This has been the most meaningful Advent season I’ve ever experienced. Ever. We’ve engaged actively in the waiting as a collective through The Weary World Rejoices Advent movement. It’s been beautiful to be shaped by poems and posts and to hear stories of God using these rhythms of peace to shape others.
We wait, but not as if we’re waiting impatiently in a grocery store line or in traffic. We wait in anticipation. We wait as for a marriage or a feast or a vacation. This external expectation should lead is to internal examination. We examine ourselves, the good, bad and ugly within us, as we await the coming King. As we wait for external realities to change in a crumbling and weary world we cry out for internal changes within us. Change is, indeed, coming.
Here is a guest post from my friend Daniel Grothe…
The word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming,” and is considered to be the beginning of the Church’s calendar year. The way the calendar is organized is quite an interesting theological statement—namely, that everything in the life of faith starts when God the Son shows up. When he shows up in Bethlehem, and when he shows up unexpectedly in our lives.
But the question we have to ask is, What happens when God shows up? As we read the Gospel accounts we discover that God’s arrival means the lowly are exalted, the powerful are brought low, the hungry are given their fill, and the overlooked are given a key role to play in God’s work. In short, God’s coming means salvation. “Peace on earth, goodwill to all people.”
So where do you need God’s salvation to show up in your life in this season of Advent?
Give yourself over to him afresh and just see what he’ll do.