I didn’t grow up with Advent; I discovered it while living overseas, where I journaled through the season with red pen, poetry & songs, and with advent resources like books with modern literature readings. I remember sitting on balconies with blankets (India does get cold sometimes) and friends as I, for the first time, learned to savor time, slowly plod through a season, and wait expectantly for the next one: the new year.
What is Advent?
Advent is the season of celebrating the coming of Christ, and of longing for his return. It’s a season that holds the tension of hope: that we do have Christ who came to be a man and a sacrifice for us, but that we also have a Christ we must wait to return, to make all things right.
Ways I’ve Celebrated Advent
Ever since 2015, I’ve been learning and leaning into Advent (and Lent) as a season that I set a part for different study, different focus, different time spent with him. As you’ll see below, that has included writing and singing songs, poems, and short devotions.
Study Advent with Me
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Advent Study 2022 – The Voices of Advent
This year’s Advent Study was inspired by the newly released book, The First Advent in Palestine by Kelley Nikondeha.
Her stunningly researched and beautifully written narratives on the characters of Advent inspired several poems and reflections on the voices of those characters.
You can download the PDF below. If you are able, please donate $10 to @Katie-Rose-Nash on Venmo as a thank you for this resource. Email me if you need a different way to donate. Or you can buy it on Amazon directly.
Advent Study 2021 – The Slow Rescue
Study Advent with me!
Explore the themes of Advent with fresh retellings of stories you know and love, and reflect with extra questions and reading options.
You can download the PDF below. If you are able, please donate $10 to @Katie-Rose-Nash on Venmo as a thank you for this resource. Email me if you need a different way to donate. Or you can buy it on Amazon directly.
Free Advent Content from me:
I’ve written a lot of blog posts over the years about Advent. Some of these will be more reflective of my faith at the time; know that my more recent iterations of faith, which include they/them pronouns for God, focus more on deconstruction themes, etc, are reflected more in the books above than in these older blog posts.
- This Christmas Day
Waking up every couple of hours to an echoing voice, billowing through the streets, in a language we cannot understand, with words not meant… Read more: This Christmas Day - Advent Songs, part 1: counselor
I love advent. Just within the past year, thanks to a friend who was with me 24/7 in our first holiday season away… Read more: Advent Songs, part 1: counselor - Advent Songs, part 2: faith
With this week’s sermon, came two songs, of sorts–though the first, I guess, should be called a poem, since I didn’t discover a… Read more: Advent Songs, part 2: faith - Advent Songs, part 3: father
It’s a quiet morning here. And by quiet, I mean my heart is quietly waking, coffee in hand, cardigan on, and blankets piled… Read more: Advent Songs, part 3: father - Advent Songs, part 4: peace
This hasn’t exactly been a year of peace for me. Or, as the Hebrew word shalom describes it, it hasn’t been a year… Read more: Advent Songs, part 4: peace - Advent Songs, Christmas Eve: glory
The new year races towards me, but today, it’s only Christmas Eve. Still, as I read Luke 2 this morning, my thoughts went… Read more: Advent Songs, Christmas Eve: glory - Advent: Peace and imperfection.
“I was rounding the corner to the new year in every way. Promise had surfaced in my life. We’d had small circumstantial changes… Read more: Advent: Peace and imperfection. - advent 2020, week 1: only the beginning
Advent is only the beginning In the gospels For the last four months, I’ve been reading & rereading the gospels each month. This… Read more: advent 2020, week 1: only the beginning - poem: the advent of our shame
a poem for Advent 2020, week 2 The advent of our shame was in the garden where we hid ourselves, clothed ourselves: Shame… Read more: poem: the advent of our shame - advent 2020, week 2: God understands our shame
The second week of Advent is meant to be about peace. Instead, I found myself stuck in shame. So here’s the question I… Read more: advent 2020, week 2: God understands our shame - advent 2020, week 3: do we deserve joy?
What do you deserve? It seems like a weird question, but also one that I think most of us have a pretty negative… Read more: advent 2020, week 3: do we deserve joy? - poem: the advent of our joy
based on advent week 3 post: do we deserve joy? the advent of joycomes with a baby’s womb-leapingand a once-barren woman, familiar with… Read more: poem: the advent of our joy - advent 2020, week 4: what I’ve learned about love
Today, I’ve been married for 10 months. And I love the timing of this, in the final week of Advent, the week which… Read more: advent 2020, week 4: what I’ve learned about love
Resources for Advent Reading & Reflecting
Each year, I’ve done something a little bit different, whether it’s a different focus or book or style. I wrote songs weekly in 2016; I’ve read different books; I’ve listened to different sermons series. Here are some of my favorite Advent resources:
- Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Ephiphany. This book was the first major Advent reading I did, and it was a really beautiful, but hefty read. This same editor also has a similar resource for Lent and Ordinary Time.
- Honest Advent by Scott Erickson. This collection from an artist I love following on Instagram is fresh and a lighter collection of readings.
- Advent Reminds Us is a series by a fellow writer/blogger/editor who has encouraged me. These posts are weighty and beautiful – a true joy to read. Best of all: they’re online & free!
- The First Advent in Palestine by Kelley Nikondeha. These powerful, reflective narratives give new insights into the context of Advent, both the first and our own in the modern world.
There are so many more resources than this, but these are the ones I keep coming back to.