Blessings of this holy season of Advent! I hope you were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with some of your beloveds. Seems like we are called to find ways to creatively adapt as we emerge from our COVID cocoons!
I have been in adapting mode as I learn to bridge communities in my new parish at St. Joseph Church. I have begun working with the children, and their hearts are so dear! Movement is already a natural language for them, so it’s great fun to help channel that innate connection into new expressions of American Sign Language and Gospel dramas for the Advent and Christmas Season.
I also had the opportunity to offer a beautiful dance at liturgy during the season of honoring saints and ancestors in November. I worked with one of the homilists to help illustrate the experience of those who are on the other side of the veil … who are so close to us when we open our hearts to feel the connection. I’d love to share our dance, which includes the beautiful turkey-feather wings created by Soaring Eagle Woman. My very close friend, Lorraine Bayes, who is of Cherokee and Irish descent often dances prayers with these wings … but since she was sick in November, she blessed me with the opportunity to be the wing-bearer. Please enjoy this prayer for you and your loved ones!
In this season of Advent, I am dancing closely with Mary, as we have been preparing much beautiful material for our Abbey of the Arts Advent Retreat: Birthing the Holy. It’s not too late to jump in, if you feel called! Below you will find lots of upcoming opportunities to dance and pray through the season of Advent, live or online. May you walk in beauty towards the light of Christmas!
Celebrating Advent
Next week I will have two events in Seattle where I have the honor of sharing my dance of Mary and the Annunciation. I have danced this piece for so many years, and each time, it opens my heart in joy!
December 6th, 7:00 pm | Advent Evening of Prayer s sponsored by the Ignatian Spirituality Center & First Baptist Church.
More info and livestream here.
December 8th, 7:00 pm | Feast of the Immaculate Conception at St. Joseph Church. Come for Mass and reflection & social afterwards in the Arrupe Room.
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Do you have some Christmas shopping to do? Check out our bandcamp store for awesome offerings!
Birthing the Holy Advent Retreat 2022
Facilitated by Christine & John Valters Paintner Polly Paton-Brown, Jill Geoffrion, and Betsey Beckman
It’s not too late to jump into our beautiful online Advent Retreat at Abbey of the Arts! I’ve been working hard on filming a whole new set of dances to honor Mary and her many names, as explored in Christine’s book and our new CD. 🙂 Join us in celebrating Mary and the sacred feminine during the season of Advent and holy birthing. Register here!
Christmas is Coming!
Christmas is Coming! We are hoping to have a special dramatic Gospel offering at the 4:00 pm Mass at St. Joseph Church for Christmas Eve Mass! Stay tuned with Calendar – Click Here.
Carnegie Hall!
February 19, 2023 8:00pm
Guess what? I’ve been invited to dance at Carnegie Hall! Hang out with the right musicians, and sometimes, the doors open in unexpected places! I’m very grateful to my friend, ValLimar Jansen for inviting me to help animate the stage in one of New York’s most special places.
More info on tickets will be forthcoming in the new year. Woohoo! Who says 65 is too old to dance? Whee! View the flyer here.
Shrines of Spain Pilgrimage!
June 12-23rd, 2023
As the seasons turn, do you feel the call to adventure stirring in your being once again? I will be co-leading this pilgrimage to Spain with my dear friend, Fr. Michael Sparough, SJ, who got me started in arts ministry 45 years ago! I have been deeply nourished by the Jesuit charisms of praying with the imagination, and we will be visiting the sacred spots of St. Ignatius Loyola from Madrid to the Black Madonna of Montserrat, from Burgos to Barcelona. Would be so wonderful to share with you!
To download a flyer, click here. To register, click here.
In Closing
As we close 2022, I wanted to share an honoring of my summer adventures with our whole Beckman-Leverone clan. This year marked 100 years of our family spending time at our special Michigan home, a tradition that began with my “Mimi and Papa” in 1922. In August, we had an amazing family reunion, complete with storytelling, dance and song! I took the opportunity to create a special version of the tune “The Family Madrigal” (From Disney’s Encanto) and to re-record it as “The Family Beckman-Lev.” You’ll see me dancing with some of my favorite grandnieces and nephews … bringing my heart great joy!
May the joy of love through the generations light your way through the Christmas Season. And may we all be called, as Mary was, to bring God to birththrough the gift of our loving.
Advent to Christmas Blessings!
Betsey
Betsey Beckman, MM
