Waiting at the Christmas door
Getting ready for the pilgrimage with-in.
This is our first gathering for this year’s 12 Days of Christmas Contemplations, a journey into the heart of Christmas for dancing monks and weary pilgrims given from our hearts to your’s… If you wish to give a gift in return you can do so by becoming a paid subscriber, by inviting some one in, or by gifting this gift as a gift :-).
If you just arrived here you can still subscribe and come along.
Dear fellow traveler,
I have been on a rollercoaster ride these last weeks to set up our 12 Days of Christmas journey at a new venue. I am particularly grateful for each of you who found us here :-)
This letter is meant to gather us together for this journey. So picture us arriving at a lovely venue in the woods, perhaps a monastic guesthouse, overlooking a frozen lake. Sitting down with a warm cup of coffee or tea, waiting in gentle anticipation.
Dear friends, here is my heartfelt welcome and willkommen <3
I am honored you decided for this venture this year. Some of you have traveled with us before, some of you stumbled upon us, and some are still wondering what this is all about.
What ever path you have taken, you are welcome here. We have grown to a group of more than 170 Christmas pilgrims from across the globe who seek, like us, for a deeper way.
Every year I approach this task with fear and trembling, anxiously excited if that makes any sense. All of you who serve others probably know this feeling: Honored that people would chose you to serve them, you are also anxious how you might serve them well.
But then I am watching this list growing and the first sustaining members signing up and sending me encouraging words. Here are just two lovely examples:
"Dear Almut, Every time I open one of your notes -- I take time to breathe, to enjoy the photographs, to remember to find joy in my surroundings. These are priceless gifts. -- Anne"
"Almut. I cannot fully express how your work and gift uplifts, challenges, inspires and brings joy and warmth to this older soul. Thank you!"
Thank you, dear Anne, thank you dear Kathleen, Erik, Chris, Donna, Jim, Mary Jo and all who decided to become the very first sustaining members of this movement into a contemplative Christmas and to bring others in.
A movement it is indeed. Outwardly as our community of fellow seekers, and inwardly as the journey to the heart. Thus I understand our 12 Days of Christmas journey as your journey to your own heart, I am just the facilitator. Walking with you the quieter roads, and the ones less traveled.
So thank you for being here. And let me start with a little story:
❡ grew up an East German pastor's daughter in the countryside. Our Christmas was always the busiest time of year. I often traveled with my father through the little villages of his parish to cold country churches to play the flute, since my father sang badly and there was no organist to be found.
At our home church's late service our whole family did the music, singing to the flock in that little village close to the Polish border. At the end of the day we were tired. And we had not even entered the Christmas Stube yet.
Oh, the Christmas Stube...
My mother would lock the sitting room door days in advance. There she prepared the tree and assigned a little place to each child (five of us) where we would find humble gifts at Christmas night.
Though one might enjoy dwelling in this romantic memory, one thing was often absent in the busy preparations — quiet. How I longed for a silent night which indeed was silent and which would embrace me just where I am…
Still, those early Christmas memories gave me a sense of the art of anticipation, of anxiously waiting at the door before the light enters in.
And though my family was quite familiar with the Epiphany tradition and we happily enjoyed our Christmas tree and songs until then only later would I discover the monastic tradition of walking contemplatively through the 12 Days of Christmas all the way to Epiphany.
It is like slowly walking into the Silent night. Quietly. Mindfully. With a listening heart.
In German, one word for Saturday is Sonnabend, or Sunday Eve. So we are on the eve of Sunday. And Sunday is the eve of Christmas. Walk gently into that anticipation. Welcome the turning of the days in Christmas in these winter solstice days. Pause here, at this long threshold, these waning days of Advent, waiting.
About Opening your gift
Last summer I got myself this little booklet with German Advent readings from Hildegard of Bingen. For every day of December there is a brief reading placed in an envelope bound to the book. You can only read the daily meditation after you open the envelope, with the wooden knife.
I like to think about our 12 Days Contemplations this way. There is no tactile feel of thick paper or gentle tearing of the envelope. But there is the feel of your table or reading chair, the gentle envelopment of the opening picture, and the contemplative settling-in for a few minutes of reflection.
You are indeed welcome here. Be at peace, all will be well.
Below you find some more details for our journey, especially if you are new to it. I plan to send my reflections out early every morning of the 12 Days CT.
Thank you so much for being with us on this journey. Make sure you leave a heart before you go. So I know you made it here :-)
And may Christmas find you where you are.
Almut
PS: Now it is your turn. As I write alongside you it so much helps me to know a little more about you. What are your hopes for this journey? Is there something special you are carrying on your heart this season?
Some more details about our journey
When and how to travel? What if I cannot make every day?
We will start the journey on Christmas Eve with a blessing to our whole Cloister family. Then starting with Christmas Day you will receive your daily reflection each morning (I am for 8 am CT) in your inbox. If you have enrolled but do not receive our email please check your spam. You can always find all entries online here.
Every day we will provide a brief online reflection or practice that you can unpack like a unexpected Christmas gift. The reflection will help set the stage, and the question or practice or blessing will help you construct your own interior journey through the 12 Days.
Each post for the 12 Days will include a photo or image to ponder, some contemplation, followed by a question, practice, poem, prayer or blessing. The reading time should not be more than 5-10 min each day. We suggest to plan a time window of 20-30 min each day to unpack your day’s gift. If you have little time you can look through it first, ponder the theme and image and come back to it later.
But fear not, you can conduct this journey at your own pace and time, following every day or retreating with it later.
Many walk with us every day, waiting for the daily email. Others walk in and out of the journey as their schedule allows or plan for a retreat day or two at the end of the year. How ever it works for you, the most important thing is that you follow the pace of your heart and your soul’s longing. It will require some commitment from us pilgrims to come back to the journey when our feet start to ache and our mind is getting side tracked.
Those who have traveled with us before know this is not a prepackaged journey where we offer you a curated selection of texts. We do not know the words yet ourselves. Since we travel through the 12 Days just as you do, we will write for all of us as the spirit moves us. We hope this ensures that what we offer will be what you need.
If you miss some days, do come back. If you get behind, do begin again.
What do I need to bring?
Yourself! Your favorite cup. Some quiet time. A notebook for journaling. But most important: Do bring your heart.
How to travel in this group? Is this a silent retreat?
Not exactly. If you like to feel a sense of belonging through the 12 Days you can introduce yourself to your fellow travelers in the comments, leave comments or quote a line about what has especially moved you, or leave a question or a thought.
Just walk in the pace and the way which suits you best quietly watching or tenderly engaging.
I do ask you to always click the heart when you have been reading along so I can know you have been here and we all feel a sense of togetherness even while walking in solitude.
Is there a fee to participate?
No, there isn’t. This Christmas Journey is donation based and depends on kindred pilgrims who support this labor of love so I can give it away freely. If you want to become a 12 Days of Christmas sustaining member you can do so by upgrading your subscription, become a founding member or by donating a subscription. And as always, share this email with another kindred spirit. Thank you, thank you.
Do you have more questions? Let me know!
It feels like Advent waiting this year has felt like a preparation time for me, and for my mom of 93 years. Mom is failing and talking and asking about dying…some days she seems very ready and sometimes quite fearful and doubtful.
It is a journey that I don’t know how to navigate and I seem to change directions, depending on how each day goes…even so, preparing for that time, knowing that some transitions are underway.
Dear Almut,
As you remember, last year I was mourning the very recent death of my beloved husband of 40 years, Jim. Although his Yahrzeit has passed and the grief is different, I am still a mourner.. For various reasons (including my daughter's family with COVID) we will not have Christmas altogether nor go to the country as we usually do. I will be alone more than usual and am hoping I can use the time intentionally to focus on the deep love in the Incarnation and the closeness of the Spirit. I am glad to have you showing the way along the path.