Now and then a Quaker, generally tongue-in-cheek, will refer to our December 25th festivities as “the day the world calls Christmas.” Referring to Christmas that way places Friends at a bit of a remove from the yearly cycle of Christian holidays. It reminds us that every day is one in which we should expect God’s arrival, that every day can overturn our expectations of power and mercy, that every day is a day in which God is incarnate with us.
And yet, Advent can be seen as the most Quakerly of the Christian seasons. It’s time set aside for quiet waiting—for experimenting with the openness to God that we seek in our times of silence each Sunday. Each Advent, as we take time to practice the art of waiting on God, we find an opportunity to become better Friends.
We hope you will enjoy this series of Advent and Christmas devotions offered by Friends across the United States. It can be downloaded here, or from our website, here.
You’ll find many different ways of speaking about God, each pointing toward the same grounding truth that God is truly, miraculously, and lovingly as with us now as in the manger long ago.May the grace and peace of Christ surround you in this season and always, and may your Christmases be merry and bright.
