Christmas and Advent season is my favorite time of year, but I think for all of us, the sweet nostalgia of Christmas and hope of advent look very different this particular year. During this Advent season, I’ve been reflecting on the significance of place and dwelling in feelings of being near and far. Geographically, I am far from most of my usual Christmas comforts and from my family. The love of hearth and home is oceans away, and while I wouldn’t trade being here for anything, I still keenly feel the absence.
Emotionally, mentally, and even relationally, “normal” life also feels far away for probably most of us, and the impending arrival of a socially distanced Christmas morning emphasizes that distance. We’ve spent most of this year waiting, without knowing exactly what we’re waiting for. Declining numbers, news from governing bodies on what is safe and not safe, maybe even a miracle vaccine, or just a end to the general madness of 2020. And now we are in the middle of a season marked by both the waiting of the savior who has already come and the king yet to come.
The reality is that hope, love, comfort, peace, home, all the things we long for, all the things that we talk about around Christmas, are not a far-off dream. They are here, because Jesus came. God is with us, he dwells with us. His presence is near, in time and space. So even though the darkness convinces us that the light is far, his promise is true, for those who first heard the good news proclaimed, and for us now.
Advent prayer
A world weary like it’s never been before
Weary and heavy-laden with disappointment, with fear
Longing for an end to division but no idea
How to be reconciled
Seasons greetings have never felt so far away
But maybe we’ve never been so close
To that silent night
You came for the lonely
For those who lost sight of the light
You came for the orphaned
You left your home to be our home
Your lungs expand with the shuddering breath
Of all of us who cry alone
When we lean down to rub our sore feet at the end of a long day
We find pierced hands holding them
You gave us the gift we needed above all else
Emmanuel
Desolate places now your dwelling
Hosanna, glory to God in the lowest
Philosophy’s consolation is Israel’s
She illuminates
And our gaze is drawn heavenward
Not to a far off star
but to veiled love, close to our hearts
Gloria, Gloria!
Divine reached out and called us near
Draw near to me said the voice crying out
For I have drawn near to you
Show us how
Comfort us, Waiting in darkness
We ask, with
Good news, great joy
Hopeful Wanderer 