Will You Dance with Me?

Dear friends,

Here, on the edge of Advent, I’m wondering about the gifts of this season. In this pandemic landscape, where such heaviness endures, what is the Spirit’s invitation?

Since 2018, I’ve written daily devotions for Advent, inspired by the Rethink Church Photo-a-Day Challenge.

https://www.umc.org/en/content/advent-photo-a-day-2021

Last year, I added an accompanying song to each day’s written word, leading to this playlist:

This year, as I navigate the changing rhythms of a new call, there’s a conversation that keeps replaying in my mind. A friend reached out during this past Lent to invite me to collaborate with her on a Lenten coloring devotional. She spoke about the gift of fewer words on the page, because “shortened verses, and even mantras, go through my head while I do art, walk back and forth to the different areas in my workplace, exercise, etc.”

I went to work on the words. She’s working on the coloring pages. And hopefully we’ll have a finished resource to offer you some day!

In the meantime, I’m finding her yearning for fewer words dwelling in me too. I want words this year that are easily portable, words that will travel with me throughout the day, words that will take root and grow with every deep, intentional breath.

I need the Word to be a song that I can’t help but sing, the Good News both familiar and born anew, inviting a weary world to rest in the rhythm of God’s steady heartbeat.

2021 Advent Devotions

Again inspired by the photo-a-day challenge, I’ve assembled scripture and song for each day of Advent, beginning Sunday, November 28 and ending with Christmas Day on December 25.

As the season draws us on toward Bethlehem, I will write just one line for each day. It’s my hope that those lines, in time, will form a complete new hymn, set to the familiar tune of “Comfort, Comfort Now My People.”

This is an invitation to breathe, to dream, to grieve, to rejoice, to trust, to question, to listen, and to sing…together.

God’s steady and certain heart beats for you and for all creation, a rhythm of abiding grace. Will you dance with me through this season of Advent?

Subscribers will receive these daily devotions in their inbox each morning. All devotions will be posted on Facebook and Instagram as well.

Additionally, all the daily devotions from 2018-2020 are held in the “archives” section of staceynaleancarlson.com and are available to you at any time.

Let’s Dance!

I can’t wait to share the Advent 2021 playlist of accompanying songs for each day, so here it is!