A Simple Advent for the Exhausted Ones
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
-
Advent wreath
11 min read
The article centers on Advent practice using candles and wreaths. Wikipedia's article covers the rich history, symbolism of the four candles (hope, peace, joy, love), Lutheran origins in 16th century Germany, and how the tradition spread globally - providing historical depth the reader likely doesn't know.
-
Hesychasm
17 min read
The article introduces breath prayer as a spiritual practice. Hesychasm is the Eastern Orthodox contemplative tradition from which breath prayer originates, involving the Jesus Prayer synchronized with breathing. This provides fascinating historical and theological context for the practice mentioned.
-
Liturgical year
16 min read
The article explains Advent as part of the Christian Church calendar. The liturgical year article covers how this calendar developed historically, why certain seasons exist, and the theological reasoning behind marking time differently than secular calendars - enriching understanding of why Advent matters structurally.
Hi friends,
Advent begins on Sunday 30 November. And I have a hunch that there are a few of us here who simply don’t have much gas left in the tank. It’s been, as my culture likes to say, a bit of a year.1 So for our Field Notes Advent this year, I’ve created a very simple, entirely do-able (I hope), low-stakes Advent guide for the completely exhausted.
Many of us are tired in body, absolutely, but perhaps more honestly, we are also weary in spirit and soul and heart. It’s not just inflation and the job market, a gig economy and hustling. It’s not just time clocks and customer service, housework and making ends meet, laundry and litter boxes. It’s also the state of, well, everything. It’s the scrolling and the politics, it’s the disappointment and the despair, it’s the violence and cruelty, it’s the broken relationships and battered hearts that somehow still yearn for a thrill of hope. This guide is precisely for all of us who know the dark nights, who know what it means to wait, who know what it means to yearn for love and for light and for a freaking break for once.
If you have the energy and longing for daily readings and in-depth spiritual practices right now, go with God and we bless you. There are many options out there for you and in fact, I’ve written a few of them over the years.2
But for us tired ones, for right now? This is all the Advent that we can manage.
In the guide below, you’ll find one short scripture reading per week focused on the theme, a traditional Advent alternative reading, a breath prayer for the week, and a final blessing over it all. That’s it.
To be honest with you, this is all based on personal experience. There have been years where this sort of practice was all that I had room for in my days. And always I felt a vague sense of guilt and shame about it - “look at everyone else and all the lovely Advent things they are doing from crafts to playlists to spiritual practices to daily readings! I guess I’m not as holy or good as they are” etc.
But the truth is that God met with me there, right in the mess of
...This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.