For each day of the first week of Advent I will publish one art-and-song pairing as an invitation for seasonal reflection.
LOOK: Francisco Collantes (Spanish, 1599–1656), Winter Landscape with the Adoration of the Shepherds, 1630–50. Oil on canvas, 72.2 × 105.7 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Click on image to zoom in.)
LISTEN: “Wonder (Advent)” | Words by Pedro de la Cruz | Music by Colleen Nixon | Performed by Marian Grace (Colleen Nixon and Jimmy Mitchell), on In the Bleak Midwinter, 2013
O blessed Mary and dearest Joseph
Allow me to journey with you
To Bethlehem
I am a lowly pilgrim making my way
To the center of history
The birth of Christ the Lord
With unspeakable awe and expectant wonder
I long to behold
I long to behold
I long to behold
The promised Messiah
Time will stand still forever
Divided by the entry
Of the Creator into his creation
Art & Theology 
Thank you!
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I’ve just started in on your Advent playlist from 2019 and am finding myself turning with attention to the many invitations of Advent as a result. Thank you.
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I’m startled, in a beautiful way, at the crystalline turquoise of the sky!
But unsettled at the placement of Mary… in iconic blue, and shuttled off to the side, behind a wall even. The ‘wonder’ of the rest, portrayed so joyfully, may not have been intentional to squeeze her out, and she doesn’t look too distressed, but it doesn’t sit right with me. A mother’s protection.
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[…] posts that pair a visual artwork with a piece of music, most accompanied by brief commentary. (I did a trial run last Advent.) The primary purpose is to invite spiritual contemplation on the season’s themes, allowing […]
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