Northfield, MN, on the Eve of fourth Advent 2020
Hannah brings our Christmas tree home…
Friends and fellow travelers,
We hope this letter finds you well this Advent week. It is different in many ways for us all this season: some might feel burdened under the forced solitude, some might blossom, many might feel exhausted by the never ending health scare under which we all live. To all we send our well wishes, prayers and thoughts of gratitude.
When we came up with our Passion Week Consolations last April on the onset of this pandemic we did not expect that "cloistering" at home would become the new normal. But here we are, exhausted from a long and weird year, walking towards Christmas.
Thus this year's theme for our upcoming 12 Days of Christmas Contemplations came rather naturally: Cradling hope... Coming already into its 4th year we invite you again to walk with us into the heart of Christmas from Christmas Eve all the way to Epiphany, cradling hope.
Hope was also leading us into developing our new program for the season to soften the long winter to come (see preview below). Our classes and retreats will take place fully online this season. So you can visit them from the convenience of your home. They aim to create a sense of community while cloistering at home and to offer a place of shared solitude and insight. Some are meditations you can follow every day e.g. through the 12 Days of Christmas or Passion Week at your own pace and time of convenience without the need to meet or greet… Others, like our day long Winter Solitude offer a virtual place to be present with others while being present to oneself. Our Kierkegaard master class starting in the depth of winter invites all who are hungry for some more intellectual discourse to read and share together and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves on the way.
We are grateful for the many who have walked with us before and who have sent us words of kindness, gratitude and encouragement. Since we develop this ministry on the go – as the spirit moves us and in-between our day to day work and parenting a toddler – we indeed depend on kindred spirits who support our work and share it with others who might be in need for some companionship and consolation this season. Thank you und Dankeschön.
Bringing our Christmas tree home…
On a more personal note
Not being able to visit our families in FL and Europe this summer we took a leap of faith and moved into a new home. Hannah now can enjoy a quieter neighborhood and some more space to run and play. We are grateful to have been able to transform this challenging summer into a time of change and new beginnings for our little family.
Then, just at the end of October, MN winter hit early, covering moving boxes, flower pots and all under a thick blanket of snow. But just as abruptly as it came it left again, making way for warmer days greeting us on the first days of November. There were still Fall colors on the trees now tossing their flying leaves into the wind again. Greens surprised by the first cold shook off the melting snow to greet us one last time. It truly felt like spring on the brink to winter --
It was a week of grace indeed. The political landscape changed without the anticipated turmoil on the streets. How grateful we were on the long stretched election days that there was no bloodshed on the streets. I have walked through the change in 1989 back in East Germany and was reminded of the uncertainty and fear lingering everywhere when marchers took to the street that Fall of '89 with candles in their hands.
Thanks be to God, change came without violence on the streets.
Still, it took its time. Some on each side of this election season might have hoped for a political landslide instead. Now we are reminded that healing rarely comes in landslides. It might rather be a slow and painful road where we need to tend to our own shadows rather than projecting them onto the other; Where we are called to slowly and profoundly recognize, welcome, and heal the divisions separating friends, families, brothers and sisters. ---
And this brings us back to Advent, a time of walking pregnant with the Divine spark which wants to be birthed into the world, time and again. If we can help to kindle some sparks here and there and to walk with you into this dark but sacred season we would be grateful indeed.
Peace and Blessings to each of you, Almut with Chuck and Hannah