Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Our community loosely follows the liturgical calendar in which the first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a new year. We don’t associate the lead up to Christmas as a time to reflect on new beginnings as we would for the New Year. It’s the opposite in fact, Christmas is a roller coaster of nonstop motion and emotion.
But there IS something different about Christmas. There’s a kind of spirit in the air–a magic of the season–that changes people (usually for the good). We gear up to bring out some of the highlights of our humanity in the form of giving, thinking of the less fortunate, and reconnecting and relationships, all to bring joy to our surroundings.
Christmas (Advent) in many ways is the preparation to re-live the story of welcoming The Great Restorer by being restores ourselves. It’s also a time to reflect on ‘new’. A new star was born, new visitors in the magi, and the new babe who was and is the Saviour. The Christmas story culminates as the climax of the Bible narrative itself, recognizing the inaugurating moment when God’s hope and Kingdom on earth would be fulfilled. It’s anticipation of ‘newness’ that has cosmic implications.
How will you reflect on ‘new’ this Christmas season?
This Advent season reflect on how your activities are acts of beauty and restoration, glimpses and celebrations of the New King who enters the world as the wee babe in a manger to usher in a new age of hope.