FROM THE PASTOR:

This year the season of Advent begins on the first Sunday of December. Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year as we tell again the story of the ever coming Christ. Advent is a time of pregnancy and waiting. It is a time of repentance and preparation for the coming of Christ in our own time.

On the one hand, the season of Advent/Christmas invites us to look back and remember the historic coming of Christ and the waiting that preceded it. But on the other hand Advent/Christmas invites us to look for Christ in our own present and future. Our celebration of Christmas is not only remembering the historic birth recorded in the gospels, but also a time to celebrate the ways in which God is being born again in our lives and our world. I fear we have lost the strength of the Advent/Christmas message. Not just in our culture but even in the church.

In an essay titled: “Shipwrecked at the Stable” American author Brennan Manning observes:

“Sadly, Christian piety down through the centuries has prettified the Babe of Bethlehem. Christian art has trivialized divine scandal into gingerbread crèches. Christian worship has sentimentalized the smells of the stable into dignified pageant…Pious imagination and nostalgic music rob Christmas of its shock value, while some scholars reduce the crib to a tame theological symbol…..All the Santa clauses and red-nosed reindeer, fifty-foot trees and thundering church bells put together create less pandemonium than the infant Jesus when, instead of remaining a statue in a crib, he comes alive and delivers us over to the fire that he came to light.”

And just what is this astonishing story behind the story? Advent and Christmas speak of new beginnings through repentance, justice for the oppressed, the mystery of God among us in a human, reversal of the economic and social order and peace and reconciliation on earth. It is a message brought to us by the One born in a cattle shed and first admired by shepherds, the lowest of the working class.

Lest this message be forgotten, we light a candle each Sunday of Advent to remember that God’s light is stronger than the world’s darkness. That is a word of hope for all. Historically the church has decorated with purple and blue for Advent and gold and white for Christmas, to remember that our message is much stronger than the message and colors of the cultural Christmas. During the Sunday’s of Advent, our sanctuary will be decorated gradually to symbolize the preparation and waiting of this season as we look for the signs of the ever coming Christ in our world, our church and our lives.

The Gospel of John begins by reminding us that “the Light (Jesus Christ) shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John. 1:5). May we allow our lives to be overcome with the light of Christ so we might find healing and hope for our own pain and struggle as well as the pain of the world.

During these days of Advent and Christmas, let us reclaim the hope and light that Christ offers. As we receive that gift from God, let us share it with another. It is the best gift we can give to another.

Pastor Mike Miller