Thanksgiving blessings! Wherever you find yourself tomorrow, may you experience deep in your bones God's unconditional love for you.
This Sunday we begin together the beautiful season of Advent. Because there are always new people at First Baptist who’ve not celebrated Advent before, I offer here some words about this beautiful and rich season.
Advent means "the coming." The season of Advent is the season of expectation and longing for the coming of Christ into the world. More than getting ready for Christmas, Advent is about getting ready for Christ, who came to us once in the form of a baby and whose return will bring about the fulfilment of God’s loving intentions for all of creation. Preparing ourselves and our world for this coming is the focus of Advent.
And what a gift this season is to us. For one thing, if observed with intentionality, Advent can help us hold at arm’s length the relentless American Christmas Machine. By contrast, Advent asks us to hold back a bit before immersing ourselves in the Christmas celebration, inviting us first into a season of prayer and even some emptiness, instead of filling ourselves too full. Advent invites us to linger a while in repentance and reflection before we celebrate.
And let’s be honest: waiting comes hard for most of us. But how about we give it a try? Here are some simple suggestions for savoring the season of Advent:
In the weeks ahead, try practicing some holy restraint:
• Go without something—for someone else’s sake or for your own.
• Eat a little less.
• Talk a little less.
• Cross a few obligatory parties off your list.
• Let go of some particular anxiety.
And in the weeks ahead, try practicing some holy extravagance:
• Take a walk at sunset.
• Hold a baby.
• Go fishing (this one’s for you, Steve Netcott).
• Be an advocate for someone, or for some gospel-infused cause.
• Give an extravagant gift that benefits someone you may never meet.
• Listening deeply to someone; be as fully present as you can.
• Read Mary’s song of praise out loud, every day throughout Advent (Luke 1:46-55). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A46-55&version=CEB
• Listen to Handel’s Messiah and/or watch last year’s Spelman-Morehouse Christmas concert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNBbLUb787E.
• And of course...come and worship. Worship as often and as fully as you can. There are some beautiful opportunities for worship at FBC this year.
Waiting with you, wide-eyed and on tiptoe…
