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Dear Friends,


Grace and Peace to you in the name of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It’s beginning to look a lot like…Advent.


The season where we are running to and fro, checking our lists, and stressing out all in
order to be ready for…the birth of the Messiah and His coming again in glory.


Surely you didn’t think I was talking about Christmas, did you?


Christmas is a ways off, on the church calendar at least. Right now, it’s time for Advent. I
think it’s time for us to reclaim Advent. Advent is always overshadowed by the holiday
season and the Christmas frenzy. We forget what it truly means to observe the season of
Advent.


Advent is a season of anticipation. A time where we reflect on what it must have been
like to be an Israelite waiting and praying for the Messiah to come. A time where we
reflect on how we feel as we wait with anticipation for the return of Christ and the
ultimate restoration of all things.


We’re not used to anticipation in our society today. Typically, materially, we can have
whatever we want whenever we want it. Want a new car? Don’t save up, take out a loan.
Want a new house? Sign on to a questionable mortgage and get what you want. Want that
new big screen? Put it on the credit card. We rarely have to wait for anything. We have
little to anticipate. And perhaps our lack of anticipation lends to our lack of appreciation
for things.


During this Advent season, I invite you to wait. I invite you to slow down. I invite you to
anticipate the coming of Christ, both as a child and as the returning Prince of Peace.
We don’t have to wait alone, we can wait together.


Waiting is best done with others, so that we don’t have to bear the anxieties of
anticipation on our own. I’m reminded of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane asking his
disciples to stay awake with him. As Christ anticipated his upcoming future, he wanted
company.


Let us keep awake with one another this Advent season.
Your Sibling in Christ,
Pastor Robert