Advent Calendars 2023

Advent Calendars 2023

  Using an Advent calendar is one of my favorite ways to prepare and pray in the days leading up to Christmas. Unlike the store-bought versions, my calendars have no doors, just blank spaces for the days of Advent. Instead of tearing apart a calendar day by day, I...
Into the Darkness with Children

Into the Darkness with Children

Many Christmas carols exalt nighttime: Oh Holy Night, Silent Night, O, Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night…. Christmas carols are probably the reason I love nighttime and darkness. When the nights start to...
Into the Wilderness

Into the Wilderness

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.   Luke 4, 1-2 NRSV Our goal in the wilderness was not forty days, nor a run-in with the devil....
Advent Calendar Templates 2021

Advent Calendar Templates 2021

Using an Advent calendar is my favorite way to pay attention and pray during the four weeks of Advent. Unlike the store-bought versions, my calendars have no doors, just blank spaces for the days of Advent. Each day I fill one space with a prayer or meditation–...
Sixth Day of Christmas

Sixth Day of Christmas

Here are my two Advent calendars for 2020. The calendar on the left incorporates the words of #AdventWord–a ministry of Virginia Theological Seminary. The one on the right contains my prayers for others. Advent was full of illness and death for friends and...