Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you well, and that you’re settling into some Advent rhythms that feel right for you and your season of life. For me this looks like lots of candles and a well-worn prayer book, endless cups of spiced and fragrant teas, menu planning and the occasional quiet perusal of an old Victoria magazine. It also looks like increased activity in the kitchen as the dough I’ve laid by in the freezer begins its transformation into rows upon rows of sugar-dusted and cherry-studded cookies. Some of these will go back into the freezer for Christmas itself, while others will make their way into gift bags and goody plates and boxes of treats for the neighbors. And, of course, there will be an array of vintage tins in the larder. Philip’s non-optional favorites are the Ruby Thumbprints and the Snowball cookies—can you guess what mine are?
I find that the older I get, the more I treasure this tender, hope-filled journey toward the culmination of Christmas. I need the shadows and the uncertainties of Advent to remind me how desperately I need a Savior. And I need the promise of restoration to keep my heart tethered to that ultimate hope of Christ’s second advent. I’ve done a lot of podcast interviews over the past several weeks, and the conviction which keeps rising to the surface (and which is, I believe, the very heart of Glad & Golden Hours) is that Advent makes space for our sorrows and our questions and our deferred or disappointed hopes—but Christmastide makes room for our joy. And the more we open our hearts to the mysteries of Advent, the more capacity we have for the joy that has nothing to do with happiness or circumstances and everything to do with the fact that God himself has stepped into the most intimate particulars of our personal stories.
Free download: Buckeyes
Our gift to you this week is a treasured family recipe for chocolate-covered Buckeyes. These confections are very easy to make, and the recipe makes a lot. Plenty to share and keep!
Join us on Zoom this Thursday
I also want to take this opportunity to remind you about our live Group Discussion this Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Central / 7:00 p.m. Eastern. We had such a special time last week connecting with so many of you over some of the complexities of the season, and this week I will be joining you once more via Zoom for an hour-long conversation engaging with the themes of Week Two. Contact us for the Zoom link.
It’s now the Vespers hour, and I’m watching the sun go through the last ambered leaves of the cherry tree outside, cherishing, as I always do, the way it softens my den with a gentle radiance while the Christmas tree in the corner blooms out against the coming dusk. Soon we will light the Advent wreath and read a bit of poetry or perhaps a passage from a favorite essay. My prayer for each of you, as we embark on Week Two, is that these sweet, fleeting days would be marked by an inward hush of holy stillness.
His glory is already breaking over the rim of the world, my friends.
Let us turn eastward—with the devotion of our hearts and the work
of our hands—and watch for the steady rise of our great Daystar.
Love,
