What is Advent?
When did Advent start? Why decorate with purple? When did the Advent wreath become popular? Katy Shevel answers all these questions and more.
More Stories from this Author
A Thanksgiving benediction
Katy Shevel offers a benediction to use in a Thanksgiving worship service or over your Thanksgiving meal.
Why was Miriam punished for speaking out?
Katy Shevel wrestles with Numbers 12 where Miriam is punished by God for questioning Moses.
Choosing our seasons
Rev. Katy Shevel processes her recent divorce through the lens of Ecclesiastes 3. Are we subject to the patterns of life? Or do we have agency in naming our own “seasons”?
Small but steady witness: Big lessons from little churches
Katy Shevel reflects on the lessons she learned in pastoring a small church and the value of these congregations.
A prayer for milestones
A prayer for the transitions of life.
“Ode to Joy” and the harrowing of hell
Katy Shevel contemplates Christ's descent into hell on Holy Saturday through the lens of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."
The blank canvas of winter
I love waking up early on a quiet winter morning to a fresh snowfall. I am perennially amazed when overnight everything is..
Beauty in virtual worship
Like many others, my church pivoted to virtual-only worship and programming for much of January. It was a difficult decision, but one..
Smell, memory and Christmas
One whiff of anise seed transports me back to childhood Christmases in a little Iowa farmhouse… Every Christmas, my late grandmother made..