We are meant for life in all its fullness. Our getting together for the sheer pleasure of it anticipates the Kingdom and the heavenly banquet. Conviviality and celebration, especially in the face of difficult circumstances, bring light into the world.
– Brother Mark Brown
Thank You, Jesus
by Carol Bremer-Bennett
God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. —Colossians 1:19-20
There is a great peace that comes in family traditions. In the noise that kicks off the Christmas season in the United States, my Advent begins with quietly hanging the felt Advent calendar made by my mother. It portrays a Christmas tree with a small stable and a present nestled underneath. There are 24 pockets at the bottom, each holding an ornament to hang on the tree or a figure to be placed in the stable scene. The present has a small slit in it so that it can hold baby Jesus inside. The baby will be the last item to be placed on the calendar, as our gift from God. Even though no candy is involved in this tradition, there is sweet delight in choosing the ornamental piece to hang up each morning and in doing the countdown to Christmas Day, when baby Jesus will emerge and take his place as “the greatest gift of all.”
As a little girl, I had to take turns with my siblings so that each would have a chance to choose an ornament or figure to hang up. As the favorites were chosen, I would privately walk past the calendar to calculate and recalculate if we were on schedule and, more importantly, if I would be the one who would get to take baby Jesus out of the present and place him in the manger.
As a mother, I still pause as I walk past the calendar to make calculations. With four children out of the house and a teenager who is no longer interested, it has come down to the delight of our seven year-old to carry on the family tradition. Sometimes the mornings are so rushed that we forget and need to hang an item up at dinnertime, or do two the next day. So I count to see if we are on track.
I find myself reaching out to check if baby Jesus is inside the present. The little bump I feel reassures me that he is not lost, nor has anyone taken him away from his safe waiting place. I don’t know why I do this. I can’t remember a time that Jesus disappeared from the Advent calendar. I have searched my memories to think if my older brother may have played a joke on me one year. I have tried to remember if my younger sister ever took baby Jesus to play with, or lost him and caused my mother to have to sew a replacement. I don’t have any such memory. Yet I am compelled throughout Advent to check that baby Jesus is there.
Thank you, Jesus, for always being there. I realize how blessed it is to live on this side of Christmas, to be a post-Christmas believer. I am not referring to a “getting through the holidays” and making it to January perspective but, rather, to being a New Testament Christian rather than an Old Testament believer. I pause and wonder how Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Ruth, Naomi, and countless others followed so faithfully without the benefit of the knowledge of an incarnate Messiah.
Thank you, Jesus, for already being here. Let us rejoice and live a life full of the faith that can come as a post-Christmas Christian. God’s gift to us is real. He is here, and he is the greatest gift to share with everyone. May they know we are Christians by this love.
Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. This year I will continue to check that Jesus is still there. More than ever, I need Jesus to be coming—to be here. I am praying with fervor for his presence to be as real and as earth awakening as it was at the first Christmas. May there be peace on earth!
Prayer
Jesus, thank you for always being there. We are thankful that we can live joyfully in the knowledge of an incarnate Messiah. May that joy spread to those around us this season. Come quickly, Lord. We wait eagerly for your return.
(today’s reflection also published in the Office of Social Justice & World Renew Advent Devotional)
