Our December Hearts

"The Advent walkabout is not an easy journey, nor was meant to be. This journey leads into the deeps of our own being. It is an opening of portals we have taken care to keep closed, a letting in of the knowledge and doubt and pain without which there can be no letting in of Christ, the child whose touch blesses, burns, heals and transfigures. The Advent walkabout cannot be for the faint-hearted for it demands extravagant courage and uncompromising honesty. It begins today. It ends at the manger that is not merely a pretty story but the transforming reality of God." – from the First Sunday in Advent What does it mean to be human in this season of waiting, asks Anne McConney in Our December Hearts. And what does it mean to believe that God became human? This collection of meditations for the season of Advent examines–in sometimes serious and sometimes humorous fashion—the various emotions that the Advent and Christmas stories stir in us: hope, trust, compassion, as well as fear, doubt, and grief. In language drenched in poetry, Anne McConney explores what it means to gaze into the mystery that is the Incarnation. Anne McConney is an Episcopal priest and has also worked as a journalist, writer, and public relations director. She is a regular columnist for Episcopal Life, and lives in Omaha, Nebraska.