The season of Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas. It is a time in which we are invited to live into the anticipation and preparation for the coming of the One who turns our world upside down, who offers us a new perspective on life, a new way of being. Traditionally it was a deeply spiritual time in which the soul longed and waited for God’s coming into the world. Often for us, in our 21st century world, it is a time of frenzy, hurry, and unrealistic expectation of others and ourselves. Can we as a community of faith encourage each other to take time to ponder and pray, to wait and watch for the ways Christ may be coming into our lives in unique, unexpected, even simple ways?
It is important for us to remember that Jesus came into a world in which there was no room for him, no welcome at the inn. Jesus entered life out behind where the action was, in the shadow of the inn, where his bed was an animal food trough and the heat of the bodies of animals helped keep him warm. “The Word made flesh, unable to speak a word.”
How do we usually think of God entering our lives? With a blast of thunder, the blare of trumpets, the blaze of glory? Amazingly, Jesus comes to us as one who is completely vulnerable and receptive, an infant in need of our love and care. Will we offer to hold him this Christmas? Will we make room for the quiet and comforting time that babies need, the invitation an infant offers to be entirely in the present moment? Will we let this experience free us from the tyranny of tense (past, present, future) and offer us a glimpse of the “eternal now”? Will we let God turn our days from places of doing more and more to days of living into and offering more love, compassion, care, and gratitude in our daily life and interactions?
Perhaps one of the points of Advent’s waiting is to let go of some of our continually controlling and orchestrating everything in our day. Dare we move from the “perfect” Christmas to one in which God surprises us? The very cracks in our perfectly controlled Christmas become opportunities for God to show us a new way in which love takes the place of force, connection triumphs over “being right at all casts”, and less activity actually makes our lives richer and deeper.
This Advent, may we ponder the bright star that points us to the most unlikely place where “once for a shining moment, heaven touched earth.” May we rejoice together at this wonderful thing that is coming to pass. May God guide us to a Christmas of love, full of kindness, compassion, and hope springing from the people. places, and events to which we open ourselves, trusting God’s Spirit to guide us to our Bethlehem.