Dear Ones,
I find it fascinating that the season of Advent seems to grow in popularity with each passing year. I’m not complaining about this, really. With the increase in calendars to mark the days leading up to Christmas Day; proposals to change the starting date of Advent; and the nervous expectation within the church that arises in the years when the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve occur on the same day, we’ve been anticipating this season of anticipation for months now.
What I appreciate the most about the season of Advent is the invitation to enter a different rhythm grounded in God’s great love for us given in the promise of Jesus Christ. This is the season to prepare our hearts to receive the newborn Christ as if for the first time while we live our lives in anticipation of his return. Because this year seems to be especially full of war, strife, hardship, and pain for the vulnerable and strong alike, I’m taking this season of Advent to pray for patience, courage, and trust.
I’m praying for patience while we wait for God to renew our hearts, our church, and our world. God is always making things new including each one of us. I pray that God will be patient with us as we stumble our way through life trying to be part of God’s renewal instead of degrading all that God holds dear.
I’m praying for courage to live in this mean time between Christ’s arrival as a newborn and his return. It takes courage to rise each day seeking to love what God loves as God loves. Sometimes we need courage to fully live as God’s beloved. I pray that Advent’s urgent reminder that the time is now, would take hold of us in regard to giving and receiving God’s unconditional and unqualified love.
I’m praying for deepening trust in God whose love “faileth never” as the old hymn goes. God who took on human flesh in Jesus promises to love us when we are rising and when we are falling and every moment in between. This is the life-saving good news of Christ and the message of Advent that is good all year ‘round.
Happy new year and blessed Advent to you.
Faithfully,
Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows
