Dear Faith Family,
Sunday officially sparked the beginning of the Advent season! It's here once more, a special time of the year in which the anticipation of something wonderful and new fills our hearts, catches our sight, echoes in our ears, and swims in our dreams. It is truly one of my favorite seasons, and I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment!
One of the things that makes Advent so remarkable, at least to me, is the assured expectation it engenders. Having gone through the cycle (more than!) a few times, I know that everything which makes this time of year special--traditions and songs, liturgy and lights, meals with family and friends, giving and receiving, etc.--is sure to be experienced again (though perhaps in new ways).
While there may be a surprise or two waiting under a tree somewhere, and, admittedly, in some years, the special things are made harder through loss or fraying relations. Nevertheless, the certainty of what has been and what will be, ensures the satisfaction of anticipation.
And what is true of this season, is also true of our lives with God. What has been--Christ has come!--and what will be--Christ will come again!--ensures Christ is with us in this and every season. Little advents are taking place all around us, if only we pay attention!
"Faith," says Fredrick Buechner, "is a way of paying attention." Perhaps there is no season more favorable to faith than Advent. In all the special things that make up Advent our attention and our faith are drawn to the wonderful and ever-new reality of life with Jesus. For Advent "calls us to a posture of alertness...watchful and ready...for the signs of hope...waiting for the light of Christ," as Bobby Gross reminds us.
"Faith," too, says Buechner, "is waiting." Waiting not in passivity but letting our hearts and heads and hands be consumed by "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." Like no other time of year, we are attentive to the truth that Jesus has come, born of woman, swaddled under the expanse of angels singing. And that he will return, as the Lamb slain and risen, King of kings, arriving once more to complete what he started in us and the world. All the while calling attention to the truth that he has never once left us, and we can expect that he never will.
So, this Advent, let us join together in asking our Father to see in the signs of the season the faithfulness of his presence and the assurance of his working in us and in the world.
May we be watchful and ready, actively waiting to hear him speak to us through the words of others and to speak through us to them. Open to him revealing himself in the face of someone in need and caring for us in the kindness of friends. Expectant for him to move us when we gather to worship and stir us through song and silence. Anticipating the Spirit's still small voice throughout another cycle of this special season.
As the psalmist said, let us "Be still before the Lord," God With Us, "and wait patiently for him...feeding on his faithfulness." (Psalm 37:7,3)
Love you, faith family! God bless.