In this season of Advent in the church calendar, we long for, anticipate, and hope in the arrival of God through the person Jesus of Nazareth, the long-promised and expected Messiah of Israel, the Christ. Each year, Christians enter into the story all over again of how the God of Israel came to earth to live among us, becoming fully human amidst a particular people (the Hebrews) at a particular time (the first-century CE) in a particular place (Palestine). While we celebrate that God is with us, we are also aware that we still anticipate the coming of Jesus again to set the world right, to fully establish the will of God on earth as it is in heaven.
As a follower of Jesus, longing for both the Advent of Jesus of long ago and the coming of Jesus ahead, I am deeply aware of the pervasive brokenness of our world. We hear of suffering and harm, abuse and neglect, hopelessness and despair, both inside and outside of America, and we wonder if anything has changed over the last two thousand years of history since Jesus first came. We not only hear about how messed up our world is, we also experience it too, especially during the holiday season. We are tempted each year to put our hope in what we buy or give. We are tempted to think that once we have accomplished all of the things that we need to this Christmas, we will feel better and more at peace, but we often feel exhausted and overloaded. We become more and more aware of how even what is being given to us as the important parts of the holiday season are really hallow and unfulfilling. Even in our own experience, we sense the longing and yearning for something more. This holiday season, I dare you to imagine what that something more could look like in your life. When your tempted to buy more presents, to go to more parties, to plan more meals and gatherings, or to just do more, I challenge you to imagine a way that will not leave you exhausted and spent when Christmas day is over.
In the Mennonite tradition, we believe that something more looks like and centers in Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah, a baby born in a feeding trough to parents far from their home in a world that was hostile to anyone else claiming to be king or ruler. We dare to imagine that the way that Jesus showed us long ago is the way that will not only alleviate suffering and brokenness in our world today but will also bring hope, healing, and fulfillment to the longings of our hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. Will you dare to imagine a different way with us this holiday season?
The above article was published in The Courier, our local Freeman newspaper, on December 2, 2021 here: here:https://newzgroup.com/SDArchive/455053/2021-12-01/455053_12.02_.21FC_.Page11A_.pdf
You can check out the Courier website here: https://www.freemansd.com/
Leave a Reply