ADVENT QUIET MORNING

This year's Advent Quiet Morning was probably one of the most difficult to put together. I rely upon my reading throughout the year to provide material for the AQM set lists, but most of my reading this year was Buddhist. So I really had to dig deep to find pieces, and it came down to the wire.

I created small pieces of artwork to accompany each set of readings, which provided me an additional component for this year's participants to focus upon during times of meditation and silence following the Bible passages, poems, essays, and excerpts.



"Holy Ground," acrylic gel print on 4½" x 6½" cardstock.

Holy Ground

• Exodus 3:1-15.
• "Dancing with Divine Fire: A Divine Invitation" by Barbara Holmes, from the Center for Action and Contemplation's "Daily Meditations" series.
• "On Fire, But Not Burned," an online poem by Andrea Skevington.
• "Visio Divina, August 21, 2024," an online devotion by Scott Erickson.

"Mary," acrylic gel print on 4½" x 6½" cardstock.

Mary

• Luke 1:26-38.
• Lyrics from "Let It Be" by The Beatles.
• Excerpts from "Bring It: A Letter from Mary," chapter ten of Season's Greetings: Christmas Letters from Those Who Were There by Ruth L. Boling.
• "Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Mother" from Come to Me, All of You: Stations of the Cross in the Voice of Christ by Amy Ekeh.

"The Light," acrylic gel print on 4½" x 6½" cardstock.

The Light

• Genesis 1:1-5.
• Two lines from The Book of Hours I, 44 by Rainer Maria Rilke.
• Psalm 18:28.
• Lyrics from "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths.
• Psalm 27:1.
• Psalm 78:14.
• A quote from Hildegard of Bingen, from Vita Hildergard II.2, 71.
• Matthew 2:1-12.
• "Stars," a poem by Marjorie Pickthall.
• John 1:1-5.
• Four lines from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake.
• "A Resurrection Faith: Dawn's Radiant Light" by Father Richard Rohr and Becca Stevens, from the Center for Action and Contemplation's "Daily Meditations" series.
• Revelation 22:5.
• Two lines from Holden Evening Prayer.

BE NOT AFRAID

"Be Not Afraid," papercut cardstock on copy paper.

A companion piece to "Annunciation," I think these beings to be "lesser" angels in the hierarchy of the heavens. Perhaps they are component parts of a seraph. Or perhaps a seraph is a composite being. I liked the notion of the wings and wheel being angelic creatures in their own right, so here they are.

ANNUNCIATION

"Annunciation," gel-printed papercut cardstock and aluminum foil on copy paper.

A six-winged seraph, but the wings flapping in a circle as though the wheel envisioned by Ezekiel. And covered in eyes, but what if the people who encountered these angels mistook an orifice, an aperture, for eyes because of the shape. What if, instead of eyes, they were glimpses into the great emptiness, the void, the Ground of Being? What if, instead of eyes, they were mouths eternally singing Hallelujah! and praising the Divine, proclaiming the glory of the Lord?