Advent

Advent is about having your breath taken away. It is about being awed by wonderful news. It is about having a God-message rush into the world, taking command of your senses, filling your lungs and your soul, – just like the first Advent when people learned God was coming to them.

In the first Advent people found themselves taking deep breaths of startled joy – confounded by the most bizarre and yet amazing promises, stopped in their tracks by God-news, still and silent beneath the glow of glory.

There was Zechariah and Elizabeth: shocked to discover they would be parents when they had turned their thoughts to retirement. There was Joseph: unsure yet faithful, listening to the voice in his dreams rather than the gossip of the crowd. There was Mary: overwhelmed with a gift too impossible to speak, too beautiful to keep to herself.

And there were angels, lots of angels – visiting and overwhelming and speaking and shining and bringing the glad news that takes all our collective breath away: God is going to be with us – Emmanuel. God is going to dwell in the homes of men and women, eat the fruit of this land, drink the water of this earth. Emmanuel.

So, the first Advent was a season of preparing for God to be with us, but how do you prepare for that? Do you start cleaning every square inch of your modest home? Do you begin preparations for an elaborate meal? Do you invite friends and family? How do you welcome the Ruler of the Universe into your kitchen?

Well, thankfully, for Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph this “God with us”-news was so awesome, so astounding that preparing for God was not front and center. They were too wrapped up in receiving, too concerned with having their hopes fulfilled, their fears eased. The good news of God coming to them kept them in a state of constant wonder, transfixed by miracle.

But are we still awe-struck by Advent? Do we still find ourselves overwhelmed by the good news that awaits us? Or has our attention been sabotaged by all the lists that dominate these days: grocery lists and shopping lists, to-do lists and Christmas card lists? Are we drowning beneath all the voices that fill our Advent season: the voices of holiday jingles and weekend sales, the voices of economic theorists and weather forecasters? Well, all that is enough to give you a big, throbbing headache, but Advent is about soul-stuffing, not head-cramming. What we really need is silence; we need our collective breath taken away.

So maybe it is best just to ask: has Advent taken your breath away yet? Have you been struck dumb by the wonder and glory that God is going to be with us? Have you paused to see the angels dancing in our midst, happy with God-news, announcing God’s daring plan?

You cannot prepare, cannot do enough to make sense of the wonder before us. God with us. Emmanuel. Let silence and song carry us into this miracle for God is coming, and the world will shortly be startled by joy and lost in love.