Stepping into Advent

Advent 2020

Sunday, November 29th, 2020

Dear friends,

Today is the beginning of Advent. Advent means arrival. It means emergence. Advent means the birth of something notable. Advent is the season where four Sundays or four weeks are set apart to prepare for the emergence of hope, of joy and peace, of light in a dark world. We prepare room for Christ. 

Some of you are dried out, exhausted, and weary for so many reasons beyond this pandemic. To prepare room for anything beyond the daily tasks and responsibilities feels too much to ask. So perhaps these daily Advent reflections can be a simple way for you to wiggle left and right, creating space where it wasn’t before for you to pay attention and prepare some room. Advent gently asks us to pay attention to it all differently. To pay attention to our bodies, minds, spirits. To pay attention to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s healing and refilling presence. 

But more than anything else, Advent is the reminder of the God who comes. The God who left heaven for earth. The God, as Jesus Christ, who walked away from the peace of shalom to be born into a world of chaotic difficulty. Why would Christ do this? Why would he choose this? Because the very nature and character of God is one of nearness. God is not disturbed by our chaos or darkness. God is not put off or must run in the opposite direction of our sin, brokenness, or rebellious nature. God comes near, and this is the good news. This is the gospel. The Gospel is where God, as Jesus Christ, comes near, unafraid of our flawed and selfish humanity but unwilling to allow us to stay in that space. 

Advent whispers in our ears, “Prepare some room, for a weary world is on the brink of rejoicing because God has come near.” 

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Step in with me. 

With (love),

Bethany