Between Heaven + Earth: Looking for God in Everyday Landscapes

When the program staff (Andy, Jill, Mihee, Miss) gathered to discern possible themes for Advent, we spent time together going through every scripture passage in the Revised Common Lectionary for Year A. We shared what drew us in — images, phrases, verses, and themes, and over and over again we were compelled by those words and images around “landscape,” everything from city gates to trees to desert wildernesses to plants. It struck us that after 2+ years of this strange, new reality ushered in by COVID, and all the awareness of the precarity and fragility of life, of life on this planet, we thought God would have something to say to us through our daily surroundings. God speaks to us through what is around us and surrounds us, and perhaps is often overlooked because they are so a part of our routine. Eugene Peterson gives us in the Message translation of John, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood,” (1:14), and so it is indeed in neighborhoods, streets, parks, homes, workplaces, grocery stores that we encounter God-incarnate, those places that are familiar and ordinary.

This Advent, we’ve received (and continue to receive) short reflections on the theme of looking for God in our everyday landscapes—look at daily landscapes of your life, share how you see hope, peace, joy, love. Our kitchens and gardens. Our Zoom spaces. Our coffee shops and school cafeterias. Our grocery stores and parks. May you receive encouragement and little food and sustenance for your own journey from the wonderful member of your church family.

Writers include: Louise Wulff, Nick Berry, Allison Taylor, Deb Dixon, Mary Marie Quigley, Miss Good, and more. If you’re interested in submitting, please email Rev. Mihee by 12/5.

Mihee Kim-Kort