WEEK 1: A Wrinkle in Time
**A Wrinkle in Time: The Wild Advent**
*An Advent Series on Mystery, Wilderness, and the Work of Peace*
“Advent is the season of poetry more than answers, of mystery more than conclusions. It is existentially unsettling, and perhaps the most honest season of the year.”
—Diana Butler Bass
What if Advent isn’t about having everything figured out? What if the season that begins the Christian year is actually about embracing uncertainty, following stars toward dreams we can never quite reach, and learning to see in the dark?
This Advent at Skyline Community Church, we’re exploring time, wilderness, light, and hope in ways that honor both our questions and our longings. Drawing on the reflections of theologian Diana Butler Bass, we’ll journey through an Advent that is wild, honest, and deeply engaged with the justice work our world so desperately needs.
**Our Journey:**
**November 30 – A Wrinkle in Time:**
Sacred time isn’t a straight line but a tesseract, where edges touch unexpectedly. We explore three advents—past, future, and the “middle advent” of God with us now.
**December 7 – Wilderness Gospel:**
Mark’s Gospel begins not with a birth story but with a wild man in a wild place. We’ll explore “wild theology” and what it means to encounter the wild Christ beyond civilization’s confines.
**December 14 – Light and Waves:**
Physics teaches us that light is both particle and wave, something that “cannot be fully imagined.” How does this mystery illuminate our faith? John the Baptist made waves—so will we.
**December 21 – Hell and Hope:**
In a world that feels like hell, how do we claim the Christmas story’s power to transform? We’ll explore the Magnificat’s revolutionary promise and what Bishop Spong called the call to “dedicate yourself to bringing that vision into being.”
**December 24 (Christmas Eve) – Mary the Prophet:**
Before Mary was Jesus’ mother, she was a prophet proclaiming God’s justice. On this holy night, we remember that the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, heal the broken, feed the hungry, and bring peace.
**Why This Matters:**
In a time of climate crisis, political turmoil, and deepening divisions, we need an Advent that doesn’t offer easy answers or toxic positivity. We need wilderness faith—faith that arises “under the stars and planets, along thundering rivers,” faith that “consults the wisdom of rainbow trout and sea turtles, seasons and tides.”
We need to remember that the Christmas story has always been about God breaking into a broken world, scattering the proud, lifting the lowly, and filling the hungry with good things. This is Advent for activists and mystics, doubters and dreamers, anyone who has ever felt that “we’re in hell” and wondered where God is in it all.
Join us as we light candles against the darkness—not because we have all the answers, but because we trust that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.”
**Worship Schedule:**
Sundays at 10:00 AM (in person and online)
Dec 21st Longest Night service: 7-8 pm
Christmas Eve Service: 7:00 PM (candlelight service)
**Advent Study Schedule:**
Thursday 1-2 pm
All are welcome. Come as you are.
Bring your questions, your weariness, your hope,
and your longing for a better world.
