a pop-up community
Make Advent Great Again
an oasis of sanity and support for holiday resistance and renewal
Curated by: Tripp Fuller & Mike Morrell
Each week you will get email reflections, discussion guides for the videos, and a number of other treats.
You will get access to a private Facebook group where you can discuss, share, and reflect
There will be two video sessions each week, including a LIVE session every Monday at noon est.
Advent will be great again starting in:
The holidays are hard when you’re losing your faith.
Advent: the time when we anticipate new life in the dead of winter, when we await the birth of Emmanuel, God-with-us, anew. But the holidays are hard when Uncle Frank passing the potato salad at Christmas dinner cheers for migrant children's migrant camps, border walls to be built, shady judges rushed in, and voters to be suppressed.This year, we need an Advent-ure, more than ever.
And so it’s by popular demand that we invite you to co-create a very special time of waiting and becoming:
Make Advent Great Again...Again!
There’s no need to feel bad when the holiday season that used to bring such joy now seems to bring on an extra dose of ‘bah humbug.’ We’ve heard alot from our friends this season - Jesus-followers and spiritual free-agents, activists and artists, ministers and moms - that you just can’t this Christmas... the Gifts, the Family, the Parties, the (fabricated) Smiles.
It all feels so remote. You’re not alone.
We’re back to compassionately fight back - not against the bogus ‘war on Christmas,’ but against the steady dehumanization that amounts to a desecration of the image of God in the face of each other, the War on Advent.
Yes, Advent a word we often don’t even hear any more: The often-overlooked season preceding Christmas, where the open-hearted, empty-handed friends of God have recognized for millennia that when all is bleakest, this is precisely when we let go of our burdens and wait. Spiritual and cultural ideals are being hijacked this season by politicians and preachers who want to ‘Make America Great Again.’ But there’s an alternative. We’re creating a pop-up community - to help each other
Make Advent Great Again...Again! * We’re giving you weekly reflections that plant potent seeds of hope to counter the weeds of that Grinch-ly other MAGA. * We’re sharing two video sessions per week, dialoguing between your hosts, Dr. Tripp Fuller and Mike Morrell, with our esteemed guests, Doctors Robyn Henderson-Espinoza and Alexander John Shaia.
Together we’ll dive deep into each week’s Advent Gospel reading, exploring: * How radical Christmas resistance gives birth to activist theology * How the four-Gospel journey of Quadratos reveals the mythic power of Christmas * How we’re given three distinct Advents in the life of the global faith community, each taking the texture and question of its Gospel * How Luke’s Advent spirituality focuses on how we can present and serve in ever-more-vital ways in especially dark times * How to go home for the holidays without losing your soul The ultimate gift: the advent of Divinity-in-us, together * We’re providing a private, brave-space discussion group where we can be totally honest about our struggles and breakthroughs. A ‘home base’ to truly Make Advent Great Again (Again), one day at a time.
"Magnificat" by Ben Wildflower
In other words, we’re creating a pop-up community for holiday resistance and renewal.
Tune in each week of Advent to experience how we birth grace when all seems to be working against us. (AKA the Good News of Mary’s Magnificat, the revolutionary message of Jesus the Christ.) The cost? A course like this is typically offered for $59 or more, but contribute whatever you can to help make this possible for everyone. No one is turned down for lack of funds. Are you in? Then let’s Make Advent Great Again...Again!
Meet Our Partners
Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, PhD has been described in a myriad of ways: a scholar-activist, scholar-leader, thought-leader, teacher, public theologian, ethicist, poet of moral reason, and word artist. Among these ways of describing Dr. Robyn, they are also a visionary thinker who has spent two decades working in the hybrid space of church, academy, & movements seeking to not only disrupt but dismantle supremacy culture by focusing their PhD studies on new concepts of being & becoming, decolonizing knowledge production, & bridging with radical difference. They enflesh a deep hope of collaborating in these hybrid spaces where their work seeks to contribute to the ongoing work of collective liberation. Activist Theology as a disciplinary off-shoot of Liberation Theology & Movement has been incubating since 2008 with Dr. Robyn and further developed throughout their doctoral program and engagement with Movement leaders. Now, Activist Theology has the chance to emerge as a collaborative project. Dr. Robyn was named 1 of 10 Faith Leaders to watch by the Center for American Progress in 2018. As a scholar-activist, Dr. Robyn is committed to translating theory to action, so that our work in the hybrid spaces reflect the deep spiritual work of transforming self to transforming the world. Dr. Robyn writes & creates both academic & other valuable resources, including digital resources. Dr. Robyn is a non-binary Transqueer Latinx who calls Nashville, TN home.
Alexander John Shaia, PhD, is a thoughtful and poetic man, living the ancient rhythms of his Lebanese and Aramaic heritage. With deep conviction, he invites us into a practice of spirituality (and Christianity) for the twenty-first century—one that crosses traditional boundaries, encourages vital thinking and inhabits a genuine community of the heart. As a spiritual director, educator, anthropologist, psychologist, ritualist and Sandplay therapist, Alexander is a holistic, cross-discipline visionary and passionate professional speaker. He founded The Journey of Quadratos, as well as the Blue Door Retreat in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Now he travels internationally, speaking, leading seminars and conducting retreats on Quadratos, the Four-Gospel Journey and Gateway to Oneness (The 72 Hours of Easter). Each autumn Alexander guides an intimate band of pilgrims on the Camino, the West’s most ancient path of transformation. He’s just released the updated edition of Heart and Mind: The Four-Gospel Journey for Radical Transformation, which this post is based on. See Quadratos.com for more about his work and offerings.
Your Most Zesty Hosts
Mike Morrell is the collaborating author, with Fr. Richard Rohr, on the best-selling Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation. He's also the founder of Wisdom Camp, a retreat for mystical misfits, and a founding organizer of the justice, arts, and spirituality Wild Goose Festival. Mike curates contemplative and community experiences via RelationalSkills.com, taking joy in holding space for the extraordinary transformation that can take place at the intersection of anticipation, imagination, and radical acceptance. Mike is an avid writer, publishing consultant, author coach, futurist, and curator of the book-reviewing community, Speakeasy. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Asheville, North Carolina.
Tripp Fuller, PhD, is the founder and host of the Homebrewed Christianity Podcast, an author, speaker, teacher, and minister. On top of that he recently made his first feature length film, The Road to Edmond, which all the cool kids are watching. He is the Father of three awesome children, married to his best friend, and the primary cuddle partner for two small white fluffy dogs. Tripp really really loves Laker basketball and almost cried as much the day Lebron James signed with LA as the day Kobe annouced his retirement.
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