A note from me about turning the corner to Christmas
ILLUSTRATIONS FOR A CHRISTMAS CAROL BY YELENA BRYKSENKOVA (SOURCE)
Dear friends,
What a joy these past three weeks have been contemplating together the mercy and marvel of the advent of Emmanuel. Every year I battle a sense of futility - that this quiet space is meaningless in the midst of our sometimes frenetic need to get to the cozy, chaotic celebration part of Christmas. Every year the Holy Spirit meets me again in the ancient, sober texts of the prophets and the fierce hope of the people of God. I want to be a woman of fierce hope, and to embrace every spark and glimmer of light that comes down from the Father in word, practice, prayer, and beauty. I want to consume this light until it radiates from the inside out to help push back the darkness in this weary world.
Every year God meets me through you. I ponder your stories of meeting through these humble blog posts the once and coming again King, and receive them as gifts just as plain as the ones beginning to accumulate under our Christmas tree. That even one other person knows the God of Christ more nearly and dearly this year because of this holy compulsion of mine to sift through each Scripture and song and prayer is the greatest gift. Thank you for walking the Advent road along with me.
We are turning a corner friends. I often daydream that before I publish the final Advent post (just as I do when I'm writing the Lent Daybook posts) I'll hear a trumpet and see Christ descending from the sky, returning to once and for all make all things new. If this does not happen before Christmas Day, we are given the responsibility to celebrate as if He did. This is no postscript to Advent; this is the Main Event! It's time to pull out the stops, and take on the holy calling of Feasting!
Will you join me?
In the past few years, I've written a couple of posts about how our family has learned, failed, and learned again how to keep Christmas well.
12 Ways to Savor the 12 Days of Christmas
Family Liturgies For Christmas & My Mama's Rule For Feasting
Christmas Confessions From An Exhausted Dad {Brian's guest post}
I may or may not post each day through Christmas. Some years I have every post planned and written a month ahead of time, but this year God has been insistent that I take the series one day at a time. Every attempt I've made to get myself organized and turn this into a project (which is not necessarily wrong, and typically a great blogging practice!) I have literally become physically ill. Most days, I've received this as a gentle discipline from my heavenly Father. It's reminded me of the Israelites trying to hoard manna in the wilderness when God wanted to provide for them their daily bread. So I'm waiting on God for Christmas Daybook posts in much the same way. Who knows? Maybe I'll be so absorbed in festive play I'll lose track of the calendar altogether! May it be so for all of us.
For these last hours of Advent, may we know with assurance that He has come, He is coming, and He will come again! Hallelujah!
p.s., I would love to hear about your own Advent journey! How has it been for you? Please feel free to drop me a comment below or send me a note.