Stay Awhile: Advent Lessons in Divine Hospitality (Kara Eidson) - Review

STAY AWHILE: Advent Lessons in Divine Hospitality. By Kara Eidson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2023. 124 pages.

The liturgical season of Advent is understood to be a season of preparation. Unfortunately, the message of Advent often gets overshadowed by the rush to Christmas. What this means is that we often miss the message the season has for us, a message that speaks not only of the first advent that took place in the first century but also the second expected advent that lies in the future. For those who are ready and willing to slow down a bit, there are resources available that will help guide us as we take this journey both as individuals and communities toward the culmination of our hopes and dreams in the coming advent (return) of Jesus.

Among the resources currently available to us is Kara Eidson's set of Advent lessons titled Stay Awhile, which focuses our attention on God’s hospitality. Eidson is a United Methodist minister, serving two congregations in eastern Kansas. In addition to her church duties, she tends a garden and cares for ten chickens and two goats. This is Eidson's second book with the first being a set of lessons for Lent titled A Time to Grow: Lenten Lessons from the Garden to the Table (Westminster John Knox Press, 2022), a book that I reviewed earlier. In that earlier book of lessons, Eidson used her experience with gardening to lead the reader into the season of Lent. This time Eidson uses the concept of hospitality to explore the message of Advent. As she takes us through the Advent season, Eidson wants to make the reader feel at home, so that they might feel safe and loved.

The liturgical season of Advent is designed to help us envision the coming into existence of God’s realm or kingdom. In this set of lessons, Eidson makes use of an alternative term for this realm, the word “kin-dom.” I will admit that I struggle with this word that is increasingly being used in my circles because I feel as if it lacks a strong connection to God’s sovereignty. Nevertheless, when used in this particular context, at least in the way Eidson uses the term, it seems to work. The reason it works is that Eidson is focusing on creating a sense of being at home with God.

Stay Awhile has six chapters. Four of the chapters focus on the four Sundays of Advent, with two additional chapters addressing our experiences of Christmas Eve and what she calls Christmas Day and Beyond. Each chapter invites us to explore biblical texts and images that relate to each of these days in the liturgical calendar. Each week, Eidson explores a different concept, drawing on readings from the Old and New Testaments.

The first concept she explores involves the words "Invite." In this reflection for the week, she draws on readings from Jeremiah 33 and Luke 21. The message here focuses on our need and desire to be invited and included. She invites us to reflect on times we have been invited or excluded. What she wants us to understand here is that everyone is invited. This includes the Lord’s Table where everyone who wants to follow Jesus is invited to participate in the meal. She lets us know that Jesus doesn’t want us to cower in fear when we meet him, but instead recognize that “we are invited to participate in the difficult and holy work of creating God’s kin-dom here on earth. Jesus is coming, ready or not. How will you invite Christ to come this Advent season?” (p. 17).

We move in week two from the invitation to the “Plan.” In this reflection that draws from Jeremiah 29 and Mark 1, Eidson reminds us that hospitality requires planning. There is a difference between planning and preparing. Planning involves the mental work that takes place before invitations are issued. Since the focus here is on experiencing the season of Advent in ways that embrace divine hospitality, Eidson asks us to consider how we might plan for the coming of Jesus so that we can appropriately welcome him. Since we’re getting ready for the coming of God’s kin-dom, which brings with it the setting at liberty the oppressed, release to the captives, and comfort to those who mourn, this will take some planning. Since we’re expecting people to come to the Table who have not yet done so, this too requires planning.

If planning involves more of the mental side of things, in week three we turn to preparation, which is physical. As we consider this third word “Prepare,” which draws on readings from Isaia 61 and John 1, we begin to put the plan into action. That is, we are invited to take appropriate steps to participate in the inbreaking of God’s realm. Preparation involves such things as resisting evil, injustice, and oppression. All of this involves spiritual work and active participation in “enacting God’s peace, justice, and mercy in the world.” Then she writes “If I plan the perfect dinner partner but leave all the ingredients in the refrigerator, my guests are not going to leave content. Hospitality requires preparation in both the physical and spiritual realms” (p. 45).

Having issued the invitation, planned the event, and prepared for the event both spiritually and physically, now we’re ready for the emphasis of week four of Advent, that of “Welcome.” Here Eidson draws from readings from Zephaniah 3 and Luke 1, with a focus on Mary’s Magnificat. Even as we prepare to welcome Jesus during this Advent season, Eidson reminds us that God is welcoming us into the Kin-dom. Because God is welcoming us into the kin-dom, we can then welcome others into our lives. Eidson reminds us that welcome and being comfortable is not necessarily the same thing. After all, “no transformation can take place without change.” In a time when there are movements in the United States and elsewhere to cut off welcome to others, Eidson reminds us that “Scripture commands us to welcome the stranger, the refugee, and the outcast. We are called to welcome our neighbors—in some cases, this may entail the first step of simply meeting our neighbors.”  Ultimately, Eidson writes that “while not every welcome can be filled with comfort on the part of the host or guest, it can be filled with the promise that an earthly welcome can be the first step toward a heavenly welcome in God’s kin-dom (p. 60). With this in mind, we can throw open the doors of welcome to Jesus and the world.

The chapters addressing each of these four Sundays of Advent provide two readings from Scripture that provide a foundation for the primary reflection. This is followed by a set of questions that can be used for individual reflection or group discussion. There is also a companion video for each week that can be found on YouTube. In addition, there is a set of briefer reflections for each day of the week, making this useful for a daily devotional.

Advent lasts a mere four Sundays. It’s Christmas Eve before you know it (and some years the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve fall on the same day). In many ways, Christmas is an extension of or culmination of the Advent season. Therefore, Eidson provides two chapters that accompany us on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The reflection for Christmas Eve emphasizes the culmination of the journey. It’s time to "Stay Awhile." The Scriptures chosen will be familiar ones for attendees of Christmas Eve services—Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 2, and John 1:1-14.  Eidson writes "The best part of hosting isn't inviting, planning, preparing, or welcoming. The best part of a celebratory gathering is toward the end, when everyone is full, laughing, telling stories. It isn't the frantic rushing around the kitchen—it is sitting down with guests and immense joy of good company" (p. 70). That's part of what Christmas is about. It offers us an opportunity to stay awhile with Jesus and with each other. In fact, Christmas Eve reminds us that we need to be together. As with the earlier chapters, there is a set of questions and reflections for the days following Christmas Eve. However, the days begin on Monday. It’s up to us to figure out how to make this work.

The final chapter, the one for “Christmas Day and Beyond” focuses on the concept: "Don't be a Stranger." The texts for the day come from Isaiah 52, which speaks of the beautiful feet of the messengers who proclaim peace, and Matthew 2, which describes the flight into Egypt. With these two texts in mind, Eidson writes that not being a stranger involves both an invitation to return and a reminder that we’re always welcome. Just in case we don’t remember or recognize this truth, she reminds us that "if there are no strangers in God's kin-dom, the circle of people to whom we ought to provide hospitality is expanded to all of God's children" (pp. 90-91). Isn’t that the way Jesus normally conducted himself?

Each year publishers produce resources for the season of Advent. After all, like Lent, Advent is understood to be a season of preparation. Having the right resources always makes this an easier process. We can be thankful to Kara Eidson and Westminster John Knox Press for producing another excellent resource. Stay Awhile is an engaging and very readable devotional guide that provides individual readers and study groups with Scriptures and a primary reflection that emphasizes the value of hospitality, and the way hospitality serves as a revelation of God’s presence. As I pointed out earlier, this book easily can be used as the foundation for an Advent study group. With congregations in mind, Eidson provides liturgical resources for each Sunday, including a sermon starter children’s time, and liturgies. For those looking for a children’s program that can be used on Christmas Eve or elsewhere, she provides that as well. In other words, Kara Eidson’s book Stay Awhile: Advent Lessons in Divine Hospitality provides us with everything we need for our Advent and Christmas seasons.