Happy New Year! Well, Happy New Church Year! Today is Advent One, and also the start of the new church year. Today we begin preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ at Christmas. Advent is a time of reflection, quiet, and gentle solemnity as we ponder the coming of the Christ child.
Which of course sounds ridiculously hard in a season of busyness and crazy and shopping and parties and decorating. It seems the world is in constant push back to the Christian idea of a reflective Advent, and it is therefore a bit of a challenge for us to approach it that way.
The last year hasn't been the easiest. It's easy for me to be in a hurry to turn the page on the year, anxious for better times. Throughout the last year, I have tried to find the good in challenging times - to see how God provides, how God answers prayers, and how God always has our good in mind. As we begin Advent and the new year, I am praying that I am able to truly focus on God's gift to us in His son Jesus.
Today in Bible class, we talked about what John the Baptist said in the gospel of John: He must increase and I must decrease. This has long been a favorite passage of mine. As this Advent season begins, this is my prayer. That all my worldly problems, even though they will remain present, fall away as I put Christ first. Less me, more Christ. Less worry, more worship and witness. Less inward gazing and more pointing to the newborn King.
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