Welcome to the Cottage Advent Calendar
TODAY’S reflection is excerpted from my recent book, Freeing Jesus.
Window 7
John Philip Newell often shares the story of being overwhelmed by seeing his newborn grandson for the first time and how profoundly spiritual the experience was. Ancient Celtic Christians believed that infants came from God and that in gazing at a newborn’s face, we see the very image of God; and conversely, through the infant’s eyes, in some mysterious way, God beholds us. The birthing place is a sort of inner sanctum where we encounter the freshly born presence of God.
No wonder Christian tradition makes much of the birth of Jesus, the one whose birthplace opens to angels, animals, shepherds, and shamans. It is more than the silent midnight holiness between Mary and her son; the whole cosmos witnesses the birth. More than an image fresh from heaven, the Infant is the very embodiment of the divine. Every birth is echoed in this birth—no wonder the stars fill the heavens, the light shines forth. The presence of God made manifest, the glory of the One from the womb of grace. Darkness of birth, light of the world.
“Very truly, I tell you,” said Jesus, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (John 3:3). “Born from above” is the phrase that some Christians translate “born again” . . . I did not really understand Jesus’s words until my daughter was born, when the womb opened and water broke forth, and then, in the silence, the breath. Water and spirit. Cradling the image of God so close, the image staring back.
From Freeing Jesus
I have no name
I am but two days old.—
What shall I call thee?
I happy am
Joy is my name,—
Sweet joy befall thee!
Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old,
Sweet joy I call thee;
Thou dost smile.
I sing the while
Sweet joy befall thee.
— William Blake
May the angels of light
glisten for us this day.
May the sparks of God’s beauty
dance in the eyes of those we love.
May the universe
be on fire with Presence for us this day.
May the new sun’s rising
grace us with gratitude.
Let earth’s greenness shine
and its waters breathe with Spirit.
Let heaven’s winds stir the soil of our soul
and fresh awakenings rise within us.
May the mighty angels of light
glisten in all things this day.
May they summon us to reverence,
may they call us to life.
— John Philip Newell
SPECIAL AT THE COTTAGE!
FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS. . . A live Advent Event
This Thursday - December 9 at 1PM eastern/10AM Pacific - JOHN PHILIP NEWELL will be my guest at our LIVE Advent ZOOM to the Cottage! We’ll be talking about Celtic spirituality, incarnation, embodiment, and the beauty of God with us. I’ll have him read from his new book, Sacred Earth - Sacred Soul.
ZOOM links will be sent out to everyone on the paid subscribers list at 9AM eastern on December 9. If you can’t make the live event, a recording will be sent out to the entire paid subscription list about 24 hours after the gathering as part of your Cottage membership.
Information on joining the paid subscriber community is below!
The ADVENT CALENDAR is free and open to all. If you feel called to financially contribute to this work, there are two special ways to support The Cottage this December.
ONE: Gift subscriptions
If you give a gift of a one year subscription during December, you will receive a copy of my book Grateful.
TWO: Join or upgrade
You can get information about the community and join for the first time as a paying subscriber or upgrade from free to paid with this button:
Subscriptions support my writing, help me develop online resources and events, and provide memberships for those without the means to pay. If you want to be part of the paid community but can’t afford it, please reply to this email (like you would any email) and let me know your situation. No one is ever turned away for lack of financial resources.
During this entire month, 25% of all paid subscriptions (gifts, first time subscriptions, and upgrades) will go to support Rising Hope, a local ministry in my Alexandria neighborhood (about two miles from my house!) that serves immigrants, low-income families, the food insecure, and those without shelter. They are an amazing community - one of genuine courage and compassion.
You are strong. You are more than enough. Your colour is so beautiful, it reflects the glory of the sun. You have blessed and beautiful hands. You refresh the world, and provide so much soul, essence and culture because you have a royal call on your life. You have The Spirit of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might, Knowledge and the Fear of God only. Keep your head up always my dear child. For You wear a crown always. You. Matter.
— Irede Ajala
An Advent Event
Shane Claiborne has picked Freeing Jesus as the December book of the Red Letter Christian Book Club! Read the book and join us in conversation via ZOOM on December 19 at 7pm. This is a free event. Click here for information and the sign-up link at Shane’s website.
Am in the midst of reading Freeing Jesus right now as part of a study group....several of us plan to be in St. Simons in January.
TodAy my first born is 62, and I remember those feelings when I first held her. Now within days I will hear about my first Greatgrand son's arrival. My daughter will have the joy of being present at the home birth!