Advent is a season of expectation. It is a season of longing for what is to come. It is the season to recognize our longing to see God in the world and our hope that someday God’s presence around us will be made clear. Part of doing this is remembering the longing of people of ages past for the coming of the Messiah which culminated in Jesus. In Jesus we find God fully with us, and we trust in the promise he brings that God has indeed entered this world and brought hope into it. Yet even though Jesus has come, we still don’t see God clearly. We struggle with the uncertainties that this world brings. We still wonder where God could be. Advent, then, is above all about looking to the future. It is about our continued hope that we will see God fully and come to understand how God is with us even in difficult times.
Advent and Christmas are going to be different this year. Our usual expectations of the anticipation of Advent and the grand celebration of Christmas will not be met. We have to scale back, both in our personal celebrations and in our church celebrations. We will not have everyone gathered together in a beautifully decorated church singing “Silent Night” by candlelight this Christmas Eve. The reality of the pandemic will be with us as we celebrate our family gatherings through internet connections instead of in person. We will be aware of the suffering of so many around us in ways that we normally are not.
Our normal expectations this December will not be met. Yet central to the Advent message is that God shows up unexpectedly. God has a way of appearing and acting in ways that we would never have thought up ourselves. God showed us the depth of divine presence with us by being born as a baby in a manger. God comes unexpectedly. The Advent, then, is a time of expecting the unexpected. It is a time of longing to see God and realizing that God really is there with us, even when all of our normal traditions and expectations have to be put to the side. This year will not be Christmas as usual, but God is never usual. God is always in the unexpected. Let us hope together this year in the unexpected ways that God comes to us.
—Pastor Eric