Advent Archives » Mike Frost https://mikefrost.net/tag/advent/ AUTHOR | SPEAKER | MISSIOLOGIST | AGITATOR Thu, 15 Dec 2022 11:08:12 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://i0.wp.com/mikefrost.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cropped-MF.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Advent Archives » Mike Frost https://mikefrost.net/tag/advent/ 32 32 116298986 The Most Tender of all Advent Paintings https://mikefrost.net/the-most-tender-of-all-advent-paintings/ https://mikefrost.net/the-most-tender-of-all-advent-paintings/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2022 10:54:23 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=32241 Whenever I see Arthur Hacker’s 1892 painting, The Annunciation, I feel like I’m intruding on an intimate conversation. It’s a beautiful picture, private and evocative. The Virgin Mary is swathed in layers of soft, floating, light fabric, which has the effect of lending her multiple identities. She is a classical Greek statue, a priestess, and […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/the-most-tender-of-all-advent-paintings/feed/ 6 32241 Four paintings for the four weeks of Advent https://mikefrost.net/four-paintings-for-the-four-weeks-of-advent/ https://mikefrost.net/four-paintings-for-the-four-weeks-of-advent/#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2018 11:16:31 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=28317 It will soon be Advent, the most beautiful of church seasons, celebrated over the four Sundays preceding Christmas. You might not be part of a liturgical church tradition, but marking each Sunday with a reading and the lighting of a candle can be a rich way to prepare yourself, your family, your congregation for the […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/four-paintings-for-the-four-weeks-of-advent/feed/ 10 28317 The Gifts of Advent 4: RECONCILIATION https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-4-reconciliation/ https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-4-reconciliation/#comments Mon, 18 Dec 2017 05:00:49 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=27489 Rosalie Kunoth-Monks is an Amatjere woman, born in the outback in 1937 at the height of Australia’s so-called assimilation policy. At that time, it was believed that Aboriginal peoples were so vastly inferior to the culture of white settlers that they would soon die out altogether. The government adopted a policy of forcibly removing indigenous […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-4-reconciliation/feed/ 2 27489 The Gifts of Advent 3: WHOLENESS https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-3-wholeness/ https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-3-wholeness/#comments Tue, 12 Dec 2017 20:19:30 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=27478 [This is the third in a four-part series on the gifts of Advent. The first post explored BEAUTY and in the second I looked at JUSTICE]   Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen The song […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-3-wholeness/feed/ 2 27478 The Gifts of Advent 2: JUSTICE https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-2-justice/ https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-2-justice/#respond Fri, 08 Dec 2017 00:17:04 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=27454 [This is the second in a four-part series looking at the gifts given to us in the coming of Jesus. The first gift I explored was BEAUTY. You can read it here.]   One of the most powerful ways to show people the truth of Christianity is to serve the common good. ~ Tim Keller […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-2-justice/feed/ 0 27454 The Gifts of Advent 1: BEAUTY https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-1-beauty/ https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-1-beauty/#comments Mon, 04 Dec 2017 03:05:41 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=27438 Beauty – Katrina Lambert Beauty lives In the hollow of the itch you can’t reach. Its first gift is a jolt of recognition – A reflection of something Deep and hidden within us.  Beauty lies In the stitched line of the horizon. Its second gift is the joy of communion – A joining of our […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/gifts-advent-1-beauty/feed/ 1 27438 Advent – you might be doing it wrong https://mikefrost.net/advent-might-wrong/ https://mikefrost.net/advent-might-wrong/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2017 00:59:26 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=27412 “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – Inigo Montoya In recent years, even the most non-liturgical branches of the church, those who usually recoil against anything that even smacks of ritualism, have discovered the Christian season of Advent. But typical of someone a bit late […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/advent-might-wrong/feed/ 13 27412 Advent Reflection 3: The Sacrament of Being Helpful https://mikefrost.net/advent-reflection-3-sacrament-helpful/ https://mikefrost.net/advent-reflection-3-sacrament-helpful/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2016 20:02:15 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=26414 Look carefully at the painting. It’s one of history’s truly great pieces of Christmas-related art. Then read the Bible passage that inspired it. Then read my devotional reflection. Finally, there’s a prayer you can recite at the end. 3.  THE JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM   Artwork:  Mary and Joseph on the Way to Bethlehem (Portinari Altarpiece) […]

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]]> https://mikefrost.net/advent-reflection-3-sacrament-helpful/feed/ 1 26414 Advent Reflection 1: Like a kick in the guts https://mikefrost.net/advent-reflection-1-annunciation-like-kick-guts/ https://mikefrost.net/advent-reflection-1-annunciation-like-kick-guts/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2016 20:02:20 +0000 https://mikefrost.net/?p=26390 I will be posting two Advent reflections each week this season. They will each be based on one of the 10 greatest paintings of the Christmas story ever produced.  I trust you find them life-giving and hope-enlarging. Look carefully at the painting above. Examine every section. Explore the artist’s design. What do you see? Now […]

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