On the first day of Christmas, my loved one sent to me a Holy Hermits Online Christmastide subscription and a hermit in an almond tree
Dates & Seasons
“For the third consecutive year Holy Hermits Online is offering a Christmastide subscription for Anglican Church Southern Queensland folk and the wider community,” says The Rev’d Jamee Lee-Callard
While our attention during Advent is often about spiritual and family preparation for Christmas Day, we are invited into deeper relationship with Jesus between Christmas Day on 25 December and the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany on 5 January, also called the Twelfth Night (when Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down).
Traditionally, these Twelve Days of Christmas were the major holiday period of the year, observed since the Council of Tours proclaimed Christmastide the time for joyful feasting after the Advent fast in 567CE.
Christmastide is aways a significant season for Holy Hermits Online community members.
For the third consecutive year Holy Hermits Online is offering a Christmastide subscription for Anglican Church Southern Queensland folk and the wider community.
Last year the take up was triple the previous year’s, with a large number of people buying a subscription for loved ones, as well as for themselves.
At Holy Hermits Online we recognise that the Christmas period can be experienced in a mixed way, depending on where people are at in their personal lives and faith.
Recently during a Holy Hermits Online workshop, when our people gathered on the first day of Advent via Zoom to craft a prayer of lament, we noticed just how in need of comfort the world is at the moment.
In this workshop we expressed worry about creation; high rates of loneliness; people who are being marginalised; wars, conflicts and violence; the failure of leaders locally and internationally; domestic and family violence; elder abuse; addiction; consumerism; and, obsession with productivity.
This re-affirmed our discerned theme for this year’s subscription, “Hanging with the hermits: come take comfort for the Twelve Days of Christmas”, as being on point, as we hope to offer nurture to all who receive it. By drawing on our connection with God, our relationships with each other and taking inspiration from the stories and legacies of the holy hermits, we anticipate creating a rich and affordable gift for Christmastide.
This year’s emailed content includes reflections on historical hermits; beloved recipes and craft activities; personal stories about Holy Hermits Online community members, including our care for our animals and wider creation; resources from our Reader Project, Digital Faith Artists and Holy Hermit Remembrance | Ministries; reflections and origin stories about our community commitment prayers; recommended reading, listening and watching; an AI Padlet board art invitation; and songs, blogs and poems.
The subscription is also an opportunity for us to connect with our ministry partners.
The emails will be sent between 25 December and 5 January at 7.00am AEST daily.
Please subscribe/register by 8am Tuesday 24 December.
The subscription cost is $15 AUD; however, please get in touch if this is out of your budget and you would still like to register. There is no limit to how many subscriptions a person can purchase.
Fifty per cent of subscription funds will go to a registered charity selected by the Holy Hermits Online Ministry Task-Group, with the other half going towards HHO’s ministry sustainability in 2025.
There is also the additional “Paying it forward” option to purchase subscriptions for 2024 preachers and teachers in order to thank them.
Editor’s note: For a Christmastide subscription for yourself or as a gift for others, please register on the Holy Hermits Online website by 8am Tuesday 24 December 2024. Subscriptions cost is $15 AUD. You can also access a template of text for sending to loved ones letting them know that you have purchased them a subscription.
Inspired by the lives and legacies of holy hermits, mystics and saints (like David the Dendrite, who sought the prayerful seclusion of an almond tree, where he lived for three years), Holy Hermits Online is an online missional community (grounded in the Anglican tradition and connected to St John’s Anglican Cathedral) for those who cannot, or prefer not to, participate in a traditional expression of Church.
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