It’s that season again.
No, not that season - Not the season of Santa Clause & wreckless overindulgence. Not the season of shopping in congested malls, or the season of happy-clappy Christmas music. Not the season of slippery roads and ice damned roofs. Then again, maybe it is a season connected to all these things, however obtusely.
I speak of Advent, a season in the church calendar where we practice patience in anticipation of Jesus Christ’s coming into the world. A time of waiting in the darkness longing for the return of the light.
It’s not an accident that Christians have long celebrated Christmas at a time that coincides with the Northern Hemisphere’s Winter Solstice. For six months our planet has been leaning us back further away from the sun, and now at last the tide has turned, as we journey back closer to the light. Something we who live a little more north than the rest of the world feel even more acutely.
Seven years ago we stole an idea from my friend Ron Reed (Ron is a great friend and mentor and you can read his blog here - oblations.blogspot.com). The idea is something called Christmas Presence, a unique mashup of stories and songs that explored the nativity with a messy but joyful hope!
This year Burnt Thicket Theatre presented our version of Christmas Presence on December 10, 2022. For those who missed out here is the live recording featuring some really wonderful work from my friends Louise and Shane Buhler of Sunday Morning Riot, Darryl Dozlaw, Andrea Folster, Wyndham Thiessen, Louise Halfe, and Stephen Waldschmidt.