contentsadvent, like the waiting of peacemaking, is an active waiting. as the african proverb says,...

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Claire Brown

December 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Michael T. McRay

December 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Claire Brown

December 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Whitney Kimball Coe

December 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Shantell Hinton

December 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Becca Stevens

December 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Jacob Davis, #308056

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Copyright © 2019 by Claire Brown & Michael T. McRay All rights reserved

December 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Jarrod McKenna

December 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Mark Charles

December 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Brian Ammons

December 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Pádraig Ó Tuama

December 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Nontombi Naomi Tutu

December 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Tony D. Vick

December 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Gareth Higgins

December 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Charles Strobel

December 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Brittany Sky

December 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Tarek Abuata

December 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Justin Coleman

December 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Ashley McFaul-Erwin



December 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Lindsey Krinks

December 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Robyn Henderson-Espinoza

December 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Shane Claiborne

December 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 J. J. Warren

December 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Jeannie Alexander

Christmas Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Micky ScottBey Jones

Christmas Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Sami Awad

Using Keep Watch with Me with Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Claire Brown

Keeping Watch Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Michael T. McRay

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175



December 1Michael T. McRay



December 1

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Keep Watch with Me

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Text for the Day

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

Matthew 24:42 (NIV)



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Ref lection

When I worked with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank, one of our primary responsibilities was being present for confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. We needed to film and document all acts of aggression, hoping the scrutiny of international eyes might deter violence.

We needed to keep watch.For those of us in the United States, the last few years have

particularly highlighted the deep divisions scarring our country. Many of us yearn for a better world, and we wonder how long we can wait.

Advent is all about waiting. It is about patience, expectation, and longing. We wait in hope for the arrival of something better than what we have now. This is a joyful hope.

But Advent is about ache too, because longing and waiting are also painful experiences. For our exiled friends in prison longing for freedom, for our oppressed brothers and sisters waiting for justice, for our loved ones on the streets dreaming of a warm home, waiting is agony.

Both Advent and peacemaking are experiences of hope, and hope is the stuff of survival. It’s little wonder people who live in places of suffering are often filled with great hope and joy. As one Palestinian friend said to me, “What choice do we have but to hope? The alternative is death.” We hope that something more beautiful is coming because we must, because the alternative is unbearable. This



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work of hope is a muscular work, filled with sorrow, faith, persever-ance, and resilience.

In my study, teaching, and practice of peace building, I’ve learned that the work of peace is the work of preparation. We wait, yes, but we have much to do while we wait. My best friend, Jeannie Alexander, is waiting for her beloved to be freed from the cage of prison. Year after year, she waits. But part of her waiting is working to make better laws so he can return home sooner. The waiting of Advent, like the waiting of peacemaking, is an active waiting. As the African proverb says, “When you pray, move your feet.”

We watch, we wait, we work.Part of the truth of our world is that it is broken and breaking

more every day. But that is only part of the truth. Our world is also a place of beauty, love, and unfathomable generosity. There is kindness; there is laughter; there is healing. In a conversation with Bill Moyers, Thomas Cahill once said, “I have come to the conclu-sion that there are really only two movements in the world: one is kindness and the other is cruelty.”1

I want to be part of the movement toward kindness, one where we might begin speaking to and about one another with something like love. I do believe that a kinder world is on the way. I believe it because I must, and I will watch for it, with eyes open and feet moving.

Will you keep watch with me?



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Prayer

Jesus of the vigil, you told us to keep watch, to stay alert for what is coming. Bless us with the strength to watch,to wait, and to work this Advent season,so that your kingdom which is hereand is still to comemay be realized in its fullness. Because if we do not keep watch,we may miss it. Amen.

Practice

As you begin this Advent journey, take a moment and consider what has drawn you to greater intentionality in this season. What questions and concerns burden you? What hopes draw you? What are you called to keep watch over in yourself and the world? Write or sketch some thoughts, setting your intention for this inner work of keeping watch with and for God among us this Advent. Keep this reflection as a reminder through the coming weeks.



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Bio

Michael T. McRay is a writer, facilitator, and story-practitioner living in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s the author of multiple books, including the forthcoming I Am Not Your Enemy: Stories to Trans-form a Divided World (Herald Press, 2020). Michael is the Southeast regional manager for the global story nonprofit Narrative 4, and he also hosts Tenx9 Nashville Storytelling. He holds a graduate degree in conflict resolution and reconciliation from Trinity College Dublin at Belfast. He leads narrative retreats and speaks on story, conflict, reconciliation, and forgiveness. You can follow him @michaeltmcray

on social media and through his blog at www.michaelmcray.com.

1. For the video of this interview, see http://billmoyers.com/segment/thomas -cahill-on-the-peoples-pope/.



I can’t imagine a more meaningful, interesting, spiritually enriching, and relevant Advent resource than this. Amazing people with amazing insights for a season of wonder and welcome.

–Brian D. McLaren, author of We Make the Road by Walking and The Great Spiritual Migration

This collection of Advent re� ections quiets the soul, encourages us to listen for God’s callin our lives, and reminds us to step out in the world to act with love, hope, faith, and justice.

–Emilie M. Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School

Fro m t h e b o ok :

And when Mark writes John the Baptist in his desert landscape,I � nd myself praising the uncontainable characters of the world, those

wild ones who have always had the courage to say what they need to say. Pádraig Ó Tuama, December 10

Jesus is the most incredible act of divine solidarity the world has ever known. Shane Claiborne, December 21

Where are the places in our lives that we have exiled ourselves from God’s Word?In what ways are we shutting out the voice calling us to repentance, calling us to turn

our deepest desires to align with those of our God for ourselves and the world?Nontombi Naomi Tutu, December 11

MICHAEL T. MCRAY (MPhil, Con� ict Resolution and Reconciliation) is the author of multiple works, including the forthcoming I Am Not Your Enemy (2020). He lives in Nashville and works for the global empathy nonpro� t Narrative 4.

THE REV. CLAIRE BROWN is an Episcopal priest, writer, partner, and mama living in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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