Advent with Stu g (and Ian Cron) Day 8
Open the door on my alternative advent calendar today and you’ll find a guest writer.
Ian Cron is becoming a great friend. He is an author, a speaker, a psychotherapist, an Episcopal priest, he guides retreats, he loves liturgy and Eucharist.
I would describe him as a contemplative mystic.
Karen and I have loved getting to know him and his wife Anne this year, they moved into Franklin around the same time as us, so we’re all new in town and have both had our fair share of life changes.
We laugh a lot!
Ian has written two books - Chasing Francis - and his latest, and my favorite read of the year - Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me please check them out.
Thanks Ian! over to you…
Don’t worry if you experience conflicting feelings during Advent. You’re not alone.
This is the season when we look forward to the coming of our Savior as well as to his return as victorious king.
The time of preparation and waiting for the birth of Jesus kindles expectant joy, while waiting for his return awakens longing, sometimes profound longing. Therefore don’t assume you’re a depressive just because you find it hard to sing Away in a Manger on Christmas Eve without recalling the doleful melody and lyric of Advent’s O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
Joy and longing. Don’t bother trying to duck them. They’re inescapable for the person of faith.
Listen to Jonatha Brooke and Kevin Gilbert sing their haunting rendition of ”O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (click here) as well as to the King’s College Choir’s performance of Away in a Manger (click here). Perhaps you’ll feel the joy and longing I’m referring to in the silence between where the first song ends and the other begins. I do.
