Heaven & Nature Sing with Hannah Anderson

Advent invites us to enter into the joy of the season through rhythms of remembrance, renewal, and waiting. But often, our very familiarity with the Advent story can leave us dulled to the miracle and joy of the season.

In her book of Advent reflections, Heaven and Nature Sing, author Hannah Anderson invites us all into a fresh reading of the Christmas story by drawing together 25 meditations on the beauty of creation:

“What I believe creation invites us back to is reorienting ourselves, not only to God, but to our environment and perhaps even to our own bodies and to ourselves. And so when we are giving our attention to the patterns and rhythms and cycles of creation it has the potential to be an access point for some deeper truths that maybe we've forgotten or we've overlooked.” - Hannah Anderson

This podcast is an edited version of a conversation recorded in fall of 2022. Learn more about Hannah Anderson.

Episode outline

00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Advent

01:51 Introducing Hannah Anderson and Her Work

02:28 The Inspiration Behind 'Heaven and Nature Sing'

04:39 Attentiveness to Creation and Its Lessons

07:57 The Link Between Caring for Creation and Others

11:58 The Legend of the First Christmas Tree

15:27 Jesus' Birth and the Concept of Habitat

19:11 The Brutality and Honesty of Nature

22:49 Reconnecting with Nature in Modern Times

26:49 Practical Steps to Attune to Nature

29:32 Closing Thoughts and Poem

31:07 Final Farewell and Podcast Information

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

All That's Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment, by Hannah Anderson

The Turning of Days: Lessons from Nature, Season, and Spirit, by Hannah Anderson

Heaven and Nature Sing, by Hannah Anderson

An Immense World, by Ed Yong

Related Trinity Forum Readings:

Bright Evening Star, by Madeleine L’Engle

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard

Babette’s Feast, by Isak Dinesen

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

The Gift of the Magi and Two Thanksgiving Gentlemen, by O. Henry

God’s Grandeur: the Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins

Related Conversations:
Waiting on the Word, with Malcolm Guite

Joy to the World: Caroling Christmas and Christian Formation, with Keith Getty

Advent: The Season of Hope, with Tish Harrison Warren

To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society.