Coming Soon: A Series for Advent 2023

Once again, as November winds down, the Western Christian liturgical year is also winding down. In fact, the liturgical ‘new year’ is this coming Sunday. As I was planning my Advent series for this year, I realized that I hadn’t yet reflected on the traditional Advent themes, represented in the candles of the Advent wreath: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. (There doesn’t seem to be a set order for these, but this seems to be the most common.) And so this year, I’ll be doing just this: Exploring these themes, not as virtues on their own (see my series ‘Good Fruit’ for that), but through the lens of the Advent season. If Advent means ‘Coming’ or ‘Arrival’, how exactly do these four themes answer the question of what it is we expect to arrive at Christmas?

I’m calling the series ‘Coming Soon’, playing off the old movie preview expression, “Coming soon to a theatre near you.” I’m struck by the sense of expectation and excitement the expression conveys, and I think that hits exactly the appropriate mark.

Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love — Coming soon to a heart, to a life, to a community, to world near you.

Note: It’s a bit tricky to do a four-part series in a three-week period, so my plan is to post:

• Advent 1, Hope: Wednesday, December 6
• Advent 2, Peace: Tuesday, December 12
• Advent 3, Joy: Friday, December 15
• Advent 4, Love: Wednesday, December 20

If you’re interested, please also check out my previous Advent series:

• Exile and Vigil (2018)
• The ‘O’ Antiphons (2019)
• “People Look East,” (2020)
• Stop, Look, and Listen. (2021)
• Waiting for God (2022)