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 refreshing for my faith is that it is a journey, not an event—a marked movement, day by day, that is taking us somewhere. While the destination is the most exciting thing, getting there is the most enlightening.
For all that Advent is and can be, it is most pointedly a season for staying awake. And this year, we want to keep awake for the fullness of Christ's arrivals between His arrivings. As we say in this season and were reminded on Sunday, Christ has come! Christ will come again! Christ is in us, the hope of glory!
Through the signs, songs, and stories of Advent, we are reminded of 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, we are being called by Jesus to "Stay awake" (Mk. 13:37) to the truth that he has never once left us, and we can expect that he never will.
Little advents, Jesus arrivals, continue to occur all around us if only we keep awake to the fullness of what Christ brings: hope, peace, joy, and love. These themes of Advent Sundays, along with the daily and weekly rhythms "call us to a posture of alertness...watchful and ready...for the signs of hope," that draw us into full and forever life even in our waiting.
So, this Advent, let us join together in asking our Father for eyes to see in the signs and stories and spirit of the season, the faithfulness of His presence, and the fullness of God with us.
"May the God of great hope fill us up with joy,
fill us up with peace,
so that our believing lives,
filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit,
will brim over with hope!"
(Romans 15:13)
Love you, faith family! God bless.