Advent Prayer Journey 2026

Program Details

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, we invite you to join Rolling Ridge for an ONLINE Advent Prayer Journey. This is our seventh annual offering of this online series. Each Sunday during the weeks of Advent (beginning November 29th and concluding December 27th), we will offer ONLINE reflections and contemplative sharing at the Vesper Hour from 6:00 to 7:00 pm eastern. Honest Advent by celebrated author and storyteller, Scott Erickson, will be our guide this season as we lean into art and spirituality with a different type of advent invitation.

Click here to obtain a copy of the book.

Honest Advent features 25 days of illustrations and meditations that will help you rekindle the wonder of this season. Erickson creates a space for you to encounter the Incarnate Christ in unexpected places: like a pregnancy announcement in an era of political unrest and empirical bloodshed, the morning sickness of a Middle Eastern teenager, and the shocking biology of birth that goes far beyond the sanitized brand of Christmas as we know it today.

For our Advent Prayer Journey, each of the five weekly vesper experiences will feature Christmas music, candle lighting, readings, prayers, silence, reflection, visio and lectio divina using one of Erickson's illustrations and an excerpt from a meditation to shape our time together online. Sessions will be recorded with a link sent to those who register.

Although there is no charge for our Advent Prayer Journey, your generous year-end donation will allow Rolling Ridge to continue offering spiritual opportunities to encourage and support those who are seeking a touch of the Divine during these challenging times. Thank you for your support and partnership in this important work.

We invite you to also join us for our annual in-person Advent Quiet Day on Monday, November 30th with overnight retreat options.

‍

The suggested Advent Prayer Journey reading schedule for Honest Advent:

For Week 1 (November 29-December 5) =

- Forward, Introduction through #5 Given (pp. xv-49)

For Week 2 (December 6-12) =

- #6 Unease through #12 Seen (pp. 50-101)

For Week 3 (December 13-19) =

- #13 Sacred through #19 Room (pp. 94-149)

For Week 4 (December 20-26) =

- #20 Goop through Afterward (pp. 150-197)

About the Leaders

Larry Jay

As the Executive Director of Rolling Ridge, Rev. Dr. Lawrence Jay works in partnership with the staff to ensure that the guest experience at the Ridge is top quality. He also partners with retreat leaders to provide excellent programming at the Ridge, and is available to speak about the ongoing ministry and historic mission of Rolling Ridge as a place of rest, retreat, and transformation. A trained spiritual director and ordained American Baptist pastor, Larry (as he is known by friends) is a graduate of UCLA, Golden Gate Seminary, Franciscan School of Theology, American Baptist Seminary of the West, and the Gateways to God Missional Spiritual Direction Program. He is also Adjunct Faculty at Merrimack College in the Masters of Spirituality and Spiritual Direction programs. Eco-spirituality is his passion (and was his doctoral dissertation), encouraging everyone to live into the fullness of our connection with our True Self, nature, God, and all people.