Starting tomorrow we’re in for a treat.  That’s when we’ll begin a special Advent series featuring the photography of the very talented, fellow saint and sinner Katie Archibald-Woodward.  (Just think: we’ll get to say that we knew Katie before she became famous; and I’ll be able to boast that I grew up miles from her childhood home in southern California!)

In case you’re wondering what “Advent” is, here is a standard dictionary definition:

“advent” (noun)-

1. a coming into place, view, or being; arrival

2. the coming of Christ into the world

3. the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.

If Advent is a time on the church calendar when we Christians prepare for the breaking in of God’s kingdom, it also gives expression to something even more fundamental- it names the very essence of what it means to see the world through eyes of faith. “Advent” is the “coming into place, view or being” of a loving God who speaks to us-  through creation, in Scripture, and in the stirrings of our own hearts.

The compilation of photos that Katie will share with us over the next month captures Katie’s own fleeting glimpses of this God and this God’s Word to her as she meets this God in her various comings and goings.  Her inspiration for this series is Psalm 19:1-4:

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.

Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;

yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens God has set a tent for the sun.

Katie holds a B.A. from Willamette University and an M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary.  Here is a little more about her from her official bio:

“She began her travel adventures at a very young age and at two made her first overseas journey.  Too excited to sit still – or maybe just being a restless toddler – she, “walked across the Atlantic,” as her Dad likes to describe.  Her love of traveling and fascination for different cultures grew as she continued her explorations throughout the globe for both leisure and study.

Realizing her joy of photographing these spectacular sights was proving itself to be a talent and an emerging passion, she began to take photography more seriously.  She hopes her photography will help others experience the visible divine Word of God (visio divina) captured in the beauty and diversity of creation.  Katie also hopes others, like she, will be filled with a sense of wonder and delight for God’s marvelous work and in turn become more connected to God, each other and creation.”

We hope you’ll come back tomorrow for the first in this series! Every Tuesday and Thursday between now and Christmas, this intersection between God and life will feature one of Katie’s photos and a verse from Scripture- all as a way to prepare us for the birth of the Christ child, not just in this season on the church calendar, but all year round.