Advent thoughts

Last November I read a great post about Advent - "Advent, Not Christmas" - and I've been thinking about it ever since. I don't recall learning much about the liturgical calendar as a child, so I always thought of Advent as a countdown to Christmas, often involving chocolate! I have learned that it is much, much more. In Stacey's own words:

Christmas is a season of triumph and joy. We rejoice in the coming of our King; we rejoice in the knowledge that God lowered himself, and took the position of a human baby so that we might know him better. Advent, by contrast, is a time of sober reflection and preparation. Advent is the experience of waiting with Israel for the Christ – and waiting together as the church for the second coming of Jesus. It’s the fast that makes the feast taste extra good.
What are we missing when we skip over Advent?
The fast before the feast, yes – but also something else. Advent gives us the opportunity to tell God that things are still not right down here. We weep over the state of the world; we bring to God those things in our own lives that aren’t right. Advent establishes in the people of God a renewed sense of longing for Christ’s second coming – for the day when all things shall be renewed under the lordship of Christ. As we wait with Israel, we feel some of Israel’s pain and desperation – and we join our own pain and desperation to it. We see oppression, war, and hunger in the world and we acknowledge that this is not the way things should be, that this is not God’s intention for the world. We stand in the face of injustice, sorrow, and sickness and say: “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”

Things are still not right down here. Those are exactly the words I need right now. I was feeling a little overwhelmed with sadness last night... Four families I know and care deeply for have experienced the loss of a loved one in recent days. A couple we met a year ago are ready and willing to bring 4 precious children home from Uganda, and they are facing delay after excruciating delay. Other adoptive and foster couples are sharing their hearts with us, opening up about the difficulties and heartache and despair of raising children from hard places. And then there are natural disasters, and school shootings, and it feels like too much. However... when I read Stacey's words and I think about the season of Advent, I realize it's okay to be desperate and hurting right now. This is not the way things should be. Families should not be facing such tragic losses. Children should not be falling asleep tonight without knowing the love of a family. So we bring all these things before God and we tell Him about it. We mourn and grieve and get mad and wonder how these things can possibly be happening...

But Advent is not all about darkness and despair. We acknowledge our pain and our desperation, and we also look forward to the coming of the One who will make all things new. We celebrate the birth of our Saviour, the One who is already and always in the business of rescuing us. We give thanks that He is present, that He is with us, in the middle of our despair, and that He has a plan to redeem it all. In the words of Sally Lloyd-Jones in The Jesus Storybook Bible (as she paraphrases Revelation 21:3,4):

One day, John knew, Heaven would come down and mend God's broken world and make it our true, perfect home once again.
And he knew, in some mysterious way that would be hard to explain, that everything was going to be more wonderful for once having been so sad.
And he knew then that the ending of The Story was going to be so great, it would make all the sadness and tears and everything seem like just a shadow that is chased away by the morning sun.

So, we wait. We acknowledge the darkness and we look forward to the time when the Light of the world will dispel the darkness forever. O come, o come, Emmanuel!

(illustration on pg. 185 of The Jesus Storybook Bible)

Living Out the Incarnation

I just read an incredibly beautiful post by Sarah Bessey. All of her stuff is beautiful, but this one is especially gorgeous because it's about the incarnation and that's one of my favourite topics, especially in December! It's a post about not sanitizing the Christmas story, and about being real, and about seeing beauty and redemption and love in the middle of the messiest situations. I loved it!

The only part that didn't resonate with me was the giving birth part. Even though I've processed some stuff related to infertility, it still hurts sometimes. This was one of those times. As much as I loved what I was reading, there was still an ache in my heart as I realized I couldn't identify with this part of the Christmas story. And then I reflected on these words of Sarah's, written to articulate why we avoid the messy humanity of the Nativity:

It’s too much pain, too much waiting, too much humanity, too much God, too much work, too much joy, too much love and far too messy. With far too little control. And sometimes it does not go the way we thought it was supposed to go and then we are also left with questions, with deep sadness, with longing.
 

She was talking about childbirth, but it struck me that this is universal. I'm a part of this. Any human being in relationship with another human being knows this - the pain, the messiness, the joy, the love, and the lack of control. As an adoptive mom, I know this. I have waited, uncertain. I have known pain, confronted with the messiness of our children's histories and the grief and loss that will always be a part of their stories. I have questions. Things have not gone the way we assumed they would.

But this is where the incarnation really starts to take on profound meaning for me: I have the opportunity to live it out. As Jesus chose to enter the world and redeem it in all its messiness, so I can choose to enter in to life with my children, and parent in ways that will bring healing and redemption - recognizing always that only God is the true Healer, and I am but the one He has chosen to do this work, with these children. I am humbled and awed as I realize that I get to be a part of this. As I strive to "be with" those I love - to be fully emotionally present - I am participating in the redemptive work of Christ in the world. As I learn to lay aside my expectations and my preferences, and learn to parent in a way that takes my children's histories into account, I am living out a bit of the incarnation. And as I celebrate this Advent season, I am looking forward to the day when the Great Healer will return. As Sally Lloyd-Jones puts it in The Jesus Storybook Bible, the return of Jesus will "make all the sadness and tears and everything seem like just a shadow that is chased away by the morning sun."

Until then, I will celebrate Emmanuel - God with us - all year long. Laying aside, living it out, and longing for His return.

(http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2008/12/how-to-make-nativity-silhouette-art.html)