This summer when Pastor Paul Hahm and I were planning the sermon themes for the year, we talked about how our lives would be different if God was literally “with us” at Advent. If Jesus tagged along on our shopping trips or stood at our elbow at Christmas parties, would anything change? What if Jesus was at the table during our family dinners or helping us to hang the lights on the house?
While those are playful questions, they are a good launching point for discussion of the meaning of Christmas. We celebrate the coming of Jesus, God made flesh. In Luke 1, Zechariah sings of this divine event saying, “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
God’s Light has come. Darkness and death are banished and we have a guide who will lead us in the way of peace. In Advent, we both anticipate Christ’s coming and celebrate Christ’s living presence. This Good News can influence our preparation.
If Christ walks with us when we shop, it affects how we respond to the people around us and the way we spend our money. If Christ is with us at the family table and at every party that we attend, our conversation will reflect his light and peace. If Christ helps us decorate, we are preparing our homes for a holy celebration.
I invite you to join Pastor Paul and me this Advent in consciously inviting Jesus to all the preparation and celebrations. I know that, for me, it means that I will be offering blessings over decorations, praying for graciousness in my shopping excursions and asking God to guide me in the way of peace at all holiday gatherings.
What might each of us do to invite Jesus along for the celebration? I invite you to worship with us on the Sundays in Advent, where Paul and I will offer the challenge to accompany Emmanuel, the Light of World, in this holy season.
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