Happy New Year!
Happy Christian New Year, that is. The Christian New Year begins with the first Sunday of Advent on November 30.
Advent is a curious season in the Christian year. The Advent season inspires us to reflection, confession, and preparation. Advent calls us to look both at the coming of Jesus, the child in the manger inspired to be God’s saving presence to humankind, and the Second Coming of Jesus, anticipated as the fulfillment of history.
Healthy spirituality lives between radical acceptance of life as it is and a holy restlessness, inspired by what could be in God’s realm of shalom. Advent challenges us to live with the tension of “this is God’s world, filled with wonder and beauty” and “why aren’t we there yet? Why haven’t we reached the promised land, the beloved community of wholeness and healing?”
We have to start where we are in a God-filled, imperfect universe; but we cannot end our journey in accepting injustice, oppression, inequality, and disease. Advent inspires a prophetic unrest that challenges our current achievements as well as our obvious failures in light of God’s realm of possibility, beauty, and wonder.
How shall we practice Advent? We know that we neither can nor should ban Christmas carols, parties, and celebrations. But, we need not be so caught up in the merriment of the season that we fail to examine our own lives and the systems that we are a part of.
Advent suggests a type of spiritual practice in which feelings of peace do not lead to contentment with the way things are. The stillness of meditation inspires us to listen for the voice of possibility within our lives and communities. We might ask ourselves “What are our unrealized dreams of community and spiritual growth? Where are we complicit in the injustice and suffering of the world?”
Advent challenges us to examine our values and behaviors:
· Can we celebrate Christmas with joy and generosity without being caught up in
consumerism?
· Can we experience liberation from hurry and busyness during the “Christmas
season” (that is, Advent)?
· Can we pause long enough to hear God’s voice and attend to God’s vision for our lives and our role as God’s partners in healing the earth?
· Can we give joyful gifts to loved ones and children without spending beyond our means, encouraging violence and greed, and succumbing to the temptation of useless and ecologically destructive purchases?
Let us sing Christmas carols. Let us rejoice in the wonders of a God-filled universe. Let us
embrace the exuberance of incarnation. But, let us equally embrace the divine restlessness that calls us to expect more from ourselves as we seek to be fitting companions of the one whose birth and future presence we await.
Happy New Year,
Candice
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