The Importance of Unplugging
As I sat on my couch last night watching TV, every once in a while warily eyeing the I kid you not 12 nutcrackers my mom has…
read moreAs I sat on my couch last night watching TV, every once in a while warily eyeing the I kid you not 12 nutcrackers my mom has…
read moreIt’s a little more than a week into Advent 2011 and I’ve managed to write two posts for this Alternative Advent blog. The first was…
read moreAs the holiday season draws nearer, so do my responsibilities as a mother and college professor. Meeting work deadlines, traveling for business, attending committee meetings,…
read moreDuring my many years of volunteer service (primarily in hunger relief organizations), I’ve witnessed a frustrating phenomenon. While people (admirably) tend to focus on opportunities…
read moreIn a BRAND NEW version of our classic video, Busted Halo explains the significance of the final week we spend preparing for Easter.
read more“As we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” I’ll never forget the cadence and inflection of those words, mostly…
read moreWe live in a culture where Christmas commercials start on Oct. 29. Ours is not a culture that knows how to wait.
So when I read the email from my editor that told me that I’d be blogging about my effort to be intentional about living Advent this year, rather than just viewing it as a four-week-long obstacle to Christmas, I waited until the last minute to write my first post. I hope she thought that was as clever as I did – think of it as method writing.
Honestly, my decision to not write the first installment of this assignment immediately upon receiving that email was almost entirely intentional. (Were there also some procrastinatory tendencies at play? Maybe. You’ll never know.) I’m going to try and live this season, which doesn’t become the Christmas season until December 25. Right now, it’s November 28, and it’s Advent, and that means that I’m supposed to be preparing myself for the celebration of the anniversary of baby Jesus’ arrival into the world. And, after 21 Christmases and years of Catholic education, as well as a degree in theological studies under my belt, I realize that I still have no idea what that means…
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