This week we will celebrate the first Sunday of Advent. Many of us wonder how we will spend this most sacred season when we cannot enact so many of our traditions. As the staff pondered this, we thought about how Advent is such an embodied season, when we wait for the Divine to be born in our midst. There is embodiment also in lighting the candles and baking cookies and almost every other part of Advent. Recognizing that, we wanted to include something in worship that evokes that sense of embodiment—what better example than our heartbeats? like Jesus’ heartbeat growing stronger as he grew in Mary’s womb? So we prepared this chant (see the video) that can be led by our heartbeats, our bodies, as we wait for the small body of Jesus to be born in our hearts once again this Christmas. We’ll sing it at each worship service throughout Advent 2020. Perhaps this chant will be a new part of your tradition, as your heartbeat is with you always.
