This is the dedicated post page for the Advent series “Advent and…”. In it, we looked at the various ways Advent connects to seemingly unrelated parts of our life and existence.
Welcome to Advent, 2012.
This was the series introduction. I looked at how Advent speaks to our whole selves, including a whole host of “un-Christmas-y” kinds of things.
Advent & Sex: we are holy ground
When you think of Christmas time, you don’t often think about sex. This post talks about the implication of Christ’s arrival for our sex lives.
Advent & Sex-lessness: here’s to singleness & celibacy!
The Advent story is a notably sex-less affair. What this means for us is huge. This was by far the most widely read post of this series, and in the top five most widely read posts in this blog’s history.
Advent & Politics: The Government is on His Shoulders
Isaiah’s vision of Christmas and the political implications of Advent and Jesus’ Lordship.
Advent & Mary: Ordained as Prophetess, Priestess, & Queen
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Advent and Mary: pretty typical, right? Yes, except this post tries to give a Protestant view of how we can view Mary in a high theological way.
Advent, Evolution, & Absolution
How might Advent connect to eh idea of Darwinian Evolution? We discuss. This is, personally, one of my favorite posts.
Advent & Humor: stop taking yourself so seriously
Advent is a serious affair, but does it hold some resources for us to live life with humor, lightness, and fun?
Advent & Suffering: silent only for a time [GUEST POST]
Advent and Christmas are usually all about joy, family, and gifts. But there’s a darker edge to Advent. One of my best friends helps explore this.
Advent & the Connecticut Shooting: Ross Douthat’s “The Loss of the Innocents”
During the time I was writing, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened. This is a very brief post linking to a beautiful meditation by the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat.
Advent & the Goodness of Worldliness, c/o Dietrich Bonhoeffer [QUOTE]
“Wordliness” is a bad thing, right? Well, Bonhoeffer, in this quote, blows our assumptions out of the water.
Art & Advent’s Intellect: Barnett Newman’s “Black Fire”
Throughout this series, I used a piece of art by Barnett Newman. In this post, I explain why I think it so deeply speaks to the collision of art, intellect, and Christmas.
Advent & Christmas: they’re not the same thing (Ode to a Christian Calendar)
The title is pretty self-explanatory.
Advent, Angst, & Ferguson
During another post in this series, the decision came down in Ferguson, Missouri to not indict a white officer who had shot and killed an unarmed black man. In this post, I lament this and think through how Advent speaks to race and injustice in this world.
Advent & Hoping for Peace
We’re used to thinking about hope and peace during Christmastime, but we don’t often think about the “not yet” of both those things.
Advent & Hoping for Justice
Taking the the event called the Slaughter of the Innocents, where Herod killed all the newborn babies after Jesus was born. we talk about injustice.
Advent & Hoping for God to be With Us
In Advent, Jesus became God with us, right? Yes, in one sense, but in another, not yet.
Advent & Longing for Home
In this post, we talk about how Advent invites us to press all the more deeply into our humanity, rather than escape from it.
[image credit: “Freedom” by Icy&Sot]
the long way home 