коледни пости

My Dearest Friends,

Merry Christmas!
I've been thinking a lot about Advent, and what it means. 
I recall many years of lighting the candles on the Advent wreath

and never understanding exactly what it meant.
What is Advent?

Well, when it comes down to it, 
Advent is not pink, white, and purple candles.
Advent is not reading certain scriptures on certain Sundays.
Advent is not ceremony and tradition.

I'm no theologian- let alone, a Nazarene one.
But I am a Christian. 
And this is what I have come to understand about Advent.

Advent is a sort of condition of the heart.
It is eager expectation.
It is a long awaiting.
It is a deep yearning- a desperation.
It is all your hopes, - even your last hope

all placed in a person.
A single person
A person without wealth
A person without political authority
A person essentially, without any power

And even more absurd than this..
not even a Man
but a delicate, vulnerable, baby boy.

Advent is a confidence
Confidence in the One
The One in whom you placed all your hope
It is a trust.
Trusting that you have not been forgotten
That you have not been abandoned
That God has heard your cries of desperation
That God has seen your tears
And has promised you ransom
And He has promised you redemption
and forgiveness of sins
and Hope
and Love

Advent is faith.

Faith that awaits the fulfillment of the promise
The promise of the God who saw
The God who heard
The God who did not sit idly by
and watch
and listen.
But rather,
suffered. 
He suffered with His beloved creation.
He longed to draw near to them.
But humanity had created a barrier
We sinned.
Our sin kept us from our Holy Father.

And so He did the unexpected.
He did what some would call foolish.
He did what no one else could do.

God became man
Or rather,
a baby. 
a delicate, vulnerable, baby boy.

He did this to fulfill His promise
He did this to show us the depth of His Love
He did this to truly Be with the creation He could not abandon.

God came.
Advent is His arrival.
Advent is the fulfillment of the promise, that the long-expected, long-awaited, eagerly anticipated Father God would come and restore, renew, and redeem His most beloved Creation... in the form of a baby boy. 
Our Messiah.
Our Emmanuel.
He came.

And so
we celebrate.
We rejoice!
We remember!
God came!
In all our suffering
In all our brokenness
In all our sin
God came!
and He stayed.
He refused to leave us

because He loves us.
And though we may never understand this Love
We may embrace it.
We may learn from it
And we may exemplify it in our own lives.
And it will change us
It will redeem us
It will make us new
And we will rejoice.
We rejoice 
because God came.

just like He said He would.