, in real time? What if we write our own reflections, each week, on themes that matter to us?
Carrie Craig - I think this is a great idea. I'm sure if these themes matter to us, they matter to our readers as well.
Cathie Caimano - Yes! People are in so many different places right now, with their faith and their lives.
The holiday season is not always easy. Many of us are lonely, we’re missing loved ones, we’re struggling, or we just don’t feel up to celebrating right now.
Maybe we just need some quiet, some space.
I love how Advent is a Christian season that is set apart for this exactly. It’s a quiet, counter-cultural time for introspection during the busy holiday season.
It’s a mystical time. A time set aside to look for light in the darkness - to prepare for God to be born into the world as a baby. Born for us.
Advent is about the light of God bursting forth in our lives in unexpected ways.
Carrie Craig - But what does that mean for our daily lives?
Maybe we don't have faith, or we are not sure what having faith means. Where do we find God in our lives, especially when things are hard?
How do we come to understand what it really means for God to emerge in our lives in unexpected ways? What can we do to prepare for this experience?
Cathie Caimano - So, let’s talk about it! From where we are, our own experience - you and me: two Episcopal priests, who both happen to live in North Carolina, with a great deal of experience in the church.
We have a lot in common, and a lot not in common!
I’m pretty traditional in my theology and faith practice - though I’m also kind of an outside-the-box thinker (I am ‘Fr. Cathie’, after all!), and I’m very drawn to the ancient church, and to the broader Christian context.
Carrie Craig - And my theology and faith practice is contemplative in nature, incorporating social justice, and creative expression with interest in practices from other faith traditions.
I, too, am drawn to the ancient Church with interest in how it's ritual can bring meaning to our faith journey today.
Cathie Caimano - OK. Let’s call it Prepare the Way: An Advent Conversation.
We’ll set it up as just that. We’ll take turns reflecting on what I would call ‘dynamic themes’ of how our faith impacts our lives…
How we move from:
Anxiety to Assurance
Confusion to Courage
Uncertainty to Expectation
Discomfort to Joy
Carrie Craig - We can reflect on these themes through the lens of our own lives, and particular practices of the faith: keeping Sabbath, times of Silence, a sense of Journey, and posture of Gratitude.
Each week - starting December 1 - we will share these with each other, and with our readers. We’ll do this for three weeks, and end with two final reflections: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Cathie Caimano - We’ll include prompts for readers to engage in conversation with us, and with God. We want everyone to be a part of it!
Carrie Craig - Great! I’m looking forward to this!
Cathie Caimano - Me, too! Let’s get to work!
Format: Each week in Advent (starting December 1), you’ll receive 4 emails - on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The last reflections will be on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
We’ll use the Christian Practices of Sabbath, Silence, Journey, and Gratitude to explore each of them and deepen our experience of the Advent season - and Prepare the Way for our life with God.
Prepare the Way for conversation this Advent season.
Prepare the Way is part of Your Life with God: an annual 4-part series of guided conversations about the Christian faith and life - your life.
It’s an invitation to explore what you believe within the framework of what Christians have believed and practiced for millennia.
These conversations have an Episcopal Church perspective, yet also draws from the broader Christian tradition. We explore how the church has understood life with Jesus since its beginning. And how you understand it today.
Who are we?
the Rev. Cathie Caimano is the CEO of Free Range Priest, reimagining ministry in the digital age. An Episcopal priest, runner, and eternal optimist.
and the Rev. Carrie Craig is a curious Episcopal priest, disability advocate, and writer. Stretching imaginations through story and conversation
Yes. I need to work on preparing. Thanks for offering a way.
This sounds lovely. Thank you for making it available.