Goodies for Advent: The Arrival

Your Advent Countdown, and an invitation to unplug this month

Here is a whole month’s worth of practices, along with a supply list as you count down to Christmas. If you (like us) find deep restoration in taking breaks from your inbox, consider this our gift to you.

Download all of the prompts and we will see you again in January!

If you want company this month, every Friday we will send a reminder of the prompts for the week ahead, along with a thematic essay and a breath prayer to use for discussions and family practice.

IMPORTANT DOWNLOAD UPDATES

If you got ahead of the game and downloaded and printed these already (before Dec 1) we have a few updated pages. I accidentally duplicated and missed some prompts. See below for updates.

Don’t reprint the whole thing! Here are the updated pages:

• In the Checklist Download, we updated the Peace and Joy Weeks. That’s pages 2 & 3.

• In the Advent Garland Download, we updated #19 and #22-#24. So you’ll want to reprint pages 11-12 and 13-14.

Thanks for bearing with me.

We know that we’ve got quite the smattering of spiritual backgrounds here at The Belonging Workshop. It’s one of our favorite things about this community! So whether Advent is a new term for you, a haunting reminder of systems you’ve left behind, a beloved tradition, something you’re looking to reclaim in a way that feels liberating and life-giving to your family…or an inexplicable mix of all of the above, here is what we intend:

• We intend to give you four weeks’ worth of daily practices that are specific enough that they give you one less thing to organize during this season, but expansive enough to tailor toward your family’s ethos and theology.

• We intend to offer a mix of overtly spiritual and contemplative practices, mixed with more whimsical suggestions to encourage family warmth (a proven precursor to lifelong spiritual engagement) and rhythms of rest.

• We intend to loosely base each week’s practices around the traditional Advent themes: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.

• We intend to acknowledge the shadow side of these Advent themes, because the holidays can be difficult for so many. After all, there is no hope without despair, no peace without conflict, no joy without sorrow and no love without apathy. We believe the truest, hardest and holiest work is done in the tension between these truths.

So choose your own adventure and have the coziest Christmas season!

Paid Subscribers, we’ve got a special Advent Downloadable Craft for you below: