Step One

We are beginning our second week of Advent, which is a time of preparation in anticipation of Christ’s birth at Christmas (no, Jesus was probably not born literally on December 25th, but this is when the church celebrates the important event, and precision need not impede our commemoration). We know ‘advent’ to mean ‘coming’ (as in 'the advent of electricity'). For Christians, Advent is the time when we wait for the coming of the One who has come already – and the one we believe will come again.

If we’re willing, we can spend the season learning about who Christ was, and who we ourselves are called to be. If taken seriously, it is a period of reflection, repentance, and renewal. Each of those words can sound scary on its own; in combination, they can read like a real brick wall of church-talk. I hope we can accept them as an invitation. As we learn about Jesus’ life and work we learn about our potential. The challenge as we reflect on Jesus as a man is to move past the stereotypes we have in our heads about who Jesus was (we tend to see more lamb than rebel. Trust me, the boy was a whole lot of rebel!).

Honest reflection on who Christ was and who this tells us we can be often leads us to repentance – not the stale, self-defeating repentance that unceasingly beats up on ourselves for our incapacity to do right, but the living repentance that recognizes that we have choices in how we live, and that we could choose to live differently if we really thought it would be better. To repent is to change direction, and we can change how we act if we want to. When we ask God to help us, we can even change our hearts too.

This change in direction can only renew us. It’s hard to live the half-hearted, deadened, compromised lives so many of us have convinced ourselves is the best we can do. Right? It's tough to live lives with such lukewarm expectations of ourselves and others! So let’s not do it anymore. Let’s live differently. I know it’s scary to risk believing that we can do more, but that risk gives us life. That risk of living as Christ lived connects us to others in a truly elemental way; it breathes God into our actions, and in doing that, it breathes God into us.

So let’s look at that this week. Take some time and read Isaiah 61. I know you might not think that reading an Old Testament prophet will help you understand Christ, but in Luke’s account of Christ’s first public teaching, Jesus claims the mission outlined in Isaiah 61 as his own. So read it, and ask God what good news you can bring to oppressed, how you might heal the brokenhearted, how you may proclaim liberty to those held captive or imprisoned. How might God use you to build up those around you? Just take 5 minutes right now and let God breathe into you a little. And tell me if it doesn't scare the snot out of you at the same time it makes you feel just a little excited.

Love,

Becky