A Time of Wonder
An “Advent” series for the Winter Solstice Season
As the days shorten, join us to deepen gently into the
lengthening nights and celebrate the return of the sun.
You are welcome to join any one of the donations-appreciated onnline sessions or all five of them.
Dates: November 23, November 30, December 7, December 14, and December 21 - 3:30 to 4:30 pm ET
This is a time of wonder, as the nights lengthen and the days become shorter, as the temperature drops and the stars become more brilliant in the crisp night air. It is a time of waiting and watching, of listening to stories and lighting candles and singing together. It is a time of decorating with evergreens, gathering around the fire, sharing meals, entering the holy darkness. It is a time of rest, of going inward, too. It is a time for curling into warm blankets and around the known and unknown seeds that are planted in our souls, germinating while waiting for the arrival of spring.
Within the Christian advent practice of anticipating the birth of the divine in the form of a human child is an older, ecologically-orientated practice of witnessing the growth of the dark, the swelling of night, and then those long solstice nights, before the sun begins her movement once again.
We invite you and the multiplicity of your spiritual traditions to join us
Gather. Listen. Witness.
In each online gathering, we will come together around a shared offering: a song, a reading, a poem. We seek to come closer to our more-than-human kin, to feel into our creatureliness and our soft, vulnerable animal skins. To lean into what is cozy, homey, and supportive; into a time of dreaming and being dream.
Then there will be a collective reflection to share how we are noticing the season. Questions may include:
How are you entering/deepening into the dark? Is there grief, fear, or delight? How is it for you to have fewer and fewer hours of daylight each day? How are you affected by the cold? The longer nights? What are the seeds that may germinate within you over winter?
Are you longing for the return of light? What are your hopes and dreams? What is dreaming you?
We will end with prayer.
Join all 5 sessions or Join the November 23 session
About your guides
Sara Jolena Wolcott
Sara Jolena Wolcott, M.Div., is a descendent of the founding families of the United States (Henry Wolcott arrived in 1635; Oliver Wolcott signed the Declaration of Independence) and trained as an eco-theologian and minister at Union Theological Seminary. Her ancestors worked closely with - and sometimes fought with - people from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. She founded and directs the international learning community, Sequoia Samanvaya. In addition to her eco-spiritual, multi-faith and unconventional ministries, she brings international experience working with communities around sustainable development/regenerative cultures - experience that taught her the importance of myths, spirituality, and cosmovisions in enabling regenerative societies.
Reverend Rhetta Morgan
Reverend Rhetta Morgan is a singing healer, spiritual activist, and interfaith minister who has been gathering tools for healing and inspiration for over 40 years. Through her gifts of prayer, poetry, facilitation, and sermonizing, she cultivates hope and nurtures connection in her community as a pathway back to belonging and wholeness.
Amy Outlaw Kietzman
Amy Outlaw Kietzman was born in the1950’s and raised in the Delaware watershed. and After raising 3 daughters in the city of Philadelphia with her husband, is now at home in Cheyney Pennsylvania among the meadows and woods. As a young adult she traveled, studied, lived and worked in Mexico, England and Kenya, returning home to become a nonviolent action trainer and activist and community organizer. A lifelong Quaker, Amy had a spiritual awakening experience in her 40’s that started her on a long journey that to founding the Outlaw Abbey and Kindred of the Wild congregation, an outdoor church seeking communion with all Creation.