Weekly Theme Descriptions

The Will to Dream provides everything you need to engage communities in the spiritual practice of lament and prophetic imagination, equipping all ages in your community to be grounded in the biblical stories of Advent and filled with courageous hope.

Week 1: Vigilant Hope

“Hope is the will to dream, and the courage to begin again.”

Advent begins with longing and defiant hope, as Isaiah’s vision acknowledges present brokenness while imagining a transformed future where peace replaces conflict. Mark’s gospel calls us to “stay awake” with prophetic attentiveness, encouraging hope as an active discipline amid a distracted and unjust world. This hope refuses to wait for comfort but inspires communal action—building mercy, justice, and peace together. Isaiah’s prophecy invites all people to participate in transforming what destroys into tools that nurture, showing that hope is both a faithful imagination and courageous action toward a new way.

Week 2: Prophetic Peace

“Peace is not a product of avoidance, but the result of deep transformation.”

On the second Sunday of Advent, John the Baptist calls us beyond sentimental peace into a disruptive wilderness where true transformation begins. His urgent message challenges systems of power and exposes the fragile peace of empire—one built on domination and silence rather than justice and freedom. Together with the prophet Malachi, John’s call for repentance is a refining fire that purifies hearts and society, confronting exploitation and falsehood. This Advent, we reclaim peace as a courageous, prophetic work that demands truth-telling, dismantling injustice, and preparing the way for a kin(g)dom rooted in justice and love.

Week 3: Unexpected Joy

“Joy is not a feeling—it is faith made visible.”

Joy in Advent is not escapism or shallow cheer—it is a bold, prophetic defiance. Elizabeth and Mary, both facing societal hardships, embody this unexpected joy rooted in faith that God is near, blessing what is growing amid pain and injustice. Mary’s Magnificat reveals joy as revolutionary poetry that celebrates God’s overturning of power and care for the lowly, even while lamenting how far we still are from that vision. Together, Elizabeth and Mary call us to embody joy as an act of resistance—grounded in justice, truth-telling, and the hope of God’s kin(g)dom breaking through.

Week 4: Merciful Love

“Love does not just comfort—it liberates.”

In the final week of Advent, love takes center stage—not as sentimentality, but as covenantal courage that remembers, liberates, and binds us to one another and to God. Zechariah’s song, born from silence and doubt, proclaims that true love is rooted in memory and justice, challenging systems that silence and exclude. His Benedictus declares that God's love is strong enough to protect the vulnerable and bold enough to guide us into peace. In reclaiming his voice, Zechariah shows us that love is not passive—it is prophetic, freeing us to bless, to serve, and to prepare the way of the Lord without fear.

Christmas: Embodied Promise

“Christmas is not merely a celebration of birth—but of who is included in the story.”

Christmas proclaims that God's love enters the world not through power or spectacle, but through presence, vulnerability, and solidarity. In a world shaped by empire and exclusion, Christ is born among the poor, the weary, and the unseen—revealed not to the powerful, but to the faithful on the margins. Mary's courage and the shepherds' witness remind us that the incarnation is not about status, but about love embodied in real lives and risky hope. This story invites us to look for God’s promise not in dominance, but in dignity shared, and to believe that every life—especially the overlooked—bears sacred worth.

First Sunday after Christmas: Generational Praise

“We can imagine better: a kin(g)dom where faith is honored not by position but by presence.”

This week’s story is quiet but powerful—a glimpse of faithfulness revealed in the everyday. In the Temple, Anna recognizes the sacred in an ordinary moment, reminding us that devotion is not always loud or seen, but lived through persistence, presence, and prayer. In a world that often overlooks the elderly and sidelines women, Anna’s witness affirms that holy recognition and prophetic voice can rise from long waiting. Her life teaches us that to notice, to name, and to proclaim what is sacred—especially after silence—is a radical act of hope.

Epiphany: Courageous Defiance

“Faithfulness is not abstract; it is embodied through action, disruption, and care.”

Epiphany reveals divine presence not in power or palaces, but through dreams, disruption, and courageous defiance. The Magi and Joseph respond to revelation not with comfort, but with action—defying Herod’s violence and protecting what is vulnerable. Like the Exodus story, Epiphany reminds us that salvation often begins at the margins, carried by those without status who dare to resist empire. In a world still marked by injustice, Epiphany calls us to see clearly, speak truthfully, and align ourselves with the sacred work of protection, protest, and prophetic imagination.