This will be a Christmas like no other. As we re-gain our footing after a fall, as we try hard to see through the mist to find the path we are to walk, as plans are laid aside to wait for the journey to unfold in a way unplanned, we come into the Christmas season. We come into Advent.
We come into the very essence of Christmas that is so often lost in the glitter and the glow, in the frantic activities and accumulations of stuff, in the traditions and the trappings. We come into waiting and unfulfilled expectations, we come into hope and longing, we come into brokenness and bondage that longs for release…Advent. In church we sing, “Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free, from our sins and fears release us, let us find our rest in Thee.” This is Advent.
And we begin to understand what we never fully realized before: that without Advent, the beauty and miracle and joy of Christmas cannot be fully realized. Without the days of darkness, the light does not shine as brightly. Without the days of grief, the joy is not so overwhelming. Without the days of longing, the fulfillment of the waiting is not so wondrous. Advent is about anticipation of a promise fulfilled, but the Scripture readings for Advent remind us of all who did not see the promise come, of those who lived and died before Immanuel made his earthly appearance to “ransom captive Israel.”
Understanding “the hope and fears of all the years” which is wrapped up in Advent is what enables us to see how they are “met in Thee tonight”, through the long awaited birth of the Messiah who came to fulfill all the hopes and quell all the fears.
And this first Advent reminds us that we still, daily, live in another Advent…as the first coming was not the last, and the world still groans, waiting for release, and God’s people still suffer under sin’s cruel power…waiting, waiting, for the One who first came as a baby and will return,someday, in triumph as conquering King to finally set all things right. "...a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious dawn." But the dawn is not yet realized in the fullness of the glory to come, but someday it will shine out. So we wait.
So, for this Christmas, we lean into Advent. We seek to learn, not just to wait, but to wait in expectation for the joy to come. We seek to live in the “what is,” while knowing that the “what is not yet “ is more marvelous than we can imagine. We seek to listen to God’s voice, for in Advent He speaks to our hearts that He is at work in the darkness. We seek eyes to see Him around us where we have been too busy to look before. We seek to " prepare Him room" in our lives every moment.
We seek to live in the understanding that, “Advent, it is made of the moments. This slow unfurling of grace.” (Ann Voskamp ) We look for the moments, for the daily grace lavished in our lives, the small mercies, the acts of generosity, the gifts of love that flow around us, to see and acknowledge and not let even a drop of grace go unrecognized.
For most Christmas pasts, we have been too rushed, too busy, too dazzled by the tinsel of Christmas to truly slow down and lean into Advent. But, now, we are aware that God is calling us, speaking to us in Advent: “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste and smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it
because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace.” (Frederick Buechner)
Grace came down and dwelt among us at Christmas and His name is Immanuel, God with us. And in this Advent, it is God with us who sustains us and spreads hope and light and love and promise into our lives.
This will be a Christmas like no other.
