Advent...a three dimensional season, for a three dimensional faith...

One night last week, I crashed into the chair in our family room, and turned on the television to catch up on the news of the day before heading off to sleep. The first thing I saw was a commercial about a program that focuses on the abilities of those we categorize as “dis-abled”. It began with a man sitting at a canvas, painting a breathtaking seascape with his fingers using thick paints that left a raised texture giving the image a three dimensional depth. The interesting part of the scene…the man is blind. And as you see an image of his face, eyes closed, he says, “You call me blind, but I can see more with my fingers than most people can see with their eyes.”
His three dimensions of sight include a texture that you can feel. His ability to “see” is enhanced because has dimensions of sight that those of us with fully functioning eyes often lack.
Like our sight, we long for a three dimensional faith which helps us to see God in our midst, have faith that is alive and relevant for the way we lead our lives hear and now, and gives us hope that directs our decisions for the future. We want to be able to see much more than our eyes allow. We want that texture of faith whereby we can “see” God in three dimensions.
Well, the season of Advent is upon us. And honestly, most of us relate to Advent as the four weeks of December that give us time to prepare for Christmas. But the word “advent” means, among other things, “arrival”. It is a time when we anticipate the arrival of Christ. However, this anticipation is three dimensional. In our readings for Sunday, we will remember the past hope of the prophets that anticipated the coming of the Messiah. We’ll remember the story of the way in which God finally broke into our present world as a newborn baby of flesh and blood. We’ll also hear passages of the New Testament that guide our faith towards the fulfillment of the Kingdom that awaits us in our future. Emmanuel, God with us, in the past, present and future. Advent is a three dimensional season that helps us to “see” the ways in which our faith in Christ fits into the texture of God’s work in the world that began in the past, continues to this day, and leads us into our promised future.
Just as the innkeeper made room for the Holy Family in his stable, just as Mary made room in her very body for the Christ child to be born, Advent is a time when we make room in our lives to see the Christ Child coming to us in real, incarnate ways. But sometimes, we can feel “dis-abled” by the rush of schedules and events to prepare for this season, and we need other dimensions to help us “see” this incarnate reality. So, as we gather together this season for worship, fellowship and service, (three dimensions of our faith in action) let us feel the depth of those who anticipated this good news in the past, experience the faith of those who touched the hand of God in the manger, and help one another see the way that follows the Prince of Peace, leading us into our future.

And while we wait together, may you have a blessed Advent, and Glædelig Jul.