ADVENT

 Advent was never intended for joy alone. ⁣

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Our culture seems to scream, "BE HAPPY! BE JOYFUL! It's CHRISTMAS!“ And it feels like the church can say the same…"Christmas is hard for some people…" which it alludes to an unspoken: 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦. ⁣

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Advent is the tension between joy and groaning. It's as if we are reaching back toward all we've been through while reaching forward toward all we hope for. ⁣

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"He announced a kingdom at hand and yet spoke of a reign to come. He gave his life as a ransom for many and yet pointed to a day of salvation in the future…. We who belong to him are a new creation, yet we groan for the day when the whole cosmos will obtain with us the freedom of glory. So we find ourselves in this time of now and yet to come. Advent dramatizes this tension for us… Paul too speaks of 'a glory to be revealed' but not without acknowledging 'the sufferings of this present time.'" - Bobby Gross⁣

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Guilt is always at the ready when we find ourselves facing the first Sunday of Advent - feeling ill-equipped, little-prepared, and overwhelmed with the weight of a too much, really hard year. Slamming into a *festive* season when we haven't processed the weight and traumas of the months we've flown through causes emotional and spiritual whiplash. ⁣

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But 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 is what advent is FOR. You don't have to *fix yourself before Christmas.* You don't have to get it together to make this the "best Christmas ever." You don't have to control how this season goes.⁣

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This season makes space - not for over-the-top Christmas schooling or 8 tubs of decor - but for looking into the past while holding hands with the hope that's ahead. Advent is a suspension bridge between our past experiences and our future hopes, held firmly and unfailingly by that babe in a manger. (𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.)⁣

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No matter what this year has held and no matter how whiplashed you feel by this "sudden" encounter with Advent, hope IS ahead. Peace has come. You don't have to GET the peace or make the peace. You simply have to accept that it's already here. Even when you don't feel it - advent is how we make space to experience it.