Welcome Advent -- Day One

Beginning on December 1st, we will post a reflection or meditation for each day of Advent. Think of it as an on-line Advent Calendar, helping your mark the days of the Advent season. 

Welcome to Advent, what may be my favorite season of the year. It’s funny, because growing up I wasn’t aware of it at all. The Congregational church I grew up in paid no attention to the liturgical calendar, except for big holidays like Christmas and Easter. My parents, one of whom grew up Methodist and the other Reformed, didn’t seem to know about it either. It was only when I returned to church after many years away, and began attending a different Congregational church, that I suddenly encountered words I never heard before, at least in a Protestant church. Words like Advent, Lent, Epiphany and Pentecost among others.
And now I love them all – with Advent a particular favorite. Unfortunately, I think most in the church would rather ignore it and move right into Christmas. After all, the Christmas decorations have gone up and the carols begin playing on the radio before Advent even begins.
But I love Advent. Instead of merry elves and presents under a tree, it focuses on counter-cultural things like stillness and waiting, preparation and discernment. It’s a time to focus on the inner journey – on getting ready. It’s a time of gestation – waiting and preparing to give birth to new life. And it’s a time of darkness – the darkness of the womb; the darkness of the night sky that makes it possible to see the guiding star.
And perhaps I resonate with Advent most deeply because it reminds me of my own time of waiting to give birth to my daughter. Looking back, it was a time of paradox – there was so much to do to prepare: clean out the spare room to make space for the baby furniture; buy things like baby blankets and little clothes (so cute); learn what to expect, how to change diapers and breathe with the contractions; go to doctor’s visits and ultrasounds, find the right hospital and car seat. A whole check list. But at the same time, at another level, all Steve and I could do was wait – and wait – and wait – for nine months for the baby to be born. Nothing we could do would make that time move any faster.
And when the time finally came to give birth, it wasn’t easy. It was painful, and hard, and messy, and scary. But from those labor pains came this miraculous gift, and three lives (my husbands, my daughter’s and mine) were transformed – made new.
Later I realized that it was during the time of waiting that we prepared inside – prepared our hearts and minds and bodies – for the change that was coming in our lives. If it had happened too soon none of us would have been ready for it. (Not that we felt ready, mind you. Yet it’s amazing, looking back, that in fact we were.) New life means change – and we need to prepare – and make space – for it to happen.
We need to welcome Advent. We may want to just skip right over it – move on to singing Christmas carols and playing with the new baby, but we’re not ready yet. And so we prepare ourselves by doing with expectant joy the tasks of the season – buying presents, putting up decorations, trimming the tree, baking the cookies. But at the same time – we all have to wait, to prepare inside and learn the lessons this time of waiting has to teach us – about patience and perseverance, taking risks and listening to angels; about the difficulty and pain of birth, and the joy of new life.

Prayer:  God who gave birth to all creation, help me to creatively wait in this time of Advent gestation, so that I may be prepared to give birth to the holy in my life and my world – when it is time. Amen.