Week 1: Day 1

Read 1 Peter 1:8-13

Advent feels like a sweet memory peeled back slowly. 

Layer by layer.

Petal by petal.

The Greek word for advent is parousia, meaning “coming”. For

hundreds of years the people of God have spent four Sundays and the days in between intentionally preparing themselves for what was and for what is to come. Hundreds of years of candles and readings. The saints before us have paved a long and rich history of preparation.

And yet, I always miss it.

I always have good intentions--intentions to prepare, to heed the

warnings: Christmas is easy to miss in tinsel and trimming. But, if

we are not careful, we can also miss it in the familiar. Stories and

carols roll off our tongues, warm and known. The familiar winks at

busy and rushing and tense. Familiar has a tendency to overshadow

the magic.

This year, I want the magic.

Advent is the invitation to creak back the barn door and to watch the magic unfold. It will unfold in the candles, the questions of children, the wine and the wheat, the twinkling lights and the benevolence of strangers and saints. But more than anywhere, it will unfold in the magic of the ancient words sent from the Holy Spirit in the scriptures. 

As we set our hope fully on the grace they offer, we must dig deeper into the familiar, exposing the adventure and the magic and the rescue of the parousia.

Song of Prayer: 

Come and stand amazed, you people, See how God is reconciled! See his plans of love accomplished, See his gift, this newborn child. See the Mighty, weak and tender, See the Word who now is mute. See the Sovereign without splendor, See the Fullness destitute; The Beloved, whom we covet, In a state of low repute.

(from the medieval Dutch carol “Come and Stand Amazed”)