Thursday, December 16, 2010

Advent

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…well sort of.  We are in the season of  Advent. You see, we can’t get to Christmas without getting through Advent. But what’s up with Advent? Why all the waiting? Advent is about anticipating the birth of Christ. It’s about longing, desire, that which is yet to come. That which isn’t here yet. Advent is important to go through. We remember that in Scripture there is a natural rhythm to things. When God created the universe, there was a natural rhythm, and then God rested. Our church calendar is set up to create a natural rhythm. Advent also confronts the corrosion of the heart with the insistence that God has not abandoned the world, hope is real and something is coming. Pastor Rob Bell puts it this way ,  “Advent charges into the temple of cynicism with a whip of hope, overturning the tables of despair, driving out the priests of that jaded cult, announcing there’s a new day and it’s not like the one that came before it.” Advent’s purpose is to open us up, to soften us up, and to turn our hearts in the direction of the coming day. And so we wait for that day when the baby cries His first cry . And we, surrounded by shepherds and angels and everybody in between, celebrate that sound in time that brings our Spirits what we’ve been longing for.