The materials for A Sanctified Art* for the 4th Sunday of Advent invite those of us with relatively more to step up and step in to solidarity with those with relatively less, for the strong to help the weak.
But what if the "weak" are not innocent? What if they are difficult to love or socially "toxic"? I challenge us to consider the conditions we place on our help and to stretch ourselves outside the comfort zones of "deserving" charity to love those who carry a social disgrace.
The materials from A Sanctified Art* for the 2nd week of Advent invite us to slow down and perceive how God is actually at work, not how we may wish God were working.
I invite all of us to consider what we wish deep down the world to be, to confront our disappointment that the world doesn't match our own visions, to consider that God is working toward something even better than we can possibly imagine, and to grapple with the very real pain of waiting.
The materials from A Sanctified Art* for the 1st week of Advent 2025 invite us to confront our fears—both the big, societal-scale "Herod" fears and the deep, personal "Zechariah/Elizabeth" fears (Luke 1:5-13).
I firmly believe that true solidarity is not charity, but mutual aid rooted in shared vulnerability.
In that spirit, I would like to share my personal "Herod" and "Zechariah/Elizabeth" to see if it might resonate with your own experience.