Welcome to Advent 2025!
Thank you for signing up for this year's series. It's wonderful to be walking the path through Advent with you. I've written a few thoughts, below, about the series and the practicalities. Please do read them carefully before we begin. Thank you!
By the way: my wife Katharine and I look after the running of the series, which means - most importantly - that we're able to preserve a personal touch throughout. However, it does also mean that we might occasionally miss something!
Please contact us straight away if you ever think you've missed an e-mail or we haven't responded to your enquiry! We're here for you!
We start on Monday Dec 1 - and we finish on Friday Dec 19.
I'll send your reflections to arrive before sun-rise (in the UK). There are no emails at the weekend.
Avoiding technical hitches and glitches! A few practical tips.
Sometimes group e-mails like this get blocked if your computer thinks it's spam. A good way to avoid this is to put my e-mail address into your contacts list - briandraperuk@gmail.com. Please do that now.
If you don't receive your e-mail, check your junk-mail folder first, and if you can't find it there, let me know and I'll send it to you personally without delay.
Your e-mail provider will have a setting for 'safe senders' or what they call a 'white list' which you can put me on, too, so that it sees that I'm friendly and not sending you junk. Here is a really useful website that provides 'safe sender' instructions for most of the main e-mail platforms.
Responding via the 'RSVP' forum.
I'll explain how to respond once we get going.
You'll also have the chance to use the 'chat' during my Advent livestreams on YouTube, where there's always a rich and moving sense of community engagement.
'Live at Five' YouTube livestreams
Each Friday at 5pm GMT, we'll have a 30-minute livestream gathering (you can watch later if you can't join then) to pause together, light a candle, reflect on the week, and encourage each other.
You can click this link to find my YouTube 'livestream' page.
In order to participate in the livestream chat, you need to:
1. Setup a YouTube Account and Login with your username/email. (Click here for more details.)
2. Join the Live Stream
3. Click into where it says “Live Chat” and begin typing. Then, click the send icon.
Background and spirituality
The series will reflect my own contemplative Christian perspective. I'll draw on different authors, and reference as much as possible as I go, in case you enjoy further reading.