Advent 2022 Thank You

Author

Amy Bratton is the Director of Operations & Publishing for the New Leaf Network and the project manager for the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project. She lives in Saskatoon, SK with her husband, Tim, and their two sons, Oswald and Ira. She is a lay leader at Riversdale Neighbours church and an Adjunct Professor with Rocky Mountain College in the area of Spiritual Formation. She writes and speaks about the history of Christian spirituality, with a focus on the early Methodist understanding of Christian maturity known as “perfect love.” Read more from her in her book Witnesses of Perfect Love: Narratives of Christian Perfection in Early Methodism.

We have arrived at the end of this year’s Advent journey. We appreciated your joining with us as we navigated the Known and Unknowns of our Advent experiences. Even as the lectionary readings move from the apocalyptic and mysterious to the familiar Christmas narrative, there are still mysteries that linger. As we see the beauty of our humble God incarnate as a newborn child, some things are made known. Yet, over 2000 years later, the truly transformative and subversive reality of the incarnation still remains shrouded in mystery.

The lectionary reading for today includes Psalm 148. It is a psalm of praise, listing and compelling all of known Creation to praise God. Yet, even as I read about the sun and the moon, the sea creatures, and the fruit trees, I know that there is so much in our world that is complex, beautiful, and unknown. As we consider the broad swath of all of creation, I am also drawn to think of the particular. The beauty of the trees in the park near the river by my home, covered in the frost of winter today. The particular bird in a snowy bush outside my window. We can know the particular in a way that the general still remains opaque. That brings me comfort when the tensions between Known and Unknown remain.

As you continue into the Christmas season, may the deep love of God be known to you, in particular. And may the unknowns of your life be cradled in the heights, lengths, and breadths of God's love.

Thank you!

This is our fifth New Leaf Advent Reader. Our first year, I was figuring it out as I went along, but each year, we have expanded, tried new things, and added new people to the mailing list. I am so grateful that I have also had increasing help to make this collection happen each year. Many hands make light work.

Thank you to all the writers who contributed their words with thoughtfulness, vulnerability, and artfulness. You have been a blessing to the readers and a joy to work with.

Thank you to Cathleen Getchell, my co-editor this year. Your steady hand to help edit the submissions (including this one) has been invaluable as we pull together this collection.

Thank you to Alanna Johnson for making this project so beautiful. Alanna did the graphic design for the project, both the main image and the unique social media images. Thank you for your eye for beauty and details, which helped the reflections in this project shine.

Thank you to the contributors who also shared their voices on our podcast version of the reflections. Thank you to Drew Brown for creating the beautiful music for the intro. Thank you to Payge Lucas for organizing all the audio files from across Canada. Thank you also to Tim Bratton, my husband, for editing these snippets of voices, sometimes even at the last minute.

Thank you to all the readers who have engaged with your hearts, shared the posts on social media, and sent us thank-you notes. Even if we only had a handful of readers, I think we would still do this project, but it is so encouraging that this collection goes out and resonates in so many hearts across Canada.

One additional thing we did this year was that in our Learning Centre for Advent, we spent two weeks in a contemplative mode of reflection on Known and Unknown. Our gift to you, as subscribers to the Advent Reader, is the chance to engage with these recorded reflections for free. Use the discount code below to gain access to the recorded sessions.

Registration link Discount Code: KNOWN2022

Peace to you all during this season of Christmastide,

Amy Bratton

Lead editor, New Leaf Advent Reader

Thank you for reading the New Leaf Advent Reader, a collection of reflections from writers across Canada. If you are enjoying the reader, sign up to receive the readings in your inbox each day here: SIGN UP

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