The Advent Door

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.

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.

Image: A Road Runs Through It © Jan Richardson

Lectionary readings for Advent 2, Year B:
Isaiah 40.1-11, Psalm 85.1-2, 8-13, 2 Peter 3.8-15a, Mark 1.1-8

Advent is a season that calls me to remember
that even as I move across what seems like uncharted territory,
there is a way that lies beneath the way that I am going.

—from Advent 2: Blessing the Way
The Advent Door, December 2011

The season of Advent is marked by roads. Prepare the way of the Lord, we read in this week’s texts from Isaiah and Mark. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps, the psalmist proclaims in Psalm 85. In 2 Peter, we find counsel for how to wait while Christ makes his way to us: Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace.

In this present time, the landscape we live in can seem utterly trackless. We may find it difficult to envision by what path Christ could enter this world, and daunting to imagine what road would finally lead to the healing and redemption of creation. Yet this is what Advent invites us to do: to lift our heads, to raise our eyes, to look toward the horizon and dream of the way by which Christ will come to us.

It is an astonishingly hopeful invitation.

In calling our eyes toward the horizon, Advent does not draw us away from the present or lull us into an avoidance of the world at hand. Advent invites us instead to stand in the thick of this life and open our heart to the road that Christ wants to make, not only for us but also in us and through us. Because when Christ comes, the horizon he appears on is not so distant, after all. The place where he shows up is always in our very midst.

The links below, gathered up from the past decade at The Advent Door, offer a collection of reflections on the road that Advent asks us to anticipate and to participate in creating. In this Advent week, I pray Christ will give us the courage to envision, to hope for, to dream, and to make ready the road by which he comes to us. Blessings to you!

Mark 1.1-8

Advent 2: Blessing the Way
A Way in the Wilderness

Related Reflections on the Gospel

Advent 2: A Blessing for Preparing
Advent 2: A Road Runs Through It
Advent 2: The Mystery of Approach
Door 9: Making Way

Isaiah 40.1-11

The Pilgrim’s Coat

Psalm 85.1-2, 8-13

Righteousness Seeking Peace for Friendship, Possible Relationship

2 Peter 3.8-15a

Advent 2: While You Are Waiting

Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image “A Road Runs Through It,” 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.