Archive for the ‘Advent’ Category

An Illuminated Advent – 2023

November 21, 2023

Illuminated Advent Retreat

ILLUMINATED 2023
December 3 – December 27
New for this Advent!

Beloved friends, I am so happy to share that registration for this year’s online Advent retreat is open! I can hardly begin to tell you all the ways this retreat holds my heart, and how much I am looking forward to it in this particular year. I would love to spend the season in your company.

In a chaotic time, this retreat will offer a space of elegant simplicity. Intertwining writing, art, music, and community, this online journey creates spaces of reflection and rest that you can enter into from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you.

Info & registration:
ILLUMINATED ADVENT RETREAT

This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your holiday schedule! It is about helping you enter deeply into a season that shimmers with mystery and possibility, solace and hope. It is especially designed to fit easily into whatever your Advent days might hold. We love hearing from people who say this retreat helps them breathe and engage the season.

Individual, group, and congregational rates are available. (And we have a very flexible definition of “congregation”!) We have gift registrations, too. Questions? Be sure to visit our Illuminated FAQ page.

I am grateful for you and sending you so many blessings as Advent draws near.

An Illuminated Advent – 2022

November 9, 2022

Illuminated Advent Retreat

ILLUMINATED 2022
An Online Journey into the Heart of Christmas
November 27 – December 27

Beloved friends, I am thrilled to share that registration for this year’s online Advent retreat is open! I can hardly begin to tell you all the ways this retreat holds my heart, and how much I am looking forward to it in this particular year. I would love to spend the season in your company.

In a chaotic time, this retreat will offer a space of elegant simplicity. Intertwining writing, art, music, and community, this online journey creates spaces of reflection and rest that you can enter into from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you.

Info & registration:
ILLUMINATED ADVENT RETREAT

This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your holiday schedule! It is about helping you enter deeply into a season that shimmers with mystery and possibility, solace and hope. It is especially designed to fit easily into whatever your Advent days might hold. I love hearing from people who say this retreat helps them breathe and engage the season.

Individual, group, and congregational rates are available. (And we have a very flexible definition of “congregation”!) We have gift registrations, too. Questions? Be sure to visit our FAQ page for the retreat.

I am grateful for you and sending you so many blessings as Advent draws near.

An Illuminated Advent – 2021

November 3, 2021

Illuminated 2021 Retreat

ILLUMINATED 2021
An Online Journey into the Heart of Christmas
November 28 – December 27

Beloved friends, I am thrilled to share the news that registration for this year’s online Advent retreat is now open! I can hardly begin to tell you all the ways this retreat holds my heart, and how much I am looking forward to it in this particular year. I would love to spend the season in your company! In a chaotic time, this retreat will offer a space of elegant simplicity. Intertwining writing, art, music, and community, this online journey creates spaces of reflection and rest that you can enter into from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you.

Info & registration:
ILLUMINATED ADVENT RETREAT

This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your holiday schedule! It is about helping you enter deep into a season that shimmers with mystery and possibility, solace and hope. It is especially designed to fit easily into whatever your Advent days might hold. I love hearing from people who say this retreat helps them breathe and engage the season.

Individual, group, and congregational rates are available. (And we have a very flexible definition of “congregation”!) Questions? Be sure to visit our FAQ page for the retreat.

I am grateful for you and sending you so many blessings as Advent draws near.

An Illuminated Advent – 2020

November 10, 2020

Illuminated 2020 retreat-banner

ILLUMINATED 2020
An Online Journey into the Heart of Christmas
November 29 – December 26

Beloved friends, it has been hard to wrap my head around what the season of Advent might look like this year. But I do know this: I will be offering a new online Advent retreat, and I would love to spend the season in your company! Registration is now open for the Illuminated 2020 Advent Retreat. In a chaotic time, this retreat will offer a space of elegant simplicity. Intertwining writing, art, music, and community, this online journey creates spaces of reflection and rest that you can enter into from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you.

I am excited that this year, for the first time, the Illuminated Retreat will be based on my book Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas. Whether you are new to Night Visions or are someone who returns to it each year, I invite you to join us for this unique chance to travel through it together. (Purchasing the book is not necessary.)

Info & registration:
ILLUMINATED ADVENT RETREAT

This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your holiday schedule! It is about helping you enter deep into this season that shimmers with mystery and possibility, solace and hope. It is especially designed to fit easily into whatever your Advent days might hold. I love hearing from people who say this retreat helps them breathe and engage the season.

Individual, group, and congregational rates are available. (And we have a very flexible definition of “congregation”!) Questions? Be sure to visit our FAQ page for the retreat.

I am grateful for you and sending you so many blessings as Advent draws near.

Advent 2: Prepare, Prepare

December 6, 2019

Blessing the Way © Jan Richardson

Readings for Advent 2, Year A:
Matthew 3.1-12; Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13

When John the Baptist comes over that wilderness horizon, smelling of camel’s hair, his lips dripping with honey and with fire, he is pointing toward a way that we can make only by what we give up, what we shed, what we let go of.

—from Advent 2: A Road Runs Through It

Prepare, prepare. As we approach the second Sunday of Advent, we hear again those words about a way that is being made, and a call to make ready for the One who will travel it toward us. In a season that gives us a stunning constellation of hopeful texts, this one strikes me as one of the most hopeful of all: that in the wilderness, amidst whatever chaos and uncertainty it holds, a path is being made for the One who comes to meet us, who persists in seeking us out again and again. And I wonder, what is the way that needs to be made ready in me, that I might meet the Christ who is already drawing close?

I’ve gathered up a blessing for you, along with earlier reflections on this Sunday’s readings. And I want  you to know there is still time to join us for the Illuminated 2019 Advent Retreat! I would love to travel with you on that online journey. You’ll find info below.

In all your preparing, may you know peace. I offer gratitude and blessings for you in these days.

Prepare
A Blessing for Advent

Strange how one word
will so hollow you out.
But this word
has been in the wilderness
for months.
Years.

This word is what remained
after everything else
was worn away
by sand and stone.
It is what withstood
the glaring of sun by day,
the weeping loneliness of
the moon at night.

Now it comes to you
racing out of the wild,
eyes blazing
and waving its arms,
its voice ragged with desert
but piercing and loud
as it speaks itself
again and again:

Prepare, prepare.

It may feel like
the word is leveling you,
emptying you
as it asks you
to give up
what you have known.

It is impolite
and hardly tame,
but when it falls
upon your lips
you will wonder
at the sweetness,

like honey
that finds its way
into the hunger
you had not known
was there.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons


— PREVIOUS REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR THIS SUNDAY —

Matthew 3.1-12

Advent 2: A Road Runs Through It
Door 9: Making Way

Related Reflections on the Gospel

Advent 2: Dreaming the Road
Advent 2: A Blessing for Preparing
Advent 2: Blessing the Way
Advent 2: The Mystery of Approach
A Way in the Wilderness

Isaiah 11:1-10

Door 4: A Cow and a Bear Walk into a Bar
Door 6: A Time to Root Around

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Door 5: In Which I Go in Search of My Inner Savior

Romans 15:4-13

Advent 2: Blessing of Hope


There’s still time to join!
— ILLUMINATED 2019 ONLINE ADVENT RETREAT —

Intertwining reflections, art, music, and community, the Illuminated retreat is a great way to travel toward Christmas in contemplation and conversation from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you. For info and registration, visit the overview page at Illuminated 2019 or click the Illuminated icon below:




If you’re hungry for an experience that draws you into the season without feeling like it’s one more thing to add to your schedule, this might just be for you.

Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image “Blessing the Way,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Advent Door possible. Advent special: During Advent, subscribe to Jan Richardson Images and receive unlimited digital downloads for use in worship for only $125 per year (regularly $165). Click here to subscribe.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this site without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Advent 1: Into the Wild Swirl

November 25, 2019

Where Advent Begins © Jan Richardson

Lectionary Readings for Advent 1, Year A:
Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44

It is almost Advent, again! Even as I anticipate the arrival of a season that’s dear to me, I am keenly aware that the anniversary of Gary’s death falls on the second day of Advent. So I know all too well what a mix the holidays can be—that for so many people, December is a wild swirl of sorrow and stress. More than one person has told me they wish they could just crawl under the blankets until the season passes.

I understand that wish entirely. I have also come to know in my bones the hope that lives so deeply in this season. The story of Advent is the story of love that comes to be with each of us, no matter what. It’s as if Advent were custom-made for those who are brokenhearted or in pain or simply dizzy with all that life can hold.

In the midst of my own Advent swirl, I am hugely glad and grateful that I will be sharing the season with others on the Illuminated Advent Retreat—the new online journey I’ll be leading throughout December. And I want to say that if the holidays are hard for you, I would love for you to consider joining us, and entering into a space of sanctuary that invites you to breathe and to listen for the hope at the heart of this season.

And if you simply love Advent and are looking for a different way to enter more deeply into the gifts that these days hold, I would love for you to join us, too! You’ll find info about the retreat below.

Here at The Advent Door blog, we are entering our thirteenth season. As we begin Advent anew, I’ve gathered up a collection of reflections for you from previous years; you’ll find them below as well.

Wherever this new season leads you, I wish you so many blessings and pray these days will hold wonders for you.


— ILLUMINATED 2019 ONLINE ADVENT RETREAT —

Intertwining reflections, art, music, and community, the Illuminated retreat is a great way to travel toward Christmas in contemplation and conversation from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you. For info and registration, visit the overview page at Illuminated 2019 or click the Illuminated icon below:




If you’re hungry for an experience that draws you into the season without feeling like it’s just one more thing to add to your schedule, this is for you. We have individual, group, and congregational rates available. You can also give the retreat as a gift!


— PREVIOUS REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR THIS SUNDAY —

Matthew 24:36-44

Advent 1: The Vigil Kept for Us
Advent 1: Where Advent Begins

Related Reflections on the Gospel

Advent 1: Blessing When the World Is Ending
Advent 1: Drawing Near
Advent 1: In Which We Stay Awake
Advent 1: Practicing the Apocalypse
Advent 1: Through the Door

Romans 13:11-14

Door 2: Sleeping with Kilian


Using Jan’s artwork

To use the image “Where Advent Begins” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Advent Door possible. Advent special: During Advent, subscribe to Jan Richardson Images and receive unlimited digital downloads for use in worship for only $125 per year (regularly $165). Click here to subscribe.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this site without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

An Illuminated Advent – 2019

October 23, 2019


ILLUMINATED 2019
An Online Journey into the Heart of Christmas
December 1-27

Friends, I am thrilled to say that registration is now open for the new Illuminated 2019 Advent Retreat! I am so looking forward to sharing the season with others who want to engage the hope and grace that call us toward Christmas. This online retreat will intertwine writing, art, music, and community, creating spaces of reflection and rest that you can enter into from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you.

Info & registration:
ILLUMINATED ADVENT RETREAT

This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your holiday schedule! It is about helping you enter deep into this season that shimmers with mystery and possibility. Offering a space of elegant simplicity as you journey toward Christmas, the Illuminated retreat fits easily into the rhythm of your days. I love hearing from people who say this retreat helps them breathe and engage during what can be a chaotic season.

Individual, group, and congregational rates are available. Questions? Be sure to visit our FAQ page for the retreat.

I wish you so many blessings as Advent approaches.

Advent 1: Through the Door Again

November 26, 2018

Image: Apocalypse, Again © Jan Richardson

Lectionary Readings for Advent 1, Year C:
Jeremiah 33.14-16, Psalm 25.1-10,
1 Thessalonians 3.9-13, Luke 21.25-36

Amid the destruction and devastation that are ever taking place in the world, Christ beckons us to perceive and to participate in the ways that he is already seeking to bring redemption and healing for the whole of creation.

—from Advent 1: Practicing the Apocalypse
The Advent Door, November 23, 2009

This year, most of my Advent energy will be going toward the new online retreat I’ll be offering from December 1-28. It’s been a long time since our last retreat, and I am so looking forward to it. If you haven’t already registered, I would love for you to join us! You can do the retreat from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you. For info and registration, visit the overview page at ILLUMINATED 2018: An Online Journey into the Heart of Christmas or click the Illuminated icon below:


Intertwining reflections, art, music, and community, the Illuminated retreat is a great way to travel toward Christmas in contemplation and conversation, from anywhere you are. If you’re hungry for an experience that draws you into the season without feeling like it’s just one more thing to add to your schedule, this is for you. We have individual, group, and congregational rates available. You can also give the retreat as a gift!

***

Here at The Advent Door blog, we are entering our twelfth season. We have crossed a lot of terrain in our time here, and as we prepare to set out into this new season, I’ve gathered up a collection of reflections for you from previous years.

Many blessings to you as Advent arrives! May these days hold wonders for you.

Luke 21.25-36

Advent 1: Drawing Near
Advent 1: Practicing the Apocalypse

Related Reflections on the Gospel

Advent 1: The Vigil Kept for Us
Advent 1: Blessing When the World Is Ending
Advent 1: In Which We Stay Awake
Advent 1: Where Advent Begins
Advent 1: Through the Door

Psalm 25.1-10

Advent 1: A Blessing for Traveling in the Dark

1 Thessalonians 3.9-13

Advent 1: A Path of Blessing


Using Jan’s artwork

To use the image “Apocalypse, Again” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Advent Door possible. During Advent, subscribe to Jan Richardson Images and receive unlimited digital downloads for use in worship for only $125 per year (regularly $165). Click here to subscribe.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this site without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

An Illuminated Advent – 2018

November 6, 2018

ILLUMINATED 2018
An Online Journey into the Heart of Christmas
December 1-28

With Advent not far around the corner, I want to let you know that I will be offering a new online retreat for the season! It’s been a few years since I’ve done this, and I am so looking forward to sharing the season with others who want to engage the hope and grace that call us toward Christmas. The Illuminated 2018 retreat will intertwine writing, art, music, and community, creating spaces of reflection and rest that you can enter into from anywhere you are, in the way that works best for you.

Info & registration:
ILLUMINATED ADVENT RETREAT

This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your holiday schedule! It is about helping you find spaces for reflection that draw you deep into this season that shimmers with mystery and possibility. Offering a space of elegant simplicity as you journey toward Christmas, the Illuminated retreat fits easily into the rhythm of your days.

Individual, group, and congregational rates are available. You can also give the retreat as a gift!

I wish you so many blessings as Advent approaches.

Advent 4: The Hope That Lives

December 18, 2017

Image: Magnificat © Jan Richardson

Lectionary readings for Advent 4, Year B:
Luke 1.26-38; Luke 1.46b-55 or Psalm 89.1-4; 19-26
2 Samuel 7.1-11, 16; Romans 16.25-27

What must it have been like to walk a way she could hardly perceive,
while carrying within herself—in her heart and womb and bones—
a light unlike any the world had ever seen?

—from Advent 4: Gabriel and Mary
The Advent Door, December 2014

Revisiting the passages from Luke that appear in the readings for Advent 4, I have been struck all over again by how much the Christmas story hinges on hope. In this week’s readings, we see that hope in spades.

The hope that propels an angel to visit a young woman and offer her an outlandish invitation.

The hope that enables Mary to respond to the angel with an audacious yes.

The hope that inspires her to sing of the restoration of the world as if it has already happened.

The hope that comes to us as legacy, as gift, as blessing, as invitation.

As I have gathered up these reflections from the past decade at The Advent Door, I have been inspired and challenged once again by the hope that weaves through this week’s readings and throughout the Christmas story. The hope that lives in Gabriel, in Mary, and in every person we meet in the scriptures of this season: this hope is not about wishful thinking for a good result in a future time far removed from our present circumstances. Instead, hope is what comes to meet us here and now, in even the most painful present. Hope makes it possible for us to see the presence of God when it seems most difficult, to say yes to God when it seems most impossible, to sing when it seems most absurd, to dream of—and work for—a world restored when it seems most hopeless.

As we move through this final week of Advent, may this hope come to meet us, to live in us, to shine through us. Blessings to you!

Luke 1.26-38

Advent 4: Gabriel and Mary
Advent 4: An Awful and Wondrous Yes
Home for the Holidays
Door 20: Getting the Message

Luke 1.46b-55

Advent 3: The Art of Blessing
Door 11: In Which We Get to Sing
Door 14: Remembering Forward

P.S. Don’t miss Gary’s wondrous song “Gabriel and Mary,” which you’ll find in the reflection at Advent 4: Gabriel and Mary.

BLESSING FOR THE LONGEST NIGHT: A few years ago, I created a blessing for the Winter Solstice. I’ve loved hearing from folks who use it in their Longest Night/Blue Christmas services. To visit this blessing, click this image or the title below:


Winter Solstice: Blessing for the Longest Night

Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image “Magnificat,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Advent Door possible. During Advent, subscribe to Jan Richardson Images and receive unlimited digital downloads for use in worship for only $125 per year (regularly $165). Click here to subscribe.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.