In Advent we await with eager longing the birth of our Lord Jesus, the incarnate Word of God. While this yearning sharpens our physical senses to the delights of the season - crisp air and blue skies, sparkling seas, candles, balsam wreaths, family, friends, and good food - our spiritual senses also can be enhanced. Christians in all times have believed that people can grow in their ability to perceive God's presence, not only through their natural lives of desire, but also through spiritual senses that are, at once, similar to and different from the physical senses of taste, touch, vision, hearing, and smell. Prayer, spiritual practices, and worship, as well as explicit attention to our desiring self, all foster a special alertness to the birth of Jesus, God with us. Inevitably, people express their joy and gratitude at God's gift of his Son through committed service to others. Come and learn what our ancestors taught about growth in spiritual perception, the transformation of desire, and what theologians are saying about these possibilities today.
Dr. Elisabeth K. J. Koenigis Professor of Ascetical Theology, Emerita, of General Theological Seminary in New York City, where she taught courses in Christian Spirituality, Theology, Anglican Studies, and Ethics for twenty-five years.  More recently she served as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego, and taught in the Episcopal Diocesan School for Ministry. Dr. Koenig has given numerous clergy conferences, retreats, and lectures around the country, as well as in England and Italy  Dr. Koenig is an experienced spiritual director and for many years taught people preparing to be spiritual directors through The Center for Christian Spirituality at General Seminary.