o come, o come... what's next?

Abbotsford, BC

The past week I've watched a transformation take place before my eyes. When we arrived at Camp Stillwood the surrounding mountains were varying shades of ever-green with a subtle trace of snow at their peaks. Everyday since the white snow line on the mountain has dipped lower and lower as the rain has been turning to snow. Finally this morning I woke up to a carpet of winter on the ground, which makes me excited because Christmas is only one month away, and today it began to feel like Christmas!

Last year I went to an evening called Christmas Presence, which was a rich collage of music and dramatic readings highlighting the Christmas experience. It was a night that was good for my soul. I can still remember clearly a piece read by the director and a thought that has impacted me and stuck with me all year. He said "this year I want to make sure I advented before I Christmased".

I often wonder what people are actually meaning when they ask "are you ready for Christmas?". It seems to me that that question has more to do with the number of check marks beside your shopping list than it does with the state of your heart.

Last week during the worship set at church, Margaret, the woman sitting behind me would ask "What's next?", before the end of each and every song. Her caregiver would try to quiet her down, and say "you'll have to wait and see". Her anticipation of what was to come was evidenced in her childlike impatience, as she was looking forward in excitement of what was to follow with such a sense of expectancy.

That picture of Margaret, a woman with disabilities, is a picture of how I want to live this advent. Excited to better understand what it means for Jesus to have come to live in the neighbourhood, to cross the street and come play with us for a while, to be looking ahead and waiting with such anticipation.

Around Christmas time I often hear the song O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and for the first time this week I stopped to think about what that means. That's a simple yet powerful prayer as we invite God to be with us in the midst of our lives and our communities, in the middle of all that is mundane and commonplace. In the middle of disruptive church services, and a week of rain that eventually turns to beautiful snow. In the midst to conversations with friends, and seeing people excited to learn, these are the kind of places that I want to invite God to be present in my life.

And so this year I too hope to advent well, because maybe it will help me to better understand or at least appreciate what’s next, which is this case is the heart of what Christmas means.