Advent is almost here! And if you’ve checked out a calendar recently, you might have noticed that Advent is pretty short this year too; Christmas is a day after the fourth Sunday in Advent.
All that being said, in the Catholic Sistas community, many contributors and friends have begun preparations for Advent. Some began six weeks ago with the Christmas Shopping Challenge. Others prepared by purchasing and preparing to use our Liturgical Daybook (digital and physical copies available for purchase). And others by taking time to review the 2017 Christmas Gift Guide & Giveaway. Looking for some good Advent ideas for you or the family? Check out this calendar of ideas.
And now it’s time for some of us to take on another way of preparing our hearts and minds and souls for Christmas, with our annual Advent Photo Challenge. We live in a very visual world. Many of us find ourselves snapping away on our phones (or cameras) at moments or people or things in our lives. We use these photos to reflect on what’s happening in the moment, or what has happened in the past, or even to ponder the future. Which is why our Advent and Lent Photo Challenges at Catholic Sistas are so helpful for many of us to reflect on God’s presence in our lives.
The Catholic Sistas Advent and Lent Photo Challenges allow us to share and reflect on the Holy Spirit stirring our heart and minds and souls to see God daily.
Some of the words in the Photo Challenge are easy, and some of them are difficult. Some of them will require reflection, and some of them you will known instantly what image you would like to share. It’s like our relationship with God. And that’s makes a Photo Challenge a great opportunity for reflection in Advent and Lent. The opportunity to recognize God present in our lives in the easy, difficult, times of reflection and in the instantaneous.
And so I invite you all to join my friends, Adrienne, Brittany, Celeste, Janalin, Lynette and Rosemary and myself (Rita), in the 2017 Advent Photo Challenge.
Please know you don’t have to be part of the social media world to participate in the 2017 Advent Photo Challenge! While it’s fun to share your photos and reflections with others, if the Advent Photo Challenge provides you with an opportunity to reflect on the season of Advent and prepare for Christmas, that’s what counts.
To help you in your challenge, below you’ll find the whats, hows and hashtag info for joining the 2017 Advent Photo Challenge. I’m excited to get started on this photo challenge with y’all on Sunday and to see how the Holy Spirit moves us all to reflect on the season of Advent and share our Catholic faith. Happy clicking (or touching your phone screen)!
HOW THE 2017 ADVENT PHOTO CHALLENGE WORKS
• Each day has a word associated with it. Snap a photo or find an old photo related to that word. The photo does not have to be faith-themed, as the goal of our photo challenges is for us to see God in our everyday lives.
• Use the hashtag #CSAdvent and any other appropriate hashtags (#purple, #tree, #light, etc) when you post your Photo Challenge photos. This allows us all to search Instagram and other social media platforms for others who are participating in the Photo Challenge. (CSAdvent = Catholic Sistas Advent)
• While our main platforms for the 2017 Advent Photo Challenge are Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, we are present on many other platforms. Tag us with @CatholicSistas on INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST and FACEBOOK and @Catholic_Sistas on TWITTER. And if you’re blogging about your Advent Photo Challenge, link back to us or comment below with a link to your post.
• Download the 2017 CS Advent Graphic for quick reference. Note that the dates of the weekends are a different color to help visually break up the days.
• Be sure to share the graphic with others and invite them to join the challenge too!
• Join us on Facebook in our new group Catholic Sistas – The Coffee House where we can share pics of the challenge and get to know one another in a private setting! We are currently setting up the group, so please request to be added and we will approve as soon as we are done straightening up and decorating the space. 🙂
