Daily Advent

Day 5: "What Creature Will Hear My Prayer" – Jessica Pierce • Daily Advent: Meeting Fear

"Near misses."
Jessica E. Pierce (she/her) is the author of Consider the Body, Winged. Winner of the 2024 Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize from CALYX, she has also been a two-time finalist for the Pablo Neruda Prize from Nimrod, a finalist for the New Ohio Review’s NORward Prize, and a finalist for the MVICW Poetry Contest, for which she received a Poet Fellowship. Jessica earned her Ed.M. from Harvard and works in a large school district in Oregon to create anti-racist alternatives to exclusionary discipline. Her expansive children and partner inspire her to embrace herself as a bisexual neurodivergent human committed to educational justice and creative community.
 
Join us every morning in Advent for Meeting Fear, an aural Advent calendar of daily reflections on fear and how it affects our relationship with God. Listen at Daily Advent or wherever you listen.
 

Day 4: "Fear and Faith are Partners" – Ian Doescher

"I only talk to God when somebody's about to die."
The Rev'd Dr. Ian Doescher is author of the William Shakespeare's Star Wars and Pop Shakespeare series and a pastor ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA.
 
Join us every morning in Advent for Meeting Fear, an aural Advent calendar of daily reflections on fear and how it affects our relationship with God. Listen at Daily Advent or wherever you listen.

Day 3: "Close Encounters" - Jeanne Kaliszewski • Daily Advent: Meeting Fear

"Our response to fear is often control."
The Rev'd Jeanne Kaliszewski loves Jesus, the Gospel of Luke, and the Book of Jonah. She has been a priest since 2019 and rector of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukie, Oregon since 2021. She graduated with an MDiv from the Church Divinity School in the Pacific in 2019, an achievement only possible because of the love and support of her husband, their 3 kids, and 2 dogs.
 
Join us every morning in Advent for Meeting Fear, an aural Advent calendar of daily reflections on fear and how it affects our relationship with God. Listen at Daily Advent or wherever you listen.
 

Day 2: "The Horror of the Bible" - Brandon Grafius • Daily Advent: Meeting Fear

"Religion is at its best when it helps us move beyond our limits."
Brandon Grafius is professor of biblical studies and academic dean at Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Detroit. His most recent book is Scared by the Bible: The Roots of Horror in Scripture (Morehouse Publishing, 2025). He is the co-chair of the Society of Biblical Literature’s Bible and Film section, and has published widely on the intersection between horror and religion.
 
Join us every morning in Advent for Meeting Fear, an aural Advent calendar of daily reflections on fear and how it affects our relationship with God. Listen at http://dailyadvent.podbean.com or wherever you listen.
 

Day 1: "The Hope of the Barn Light" - Spencer Brown • Daily Advent: Meeting Fear

"Let our fear be diminished by the light."
The Rev. Spencer W. Brown is Congregation Priest Associate at Washington National Cathedral, where he joined the Canon Vicar’s team in 2023. Spencer has served congregations in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. He shares his life with his husband, Lucas, and their dog, Cruella. They love watching horror movies, enjoying the outdoors, laughing and cooking with friends.
 
Join us every morning in Advent for this aural Advent calendar of daily reflections on fear and how it affects our relationship with God. Listen at http://dailyadvent.podbean.com or wherever you listen.

Introducing "Meeting Fear" • Daily Advent 2025

The Christmas season is full of cheery Santas and shiny wrapping paper, but in that first year, Mary and Joseph faced scary times – much as we do today. In Meeting Fear, we will consider fear and how it affects our relationship with God.
Join us every morning in Advent for this aural Advent calendar of daily reflections. Listen at http://dailyadvent.podbean.com or wherever you listen.
 
Brendan Barnicle is Interim Dean and Shana McCauley is Subdean at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon.
 

Day 24: Nathan LeRud • Daily Advent: Divine Feminine

"She has been there all along."
 
About the speaker:
Nathan LeRud is the dean of Trinity Cathedral in Portland, OR, the oldest Anglican/Episcopal congregation in the Pacific Northwest. A fifth-generation Oregonian and native Portlander, Nathan holds a BA in English and Theatre from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA and an M.Div from the General Theological Seminary in New York City. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2007. He will step down from his position at Trinity at the end of December 2024.
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Join us throughout the Advent season for Divine Feminine, a daily podcast Advent Calendar.
How are we changed if we pray, "Our Mother, who art in Heaven," or, "We believe in one God, the Mother Almighty?" If humans are created in God’s image, perhaps our understanding of and imagination for God has been too narrow.
Every day in Advent, tune in to spend a few minutes with God's femininity – as we prepare for her humanity.

Day 23: Elizabeth Schroeder • Daily Advent: Divine Feminine

"The practice of using the word 'men' to stand in for all humankind hurts us all."
 
About today's speaker:
Elizabeth Schroeder is a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Tacoma, WA, and her work is in home health nursing.
________________________Join us throughout the Advent season for Divine Feminine, a daily podcast Advent Calendar.How are we changed if we pray, "Our Mother, who art in Heaven," or, "We believe in one God, the Mother Almighty?" If humans are created in God’s image, perhaps our understanding of and imagination for God has been too narrow.Every day in Advent, tune in to spend a few minutes with God's femininity – as we prepare for her humanity.

Day 22: Liz Harlan-Ferlo • Daily Advent: Divine Feminine

"She knows she couldn’t control what the dust / would become."
— from "Eden: Diastasis Recti"
About the speaker:Liz Harlan-Ferlo is Canon for Education & the Arts at Trinity Cathedral in Portland. Her writing, both poetry and prose, has been published in journals and magazines both online and in print. "Eden: Diastasis Recti" was published in Christian Century in November 2024. ________________________Join us throughout the Advent season for Divine Feminine, a daily podcast Advent Calendar.How are we changed if we pray, "Our Mother, who art in Heaven," or, "We believe in one God, the Mother Almighty?" If humans are created in God’s image, perhaps our understanding of and imagination for God has been too narrow.Every day in Advent, tune in to spend a few minutes with God's femininity – as we prepare for her humanity.

Day 21: "Legacy" - Elizabeth Braatz • Daily Advent: Divine Feminine

*Note: sound quality improves at 0:30*
"Trinity dares to be different."
Sermon by Elizabeth Braatz, Catechesis Class of 2024, recorded live at the 10:00am service on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 22, 2024.