Hi everyone and welcome to this week's reflection.
This week's reflection lands at the beginning of Advent.
And Advent is this season within the Christian tradition where we hold out for hope.
We hold out in expectation for Christ to be born in our lives each and every day.
What's also fascinating about Advent is it's actually the start of the Christian calendar.
When we think of the Gregorian calendar,
January through December,
It's obviously set up very different than the Christian calendar which is focused on telling the story of Jesus' life.
The Christian story starts at a point where times are dark and where the days are short.
I think there's a metaphor in there.
That the story of Christ breaking into the world is at the point where the days are the shortest and the night is the longest.
When the light in our life is at its lowest point and the darkness is at its highest.
Again Advent is an opportunity for us to slow down,
To be mindful,
To be conscious about how Christ might be breaking into our day each and every moment.
So that on these short days,
Where the days are short and the nights are long,
Where darkness is magnified and light is minimized,
We might be hopeful.
We might be expectant for Christ to break through in the smile of a stranger,
In the conversation with a friend,
In a meal that we eat.
There are so many ways in which Christ looks to break into our lives to open us up to wonder and awe.
But it's true,
Isn't it?
Advent is a difficult season to enter into a state of mindfulness.
Our lives are so blended.
An example of this is if you go to a store right now,
You will see Halloween candy,
You will see maybe the last little bits of Thanksgiving,
And you will see Christmas.
Three different points of celebration,
Three different points of season all blended together.
And then of course what happens after Christmas?
Christmas finishes,
Valentine's Day starts to get rolled out,
And then you've got Easter.
Advent is an opportunity for us to push away all of the blending in our life.
To walk at a pace that allows us to see Christ breaking into our world.
Advent invites us to wait.
To resist the lie that we need to be the most efficient people possible or our worth is diminished.
We need to be open to pushing back against the get to the next right thing mindset.
Christ is breaking through now.
And so for the next few minutes my invitation to you is to spend,
What do we have together,
Six minutes left?
Within six minutes just being really mindful of your space and your day.
If you're driving in the car being really mindful of the people around you.
Being very mindful of what you are seeing and sensing.
If you are at home what is the next little bit going to look like in your day?
What is your schedule hold and how might you enter into that with a pace that invites Christ to break through?
Invites Christ to be born into each and every moment.
And so take time now with the God who is tender and with the Christ who looks to be born in your life now.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
