The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before. It is not possible to keep it from coming, because it will. That’s just how Advent works. What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s hindquarters fade in the distance.
So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait.
Behold. Wonder.
There will be time enough for running.
For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay.
Wait.
Something is on the horizon. ~ Author Jan Richardson.
Advent is my favorite time of year. Yes, some of you will accuse me of saying that about Lent and Easter, but it is really true of Advent. Last year, when several of our pastoral colleagues used the Celtic Advent Calendar, which offers six Sundays to the season of Advent, I was tempted to make the switch, but then all the things – budget hearing, annual meeting, Thanksgiving must all squish together in clunky ways and the one thing I dislike more than anything else is when things are “clunky.”
Advent, for me, has become the “great surrender.” For several years now, I have shifted the days of Advent to less running around and more opportunity for quiet. “How do you do that pastor?” Ah, well, first there is little that must be decided in a meeting in the month of December that will not wait until January or could not be concluded in November. Which means more nights at home in front of the fire with family. This new schedule means more dinners together as family around the table with the lighting of the Advent wreath before we pray over dinner so we might honor the slow progression of the days leading us to the manger. It means no JOLT on Thursdays so that there might be lingering moments with a friend over a warm cup of coffee. This surrender means that I will let go of the schedule that is always leading my days so that I might be drawn to what my soul longs for instead of what my schedule shouts at me.
And like last year, I’ve added an opportunity for study and reflection with a three-week book study to focus anyone who wishes to walk the road of Advent. This year, we will reflect on the “Voices of Advent,” a book written by Dr. Matthew Skinner, a professor at Luther Seminary. You will have opportunity to sign up ahead of time and join me on either Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. or on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. beginning on Dec. 2 and 3 respectively. Along with the book study, we are offering a new opportunity for quiet, reflective worship with communion at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays in Advent, much like what some of you experienced this past Lent. A half hour worship with music, prayer, scripture, devotion, and communion. All nicely brought together in a half hour worship. It is but one additional way I surrender to the season of Advent and the call of the star to follow.
It has been a most glorious year of ministry. As the church year closed on Christ the King Sunday and began again on Nov. 30th with the First Sunday of Advent, nightfall is longer, temperatures lead us to winter, and the weather invites us to linger in warm conversations that keep us together for a moment or two longer. And so I will practice the “great surrender” once again this season and invite you to join me.
“Through the dark of Advent. There is hope that whispers: God is here.” A promise we have known all along – a promise, we need only remind ourselves and each other, will never not be true. May Advent be a time to stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running and rushing around. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.
See you in church.
Pastor Chris
