Anybody out there?

I don’t know about you, but it is Christmas at our house, or perhaps more correctly the spirit and feeling of Christmas has come to our home. The tree is trimmed. The stockings have been hung with care. Presents have even begun to find their place, thus testing the fragile patience of our two children. More than anything, a sense of hope and joy has begun to fill our home. It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, but it isn’t Christmas. Not yet. Christmas is still weeks away and to get there, we have to travel through Advent.

Advent is one of those little celebrated things in the lives of most evangelicals, and when celebrated it is often equated with Christmas. The whole of Advent for most in evangelical circles is little more than a means of preparing for Christmas, one long beautiful, if somewhat mysterious, prelude. Yet, Advent was never really meant to serve as a prelude. Advent was actually meant to be a conclusion. Originally, Christmas was the beginning the Church year, a celebration of Christ’s coming. Advent, on the other hand, was the conclusion of the year, a celebration of Christ’s return, the advent of his arrival once more. Advent was a time in which the Church reflected on the reality that the Christ who came was going to come again and that we and all creation would stand before him. Advent was meant, with all its solemnity, to remind us that we are never forsaken, never abandoned, never alone. The God who came and dwelt with us intended to dwell with us for us, God with us for eternity.

What I find intriguing is the fact that the journey of Advent takes place in the Old Testament. One would think that the message of God’s return, God with us forever, would be rooted in the New Testament. It isn’t. For some reason, the Church developed a story of God with us for eternity out of the wealth of texts written centuries before the texts that speak of God with us as a babe, centuries before the final text of Revelation which traces out life with God for eternity. That makes me wonder. Why these texts? Why these and not others? Why look backward and not forward?

As I have reflected on the chat we began yesterday, our chat about God being with us, I think it is starting to make sense to me, Advent that is. Advent reaches back because the message of God with us for eternity is not a future message. It is not an idea that God dreamed up with the coming of Christ. It is not, dare I say, a future reality. God with us is an ancient idea, an ancient plan, a timeless reality. The finger of God etched the idea of God with us in creation itself, in our very beings. It is in God’s delight in his creation, a delight that spilled over into the forming of people in his image that we first see the God-with-us plan. God made us to be with us. That was his plan, is his plan, and will always be his plan. We don’t reach forward to see this. We reach backward and look forward to how this plan will continue to unfold. It is in looking backward that Christmas gains its meaning. It is in the recognition that the God who was and is and is to come has been, is and will be with us that Christmas makes any sense at all, that it provides any hope at all. It is in looking back that we get the punctuation of Christmas, a loud declaration of what God has always been saying, “YOU ARE NOT ALONE!”

A fellow traveler,

Blake

What’s my next step?

We encourage you to consider engaging in the following as a way of handing off faith in your family.

Talk about God’s creation: God has revealed himself in what he has created (Romans 1.18). As you journey through this week, consider pointing out aspects of creation to your children. You might bring a sunset to your family’s attention by saying, “Look at how God is showing off tonight.” Or, you might say something like, “God must be pretty creative to think up something as beautiful as snow.” At times these will simply be absorbed by your family and at other times they will spark conversations about who God is and what he is up to in the world. Regardless of the verbal outcome, by highlighting God, you are teaching your family that we live in a God-infused world, a world in which God is with us, intimately involved in our lives.

We encourage you to consider engaging in the following as a way of deepening your own faith.

Go for a walk: We live in a God-infused world. This week, consider spending time with what God has created in order to learn about who he is and how intimately he is involved in what appears to be ordinary. You might do this by setting aside time to take an unhurried walk. We recommend at least 30 minutes. Move slowly, taking time to soak in what you see. If something catches your eye, pause and observe it closely, really observe it. Take in details you would otherwise overlook. If possible, consider stopping and staying with what has caught your eye for the rest of your time. After observing everything you can about your object, consider asking the following: (1) What does this object teach me about who God is?, (2) What does this object teach me about God’s involvement in this world?