Church family,
This year, God has given me a new gift: The experience of getting to share my love of reading with my daughter, Eliza. Back in January, Kristen and I introduced her to reading chapter books (“big books,” as she calls them) together. It’s been wonderful to share the worlds of Narnia, the Hundred Acre Wood, Laura’s Little House, and Wilbur’s barn with her, and to watch her imagination begin to blossom in new ways. It’s still new to her, and there are many nights when she gets too bored or distracted to finish. But, my favorite moments with her this year have been those nights when I mark the end of a long chapter only to hear, “Aww, that was too short, Daddy. Can we please read the next one?”
It’s hard to wait. Whether it’s for the next chapter, or the next episode of Survivor (I know I’m not alone out here!), or the next World Series Game, or the next 5:00, or the next weekend—as we wait, everything inside of us cries out for the resolution of something left unfinished.
That is Advent. In Advent, we wait. Specifically, we wait for Christmas—Christ’s coming. In Advent, we remember and rehearse the waiting of those, from Eve to Anna, who longed for the Messiah to come. And in Advent, we remember and rehearse our own waiting for Christ to come again.
In her song, “Fool’s Gold,” Sandra McCracken processes the experience of a devastating relational fracture with each verse, only to return to this refrain: “But if it's not okay, then it is not the end. And this is not okay, so I know this is not the end.”
For those of us in Christ, that is the truth. Our story ends with zero broken pieces. Is something in your life not okay? Not whole? Not resolved? Not healed? Not as it should be? Or are you burdened and grieved by some of the myriad of things in this world that are not okay? Advent is for you. It’s a season that grants each one of us the opportunity to remind ourselves what story we belong to and how that story ends. The opportunity to grieve what is broken and longingly hope for the day when everything will be made right.
When Advent begins this Sunday, let’s step into that waiting together. In our gatherings, in our homes, and in our hearts.
Grace and peace,
Stephen Clardy
