Probably my favourite season of the church year is coming up soon. Advent, the four weeks before Christmas where we prepare ourselves for celebrating Jesus’ arrival in our world. There’s lots to like about Advent (even if you don’t have calendars filled with chocolate). It’s not often we engage deeply in old-fashioned anticipation, […]
On this last day of the Christmas season we are remembering that there was a great deal of suffering surrounding Christ’s birth. Mary was socially isolated to the point of giving birth while basically homeless. Joseph was charged with the responsibility of protecting a baby with a price on his head. And hundreds of children […]
If you love surprises, chances are you live in a rich and safe part of the world. There is a famous (but possibly not ancient, nor Chinese) curse that says ‘May you live in interesting times!’ (This Advent we are spending time with Mark Pierson’s Advent in Art series, a set of paintings by James B Janknegt, curated by […]
Children of Men (2006) is a remarkable film, and my pick for best movie to watch during Advent. Add it to carols, presents, the Jesse Tree and feasting, as something that can help us to connect to the Big Story we are invited to find ourselves in at this time of year. Yes, I know, a) a […]
In this week’s Advent in Art painting, Christ is born! We’re a little early, as I’ve said before, because in the Southern Hemisphere we don’t expect anyone to be around after Christmas Day itself. We have to get the whole story in before everyone goes camping. Kids really benefit from repetition and preparation. They love […]
Nine months is a long time to wait, but thousands of years is longer. Week two of this year’s Advent in Art cycle places the Christmas story in context of a much larger narrative of hope and a longing for justice. As we meet them in today’s painting, Mary and Elizabeth, like all mothers around the […]
In this strange season when we are suspended between realization and expectation, may we be found honest about the darkness, more perceptive of the light. These words of Jack Boozer are printed in each of Mark Pierson’s Advent in Art cards this year. There’s enough packed in that sentence to take us right through Advent. […]
If you want to celebrate Advent in just one simple and rich way, this might be it. Find a quiet moment – five minutes will be fine if that’s a realistic ambition – and spend some time with this painting. You could do this by yourself, of course, but exploring art as part of worship […]