We are an Instagram people who hate to wait and have developed the technology to avoid it.
How do we learn to wait with eager expectation? Advent means the coming of someone and something of extreme importance. That someone is not Santa Claus and that something is not more “stuff” under a Christmas tree or an elf on a shelf.
When we allow ourselves to slow down and wait with our longings, feeling our own frustrations and the brokenness around us, seeing that this world is not as it “should be,” we will cry out with the hymnist:
An invitation, a need for nearness.
God-With-Us. Jesus Christ.
Redeem. Rescue.
To free from captivity or punishment by paying a price.
Recognizing the reality that self-reliance is an illusion.
Realizing we are as needy as exiled and rebellious Israel of the Old Testament.
Just as enslaved and just as helpless.
Advent helps us live in the tension of the “already and not yet.” We remember the incarnation and coming of Jesus Christ. We recognize our true longings for Jesus to return to make all things new and right. And we realize our need to slow down and wait with all of creation, learning to rest in the knowledge that He is Emmanuel/God-with-Us in this present moment.
InSpero’s Creation Waits asks you to lay aside your technology for one night—the first Sunday of Advent—to slow down and find Jesus Christ in the midst of your waiting. Singer and songwriter Jenny Pruitt will share her meditations on Advent through her original music. Painter Gina Hurry will paint live in response to her music.
Come wait with us as we begin Advent in a quiet worshipful way on Sunday, November 30 at 6 p.m. at Faith Presbyterian Church and afterward for a discussion with the artists and reception. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. There is no charge for this event but donations are welcome and needed.
June 27, 2022
It was at Rivendell the hobbits think through the vocation they have been given, carefully working out the who and what and where of the odyssey that will be theirs. But integral to all that they were, and to all that they would need to be, was the table at Rivendell, a place for the best conversations and the best food and the best drink — simply said, a wonder of wonders." Steve Garber
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April 19, 2022
The never-ending hope of Easter, Writer Andrew Shaughnessy shares reflections on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and why hope and beauty matter. "We hope because we know a day is coming when, to paraphrase Sam in The Lord of the Rings, “everything sad will come untrue,” when our Creator King will dry every tear and bind up the broken hearts and restore the sundered cities and turn the world upside down."
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February 7, 2022
Photographer and writer Erin Nolen, shares her reflections on our winter retreat.
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December 29, 2021
Emily Thayer, a writer and baker, invites weary people into a life of rest.
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August 11, 2021
Amanda Blake, InSpero Advisory Council member, artist, entrepreneur, advocate, and teacher speaks about her experiences as an educator and muralist.
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July 14, 2021
Bruce Herman shares his thoughts on the role of perspective and self-forgetfulness in relationships.
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