Issue 19.5: The Advent Issue

Hunt Priest

Removing the “Holy” from “the Holidays”

When we ground our spirituality in the church’s liturgical calendar, says Hunt Priest, we experience ancient patterns of preparation, encounter and celebration that can make us more fully aware of God’s active presence in our lives and the world around us.

Chris Hoke

Advent and Teddy

Chris Hoke learns something about receiving the Messiah from towering and tattooed Teddy, a former gang member in Skagit Valley, Washington.

William Willimon

The Introduction: A Meditation on Matthew 3:1–12

In this Meditation on Matthew 3:1–12, Will Willimon reminds us that we are not right, that our worlds are out of kilter, and that Jesus presents us with the most difficult, demanding bad news that ever was called good, bad news that can set us straight.

Greg Moore

A Peculiar Memory

For author Greg Moore, the season of Advent is rooted in a divine memory.

Isaac S. Villegas

Waiting with Mary: A Meditation on Luke 1:26–38, 47–55

Advent is a season of waiting, of being drawn into the spiritual discipline of anticipation. Our spiritual director is Mary, the mother of Jesus, the one in whom we see revealed the patience of God. Mary waits for the Messiah, and in doing so she invites us into a way of life that welcomes the gospel through a posture of waiting.

TOJ Editors

The Advent Issue

As we move into the darkest season of the calendar year, daylight runs in short supply, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where The Other Journal makes its home. By the time the winter solstice arrives, we’ll experience about eight and a half hours of daylight, with plenty of thick, low-hanging clouds to obscure our rare […]

Myles Werntz

Rethinking Visibility: Church, Repentance, and 9/11

Christians are called to be present with our neighbors in times of violence, but such presence requires more than a nod to solidarity or a word of encouragement here or there—being present requires repenting of our past failures of witness and allowing that repentance to shape us.