“Radical” derives from the Latin “radicalus,” meaning “root.”

So when we speak of something as being “radical,” what we’re essentially saying is that we’re getting to its roots or origins.

While the word has lately come to be associated with extreme change or deviation from the norm, we might more accurately view it as breaking open norms in order to reform something in line with its original meaning or intent.

Applied to a faith community like New Wineskins, this view of “radical” means that we are committed to dismantling the unhelpful structures of institutional religion in order to rediscover a faith rooted in the way of Jesus of Nazareth. A way based in love and expressed through kindness, justice, compassion, empathy, mercy, hope, joy, and peace.

A way that is not just spiritual and ethereal, but embodied and incarnated in the flesh-and-bones experience of life on Planet Earth.

Thus, we look to ancient traditions, stripped down of their religious trappings, and deeply reoriented toward their origins while contextualizing them for our present times.

Welcome to (r)Advent.

This Advent season, we’ll engage with the traditional themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love and explore how they come to life in a justice-oriented community in a post-Christian world:

Nov. 28 – Hope: Examining our roles in combatting climate change and lifting up its effects on marginalized communities

 Dec. 5 – Peace: Seeking ways to interrupt cycles of violence and stand in solidarity with its victims

Dec. 12 – Joy: Finding and sharing joy from places of simplicity and gratitude rather than power/control narratives and materialism.

Dec. 19 – Love: Valuing those whom society has undervalued/marginalized

Dec. 24 – Christmas Eve: Enjoy a pre-recorded video message for our community

NOTE: Each Sunday, you will be invited to join in a short candle-lighting liturgy adapted from Maren C. Tirabassi’s A Simple Advent Candle Lighting for Home or Church based on Howard Thurman’s “I will Light Candles this Christmas” and “This is Christmas” from The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations

Please join every Sunday during Advent in our New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub as we re-examine the Advent narrative and reorient ourselves as a community of liberating faith.

6:00pm EST: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm EST: Presentation & conversation begins