An Unexpected Birth: Advent in the Fascist Apocalypse
With Lynice Pinkard and Nichola Torbett
December 4 - 18, 2025
Years ago, following on a decade of terrible violence, the poet W. B. Yeats asked “What rough beast, its hour come round at last/ Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?” This year, amidst so much state-sponsored violence and organized neglect, we might likewise ask what Advent could possibly mean? What uncanny birth can we possibly be waiting for? What hope might it offer? And most importantly, how do we prepare to receive this strange newness?
Three times during Advent, we will gather on zoom to explore the demanding promise of this season and to cultivate the “disciplines of readiness” needed to welcome God’s newness.
December 4 A Thief in the Night (Apocalypse)
December 11 Radical Hospitality (Mary and Elizabeth)
December 18 Getting in Formation (Joseph)
7-8:30pm ET/ 4-5:30pm PT
Come for one session or come for all.
This series is a joint offering of Kirkridge and the United Church of Christ East Goshen. It is free for members of UCC East Goshen, and registration for others is offered on a sliding scale. Please pay at the highest level you can in order to make this offering sustainable for the facilitators. Scholarships are always available upon request.
Featured image by Kelly Latimore: https://kellylatimoreicons.com/products/advent-bundle
Leaders
Rev. Lynice Pinkard is a Black writer, teacher, healer, pastor, recovering addict, and public intellectual operating at the intersection of Christianity, economics, and social change. Her current work is dedicated to decolonizing the human spirit and freeing people from what she calls “empire affective disorder.” Her commitment is to inspire and nurture a new generation of Spirit-filled servant leaders dedicated to the remediation of day-to-day suffering, the building of collective resilience for transformative change, and the pursuit of structural and systemic justice in the world. Lynice currently serves as the pastor of the United Church of Christ East Goshen in…
Learn more about Lynice Pinkard
Nichola Torbett (they/she) is a white, queer, raised-working-class organizer, survivor, recovering addict, direct action trainer, teacher, abolitionist, and preacher in the radical Christian tradition. Politicized predominantly by Black- and Brown-led movement struggles of Oakland, California, they are a student of transformative justice, disability justice, and ancestral lineage healing (specializing in working with Euro-descended folks with ancestors who committed harm). Driven by her passion for both spiritual formation and social change, she co-founded Seminary of the Street, a training academy for love warriors, in 2009; Second Acts, a liturgical direct action affinity group, in 2014; and the Alternatives to Policing Project,…
Learn more about Nichola Torbett