Dear Friends in Christ,

Before we get to Christmas, the Church observes the season of Advent. 

Advent is for the Church a time of reflection, of preparation, of awe and of wonder and even of fear and trembling.  Our Redeemer is coming.  The reason we need a Redeemer is because we have fallen into sin and death.  Jesus’ coming is a judgment on us even as it is our salvation.

The call of Advent is the cry of John the Baptist; “Prepare the way of the Lord!"  Preparing for Jesus’ coming certainly includes the usual festivities: decorating, shopping, gathering with friends and loved ones, joining in the secular festivities of the world.  Advent, however, runs even deeper than that.

We are called to look inside and prepare a way for God.  The Rev. Canon Kenneth McDonald, a venerable priest in my last congregation used a wonderful image in one of his sermons.  He was preaching on Isaiah’s prophecy:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up,

            and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

            and the rough places a plain.”

He reminded us that the rough places, the high mountains, and the low places all exist in our own hearts.  If we want to greet the coming Lord we must invite God to prepare a way in our own hearts.  Advent invites us to open ourselves to the transforming power of God.

In Advent we prepare to receive a gift of indescribable magnitude.  God is coming to live among us as a human being; to live with us, to suffer and die like us, to be raised from the dead so that we may be joined with him in eternal life.  This gift that God gives requires that we pause and reflect!  Advent invites us meditate on and revel in the goodness of God.

The Church celebrates Advent as a reflective time in deliberate contrast to the unrestrained opulence of the secular culture. 

§      The Church is not selling us anything so we do not need to be whipped into a Christmas shopping frenzy. 

§      The Church has learned to wait on the Lord.  The consumer culture waits on nothing! 

§      The Church knows that the generic promises of “the holiday season” are empty.  It is the emptiness of these promises that make “the holidays” so painful for those who cannot have the “TV Special” celebrations.  The Church points us to Jesus – and Mary and Joseph – who did not have a Hallmark Christmas either.

At Christmas we do enter a season of unrestrained joy at the coming of Jesus.  The cry of “Prepare the way of the Lord” gives way the shout “Joy to the World!  The Lord is Come!”

We are prepared!  We have looked inside. We have confronted our need.  We have invited the Lord to come.  We have made ready with longing expectation.  We greet the Child, our Lord, awestruck that God would love us this much – to offer himself for us.

I invite you, this Advent, to be sure to slow down and prepare.  I believe that the evil one wants us too busy with all of the holiday preparations to really make way for the coming Lord.  My family has a tradition of evening devotions in Advent.  It helps keep us focused on Jesus.

Our devotions are focused at the level of our children.  We begin by lighting the Advent wreath.  Then we say a prayer. 

Next we open the Advent calendar.  (We always choose one that has Bible passages behind the doors.  They usually tell the story of the Annunciations to Mary and Joseph and then of Jesus’ birth.)  We read the little passage and then read the whole story from an appropriate Bible.  While we read the story, we use a toy crèche to act out the story.  Sometimes we have even dressed up and acted the parts.  We close with our prayers and a song.

This is one of the ways our family slows down and prepares.  I invite each of you to find your own ways.  The object is not to make the season more complicated.  It is to simplify and make the season more reflective.

If I can assist you in any way finding your own manner of preparing the way of the Lord, please let me know.  I look forward to sharing with you a blessed Advent and a joyous Christmas celebration!

                                                                                    Your brother in Christ,

                                                                                    Wilson +