Advent Musings


Today marks the first Sunday in Advent.  It is when the Church does this sort of "leaning in" to the mystery of the birth of Jesus.  We await this New Hope--the answer to our ancestors plea for God to show up...and He does...as a baby in a small village born of a virgin.  Our Prelude and our Encore is born in a manger and we are invited to make ready our hearts and homes for this exciting event.  I've been doing a lot of thinking this year about how our expectations of Christmas can sometimes be far from the reality that we find around us.  So here's what I'm thinking:

I'm thinking that this year we really try to remember that everyone gets invited to the manger.  That we all bring our brokenness and our pain, our baggage and our carry-ons, and we lay them at the feet of the King of Kings.  Then, we look around to our neighbors, even the ones we don't really know or like and especially the ones we are always judging and we thank God for them and say a prayer that their Christmas is full of hope and love and peace.  It might look a little messy with all this welcoming and hospitality but that's okay because the first Christmas was pretty messy, too. 

I like to imagine that God gets this great amount of joy and pride when He sees us children setting aside our petty differences (and our big differences, too), and wait together in anticipation of the birth of our Messiah.  As Fr. Herb said today, "The Light is Coming!"  So instead of rearranging the ornaments on our tree a million times (I'm talking to myself here), maybe we rearrange the way we think about, talk about, and most of all interact with the people around us.  Maybe this Christmas our manger scene will look a little more like the one my one year old daughter, Zola, likes to look at.  Where Hello Kitty is one of the Wise Men (with PEZ Yoda filling out the trio).  And where Yoshi gets to be part of the barnyard crew and even whiny Daniel Tiger shows up to witness the miracle of Jesus' birth.  We are all invited to lean in this year and see what God has waiting for us this Christmas.  And one thing I know, His is the best gift of all.

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