We’ve stuffed ourselves.
We’ve given thanks.
Even Black Friday has come and gone (thank goodness!).
All signs point to the fact that the Christmas season is upon us.
For centuries the Christian Church has used the four weeks prior to Christmas to learn how to wait well. Sure we know the end of the story: Christmas morning finally comes. Jesus, the Christ, is born. But before that, we learn how we can “make room” in our lives and hearts for a God that breaks into our world in the most unlikely ways. We ask for eyes to see and ears to hear so that we can make sense of these moments when they happen. It is through this process that we may slowly start to wait for the right things, in the right ways.
Tomorrow we celebrate the Church’s answer to a season of frenzy, consumption, and for many, isolation and loneliness. Instead of our season being marked off by when the shopping starts and stops, we mark it by doing something as small as lighting candles and focusing on things as small and quiet (but world- and person-changing!) as Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.