LC† Vigil in Hope: November 2025

November 21, 2025

DAY 7

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Bathsheba

A GREETING
I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God for ever and ever.
(Psalm 52:8)

A READING
...And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
and Solomon the father of Rehoboam.... (Matthew 1:6b-7a)

So Bathsheba went to the king in his room. The king was very old; Abishag the Shunammite was attending the king. Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king, and the king said, “What do you wish?” She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne.’ But now suddenly Adonijah has become king, though you, my lord the king, do not know it. The eyes of all are on you to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
(1 Kings 1:15-18;20b)

MUSIC

A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded the people at God’s command.
(Baruch 5:8)

A REFLECTION
We are all woodland people. Like trees, we hold a genetic memory of the past because trees are parents to the child deep within us. We feel that shared history come alive every time we step into the forest, where the majesty of nature calls to us in a voice beyond our imaginations. But even in those of us who haven’t encountered trees in months or even years, the connection to the natural world is there, waiting to be remembered.
- from To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom
to a Healing Vision of the Forest by Diana Beresford-Kroeger

A VERSE FOR THE DAY
They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
(Psalm 1:3)

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AN IMMERSIVE WALK

Although they are thousands of years apart from each other in time, the advocacy of Bathsheba for her son to be king and the powerful witness of Diana Beresford-Kroeger for the Boreal forest, hold a similar passion: a desire for a tomorrow full of the promise of new life. Bathsheba's story as told in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings is framed by her relationship to King David and the lengths he went to in order to have her. She has experienced abuse and trauma from the forced separation from her husband who is killed by David. But hidden in the story is Bathsheba's own determination to keep the House of David alive, by ensuring that Solomon comes to power.

On the other side of time, Diana Beresford-Kroeger speaks of forests that hold "genetic memory," referring perhaps to the way that the rings of trees offer scientists historical record of previous ecological challenges like drought or fire. In To Speak for the Trees, she writes about the ways in which trees convey knowledge to each other, transferring their embodied memory. She teaches us that like Jesus, Creation itself has ancestors.

Both women have confronted power: Bathsheba stands up to her husband the king; Beresford-Kroeger confronts corporate power to speak out about deforestation and unsustainable logging. Implicit in the stories of both women are the significance of the body, whether human or ecological: to carry life and to hold memory and communicate wisdom.

To be an ancestor means to take responsibility for the future. How will the Christ that is in all things endure if we allow environmental deterioration? What is the role you will play in helping to secure future generations?

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Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!

November 20, 2025

DAY 6

Image by Pai Shih

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Tamar

A GREETING
I bless the Lord, who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
(Psalm 16:7)

READINGS
....and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,
and Perez the father of Hezron...

As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “It was the owner of these who made me pregnant.” And she said, “Take note, please, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah acknowledged them and said, “She is more in the right than I.
(Genesis 38:25-26a)

MUSIC

A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
(Psalm 16:9)

A REFLECTION
I was told I would be the last child from the Brehon world, from the ancient world of Ireland. And I was told to bring the message of the ancient world into you. And the time is now. I was told at the time now that the world would be in very bad shape. It would be heating up, and there would be a lot of floods. And the ancient wisdoms — not necessarily the knowledge — but the ancient wisdoms of the Celtic world were important to discuss with all of you now. And... I’m here. I’ve done it, and I’ve written all these books, and it has happened.
- Diana Beresford-Kroeger, speaking to a climate conference hosted by The New York Times
October, 2022. You can watch the interview here.

VERSE OF THE DAY
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy.
(Psalm 16:11)

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"November evening in a Welsh wood (1885-95)
by James Thomas Watts

The bible includes many moments when women have been both carriers of wisdom and carriers of story. Tamar continues the example of Jesus’ women ancestors who survived through their own courage and faith. Betrayed by her father and brother-in-law after her husband’s death, Tamar contrives to carry the child of the patriarch Judah, thereby ensuring her future and the continuation of the Davidic line. Without her tenacity Jesus would not have been born into the family he has.

Courage, and perseverance in a patriarchal culture, belong also to Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger, an Irish climate scientist, biochemist, botanist, and more who has made her home near Ottawa, Ontario for the past several decades. Her life work has been studying, working in and building up the boreal forests of her region that have the capacity to be restorative of a carbon-filled atmosphere. She has also catalogued much of the world’s tree seeds in order to preserve them. In recent years, as we have finally begun to talk about climate and ecological degradation, her voice has become a prophetic one, attracting writers and celebrities, scientists and analystis. In all of these connections with others, she demonstrates a profound spirituality about nature.

In today's reflection, we hear her own account of her childhood. Her deepest influence has been an Irish childhood exposure to Celtic culture and the laws of Brehon, a medieval Celtic legal system that seeks to preserve the land as it was meant to be. It has much in common with Indigenous knowledge and in its time was often led by women.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger's use of words and language is part of how she expresses her life's passion. Her books are how she has communicated that passion with the world. “That is what a forest does for you every day: it farms the sun,” she says in another interview. The forest draws the carbon out of the air and cycles it into oxygen. Her words speak to the essential cycle of how life becomes renewed.

Over the next few days we will continue to explore Dr. Beresford-Kroeger's witness to the boreal forests of our world. How do forests hold the promise of new life -- in any season? Where can you walk in one today?

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Image by SC

November 19, 2025

DAY 5

Image by Justin Kern

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Jacob

A GREETING
To you, O God, I lift up my soul.
(Psalm 25:1)

READINGS
Isaac begot Jacob; Jacob begot Judah and his sisters and brothers...
(Matthew 1:2)

In the course of the night, Jacob arose, took the entire caravan, and crossed the ford of the Yabbok River. After Jacob had crossed with all his possessions, he returned to the camp, and he was completely alone. And there, someone wrestled with Jacob until the first light of dawn. Seeing that Jacob could not be overpowered, the other struck Jacob at the socket of the hip, and the hip was dislocated as they wrestled. Then Jacob’s contender said, “Let me go, for day is breaking.” Jacob answered, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
(Genesis 32:22-26)

MUSIC
Sung in Irish, the lyrics are discussed in the write-up below.

MEDITATIVE VERSES
Turn to me, be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and anguished.
How heavy are the troubles of my heart!
Free me from my distress!
(Psalm 25:16-17)

A REFLECTION
As bees gather honey, so do we reap the sweetness from everything and build God. Even with the trifling, with the unseemly (when it comes by way of love), we begin with labor and with rest, with silence or with a small, solitary joy, with everything that we do alone, without comrades and without assistance. We begin Him whom we will not experience—any more than our ancestors were able to experience us. And thus they, these ancient ones, are for us as ground, as legacy, as our coursing blood, as a birthing that arises from the depths of time. What could ever take from you the hope of being at last in Him, the farthest, the ultimate?
- from Letters to a Young Poet: A New Translation and Commentary
by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

VERSE OF THE DAY
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
for you are my only hope.
(Psalm 25:21)

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"Ocean waves," by Hokusai. (1833)

In today’s music, Zoë Conway and John Mc Intyre sing a song based on a poem by Irish poet Máirtín Ó Direáin that dreams of a place where the soul can be at peace and at rest. The poet (and the singer) imagine “solace,” on a “sea island” that feels like home. The song reminds us that when we are feeling ‘out of season’ with our lives, praying with nature is a good way to restore us to who we are.

At the same time, we can remember that we ourselves are also nature. We cannot be separated from what is around us: it is a part of us and we are a part of it. Rainer Maria Rilke was an early 20th century Austrian poet who wrote passionately in both poetry and prose about how the soul wrestles, and finds peace, with God. Over several volumes of translation, Joanna Macy and Anita Burrows came to appreciate how much he understood the relationship between humankind and nature: "We are moved by Rilke’s sensitivity to nature and the claim it should have on human behavior."

Macy has said about Rilke that he encourages us (and therefore she does too) to find the transcendent in the everyday ordinariness of life, which holds the sacred as much as our religious rituals do. Rilke's willingness to wrestle with his own waves of faith and doubt found their 'solace' outdoors, among all created life.

Jesus' ancestor Jacob wrestled all night with an unknown opponent. When, in the early hours of day, Jacob is wounded and his opponent wants to leave, Jacob asks for his blessing first. In Jewish tradition, to bless someone is to ask God to draw some of God's divine energy down into the one being blessed. "May God make God's face to shine upon you," we say, quoting Numbers 6. That shining radiance of God, and the struggles of a spiritual journey go hand in hand.

What are the daily moments of struggle and of transcendence that accompany your spiritual journey? How can you feel God blessing you in the midst?

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Image by Justin Kern

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!

November 18, 2025

DAY 4

Image by Zdenek Bardon

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Rahab

A GREETING
For your love is before my eyes,
and I walk in your truth.
(Psalm 26:3)

READINGS
...and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth...
(Matthew 1:5)

The two spies set off and went to Jericho. There they went to the house of an innkeeper named Rahab, where they spent the night. When the word reached the ruler of Jericho that two had arrived that evening to scout the territory, the ruler sent this message to Rahab: “Bring me the two who are lodging in your house, for they are here to spy on my land.” But Rahab took the two spies and hid them, then told the ruler, “Yes, they did come here, but I didn’t know where they were from. And after dark, knowing that the gate would be closed soon, they left. I don’t know where they went. But you might catch up to them if you hurry.” As a matter of fact, Rahab had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under stalks of flax stored there.
(Joshua 2:1b-6)

MUSIC

A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Even so I have confidence
that I’ll see the goodness of God
in the land of the living!
(Psalm 27:13)

A REFLECTION
We can choose life. Even as we face global climate disruption, world-encompassing nuclear contamination, hydro-fracking, mountaintop removal mining, tar sands extraction, deep sea drilling and the genetic engineering of our food supply, we can still choose life. We can still act for the sake of a livable world... For, if there is to be a livable world for those who come after us, it will be because we have managed to make the transition from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life-Sustaining Society. When people of the future look back at this historical moment, they will see more clearly than we can now, how revolutionary our actions were. Perhaps they’ll call it the time of the Great Turning.
- from Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects
by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown

VERSE OF THE DAY
I set before you life or death, blessing or curse.
Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live.
(Deuteronomy 30:19)

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Illustration by Dori Midnight representing the four stages of
The Work that Reconnects, a community and a philosophy that
identifies four stages of a spiritual journey. The image symbolically
takes the shape of a spiral, always ongoing. Taken from
Coming Back to Life by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown, as linked above.

Yesterday we explored the tenacity and courage of Jesus’ ancestor Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi. Today in the story of Rahab, we hear once again an account of a woman’s attempt to save and protect her family. Rahab’s decision to hide the spies is a courageous one, even if she is assisting those who will ultimately take over her people. She is imposing an exile on herself: she knows that she will have to move in order to stay alive. Yesterday, Ruth, a Moabite woman, is a stranger in her new context. Today, Rahab, a Canaanite woman, will also be an immigrant in her new life. Jesus’ heritage is filled with ethnic diversity and migration: his ancestors come from far and wide in the nations and region of his birth.

This interconnectedness is echoed in the work of Joanna Macy, whom we began exploring yesterday. Founder of The Work that Reconnects, she invites us into a way of acknowledging our own intergenerational belonging, and to recognize our own ancestral legacy for those to come. The Work that Reconnects identifes four parts of a spiritual process or journey. The starting principle is gratitude. Not just a list of things we are grateful for, “the Work” invites us to dive deep into what has made it possible for us to be here, doing what we are doing, among the communities we serve and belong to. Next, the Work suggests we reflect honestly on our own pain and the pain of the world. The reason we feel the pain of the world, this teaching says, is because of our deep interconnectedness. Our empathy is a natural response to a hurting part of ourselves. Acknowledging this allows us to ‘see with new eyes’, that is understanding how much our own actions and work for change (on whatever scale) can help to transform the world. This physical work of 'going forth' into the world, using our own individual unique gifts — is the final stage of the process.

The Work that Reconnects brings people of many traditions together. It also has echoes in what Christians think of when we talk about building the kindom of God. When we encourage ourselves to step out of the narrow vision of our own lives — and join with others in caring for each other and Creation, we help to fulfill what Jesus commands and calls us to do.

How does this work live in your day to day life? How does anticipating the birth of Jesus help you renew your commitment to it?

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Image by Alexandre Santerne

November 17, 2025

DAY 3

Image by Verrant James

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Ruth

A GREETING
You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
(Psalm 4:7)

READINGS
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah...
Ruth and Boaz begot Obed...
(Matthew 1:1a;5)

So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had instructed her. When Boaz had eaten and drunk and was in a contented mood, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came stealthily and uncovered his feet and lay down. At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and there, lying at his feet, was a woman! He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin.” He said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter
(Ruth 3:6-10)

MUSIC

A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The meadows clothe themselves with flocks;
the valleys deck themselves with grain;
they shout and sing together for joy.
(Psalm 65:13)

A REFLECTION
[Hope] is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First, we start from where we are by taking in a clear view of reality, acknowledging what we see and how we feel. Second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we’d like things to move in or the values we’d like to see expressed. And third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction.
- from Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in with
Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power, by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone

VERSE OF THE DAY
May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field.
(Psalm 72:16)

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Herb robert (aka crow's foot or fox geranium) growing out of a tree stump.
Ancient Celtic practice observed the plant as a signal of when it would rain, by the way
in which its leaves would close and redden just before a shower. (Image: SC)
Macy's words come just before the passage in today's reflection.

From today until Saturday, in the spirit of the thin places of 'Samhain' which bring us closer to loved ones who are gone, we will explore some of the ancestors of Jesus. An ancestor of Jesus was Ruth, whose story is told in the Book of Ruth.

Widowed, Ruth has traveled away from her home region with her mother-in-law Naomi, another widow. Naomi encourages Ruth to leave her and go back to her people, so that she may continue to have a good life. Instead, Ruth chooses to stay close to Naomi, out of deep loyalty and gratiude. Determined to see her do well, Naomi conceives a plan for Ruth to attach herself to Boaz, someone who has already shown her kindness. Ruth and Boaz meet as a result of the ancient and biblical practice of gleaning, in which those who have little or no means follow behind the work of harvesters, taking whatever is left behind.

Gathering grain from the land is integral to the love shown by these three people. The people offer hospitality and generosity and so does the land. The Celtic love of the earth flows from a deep consciousness of the ways in which the earth offers life to all created matter. How much are we in our own times willing to have the same kind of reverence for it?

Over the next few days, we will reflect on the writings of Joanna Macy, a Buddhist eco-philosopher and scholar who believed in the profound interconnectedness of all things, and who created a movement that has influenced individuals and communities around the world. In the quotation above from her book Active Hope, she invites us to imagine ourselves into a different future. We can see some of her advice embodied in the story of Ruth and Naomi, who make decisions in each of the three ways she names.

Who are the ancestors you never knew but have heard stories about for their way of being in the world? How might they accompany you as you enter a pilgrimage of waiting, wondering, and walking toward the Christ child?

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Image by Caroline Johnston

November 16, 2025

DAY 2

Kananaskis. Image by Matty's Flicks

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A GREETING
O God, we heard with our own ears—
our ancestors told us all the things you did
in their days, in days of old.
(Psalm 44:1)

A READING
Forget the events of the past,
ignore the things of long ago!
Look, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth—can’t you see it?
I’m making a road in the desert
and setting rivers to flow in the wasteland.
(Isaiah 43:18-19)

MUSIC

A MEDITATIVE VERSE
This month shall mark for you the beginning of months;
it shall be the first month of the year for you.
(Exodus 12:2)

A PRAYER
Tonight I honor my ancestors.
Spirits of my fathers and mothers, I call to you,
and welcome you to join me for this night.
You watch over me always,
protecting and guiding me,
and tonight I thank you.
Your blood runs in my veins,
your spirit is in my heart,
your memories are in my soul.
- Samhain Ancestor Prayer, found on learnreligions.com

VERSE OF THE DAY
Our ancestors put their trust in you;
they trusted and you rescued them; they cried to you and were saved;
they trusted you and were never disappointed.
(Psalm 22:4a;5b)
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"Late Fall, Manitoba," by Lionel LeMoine Fitzgerald (1917),
found on thegroupofseven.ca

Samhain (pronounced "Sow-en") is the festival associated with the Celtic New Year, which corresponds in the Christian calendar with the November 1st celebrations of All Saints and All Souls. The festival marks the half way point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is also the beginning of the darkest time of the year. Just as we mark the first Sunday of Advent as the start of the new church year, the Celtic festival of Samhain marks the end and the new beginning of the earth’s yearly seasonal cycle.

Today’s reading from Isaiah speaks to the ‘new thing’ that God manifests whenever we make a commitment to transforming our lives. Such a time of new life and growth requires trying to release painful past life experiences. It also includes honouring those who have come before us who have helped guide the way. At Samhain we enter into a ‘thin space,’ the closest we come in the year (according to Celtic tradition) to the world of those who go before us. We enter the journey of Advent by holding our ancestors, biblically, spiritually, and in our own lives, and asking them to help guide us as we go. In some Celtic practices, a place at the table is set out for those who have recently been lost.

The companionship of darkness and light and day and night, allows for the release of what has held us back and the birth of new life to live side by side. Sometimes it can be difficult to let go of disappointments and setbacks. We may feel a bitterness, resentment, anger or even numb acceptance. It takes commitment and courage in these moments to dig into the practice of hope.

What experience of this past year can you pray to release, as you wait for the one who brings new life? Who are the dear ones long gone or recently lost whose wisdom you remember?

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Mono Lake, California. Image by Jeff Sullivan.

November 15, 2025

DAY 1

Image by Caroline Johnston

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A GREETING
I will praise you, O God, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your marvelous works!
(Psalm 9:1)

A READING
Love one another with the affection of siblings. Try to outdo one another in showing respect. Don’t grow slack, but be fervent in spirit: the One you serve is Christ. Rejoice in hope; be patient under trial; persevere in prayer. Look on the needs of God’s holy people as your own; be generous in offering hospitality.
(Romans 13:10-13)

MUSIC

A MEDITATIVE VERSE
For who is the greater?
The one who reclines at a meal, or the one who serves it?
(Luke 22:27)

A POEM BLESSING
I bless myself in the name
of the deer and ox,
the heron and the hare,
evangelists of land and wood
and air. The fox as well, that red
predator of chickens, prey of cars.
And the salmon and the trout
sleeping in the reeds.
When the wren wakes, I’ll ask
her blessing, and if she comes out
she’ll bring it. The squirrel buries
when she thinks no one else can
see. I bless myself in her secrecy.
There’s a fieldmouse I’ve seen
scampering at dusk, picking up the seeds
dropped by the finches and the tits
throughout the day. Some nest of frenzy
waits her kindness and her pluck.
I go in the name of all of them,
their chaos and their industry,
their replacements, their population,
their forgettable ways, their untame natures,
their ignorance of why,
or how, or who.
- "[untitled/missæ]" from Kitchen Hymns: Poems by Pádraig Ó Tuama

VERSE OF THE DAY
So many are asking, “Does good even exist anymore?”
Let the light of your face, O God, shine on us!
(Psalm 4:6)

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"Strait of Juan de Fuca," (1936) by Emily Carr

Come Away In!
Welcome to Celtic Advent. Over the next nearly six weeks, we will journey through a time of holy darkness and light, waiting and mystery, threshold and passage, as we prepare for and anticipate the Christ child. Celtic Advent holds joy, peace, hope and love alongside themes of creation, incarnation, and community. At its very heart, the Celtic practice of observing forty days before the nativity is an expression of hospitality. In laying to one side the obssessions of our own lives to focus on others, we encounter what we are most able to offer the world. In Advent we make a little more space for the light, while holding and loving what the darkness reveals.

Hope is our thread. Hope is sometimes as tenuous, thin and flimsy as a fraying piece of yarn. It can also be tight and strong like twine. In Celtic Advent, we deepen our commitment to hope as a covenant with God, a commitment to the renewal in all things that the coming of Jesus signifies. During the coming days, we will hold vigil in hope --- for the world, and for hope itself.

Hope dwells in the thin places, the thresholds. When we feel most lost, most at odds with our realities, most discouraged -- we turn to a hope through action to reorient ourselves. Hope comes through doing: as we see the kindom of God emerge, our hope is strengthened.

Over the coming days, we will explore the saints, past and present -- Celtic Christian, inter-religious or secular -- who have demonstrated their deep commitment to hope through their life's work. How can our ancestors in faith help us find our footing for the future? How will you prepare yourself to journey toward Jesus with your whole heart?

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Image by Giuseppe Milo

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Today's scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!

November 08, 2025

WELCOME!

Image by Sherry Coman

LC† Vigil in Hope

November 15 - December 24, 2025
(except four Sundays: November 23rd, 30th, December 7th, 14th)

What is Celtic Advent?
How can it help us dive deeply into hope during days of increasing darkness?

You are invited to join Lutherans Connect for Celtic Advent, a tradition that blends Celtic spirituality with the Christian season of waiting in mystery and awe for the arrival of the Christ child. As a practice, Celtic Advent runs from November 15th to December 24th every year. Longer than the more commonly held four-week cycle of Advent preparation, but shorter than the seven-week cycle observed by some, Celtic Advent searches out the holy in ordinary life, in acts of kindness and hospitality, in closer connections with Creation, in some fasting as we might do in Lent, and in reflecting on the Celtic saints. This year, however, our saints will be the figures in our world who have shown through their life's work a deep commitment to hope for the future of humankind and of the planet. Hope will be our other significant theme: not the hope of passing longing, but the discipline and deep covenantal choice we make through our faith to find and build hope however we can.

As usual, the daily offerings will include scripture, poetry, music and reflections. To receive the devotions by email (encouraged), please write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. Devotions will also be posted daily to the Lutherans Connect Facebook page.

Blessings in this holy season of waiting for the light!

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LC† Vigil in Hope