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Advent, the Season of Solace

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May I say thank you to Advent, the season of solace, on this cusp of Christmas? There is a gentle largesse to Advent that invites everyone in without the need to do, but only to be. It is a time of reflection, of waiting, of wondering. It is, even, a time when the worries that accompany us may also be acknowledged without guilt or the need to solve. They, too, can just be. All our problems are, after all, simply unanswered questions which will one day be answered, to be replaced, of course, by other questions. These, too, are welcomed from the shadows into the circle of the candles' glow.

At the start of the season, I led a retreat inspired by WHY THESE WOMEN. We gathered via Zoom across miles, from various life stories, in hope of finding our place within the larger story of Christ's coming.

"In those days a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be counted". Yes, we could Imagine a time when the whole world could be upended by an imperative beyond our doing or control, not by imperial pronouncement but by the imperative of a worldwide pandemic. Despite the twenty centuries of sophistication between then and now, we were not dissimilar after all. So might our own time and lives also be ones where Christ might choose to dwell?

We found ourselves compelled to take a fresh look at the nativity story as told by Matthew. As I wrote in WHY THESE WOMEN: If we focus only on the familiar beloved Lukan version, we can limit the manger to a gathering place for the wide-eyed child, for those singing "Joy to the World," and for families reunited for the holidays. But Christmas is also for the ones who just buried a loved one, for the parent who cannot afford food for their child--let alone a gift--for the sick, the confused, the addicted, and for those with nowhere to sleep for the night.

There are also times in our lives and in our world when Matthew's telling is a more accurate rendering, when the circumstances Matthew describes resonate with our own experience. Matthew speaks of troubling dreams, Herod killing the children of Bethlehem, and a family fleeing under the cover of darkness to seek refuge in a foreign land. This, too, is Christmas.

What if the story were told instead of a father awakened by a nightmare to sit bolt upright in bed, cold with fear. Only it wasn’t a nightmare; it was warning, and it was real. He knew because the angel had warned him before and could be trusted. Evil, dangerous men were coming in search of his wife and his child, intent on murdering them in their beds. He only had time to awaken them, gather a few things, and flee into the night. Guided by stars and perhaps more dreams, he leaned into the desert winds, looking over his shoulder, and shielding his family. They left all that they knew, uncertain of when or if they would return, and they descended into the foreign land of an ancient enemy, there to seek refuge and hide among those they did not know. And amid all that chaos, the story reaches its climax…that in the middle of all that chaos, God was with them.

Maybe if you have had cold sweats, have feared for your life or your child’s, have owned nothing more than what you could pack on your back, maybe if you have heard your neighbors’ screams in the night, have left behind family and friends, are alone, hungry and tired and aching, maybe you would hear this story and think, “Yes that man is me. That story is like mine.” And when you heard the punch line, “God was with them,” you would be startled and look around to see if God could also be with you.

That might become your Christmas story, at least for this year. Once upon a time, you would say, when my life was in peril and at its worse, God was with me. That is what Emmanuel means, God-with-us. And that Christmas story would become your own.

The Flight into Egypt, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1923

Massacre of the Innocents, Fra Angelico, 1451-1452

All italicized sections above are excerpts from WHY THESE WOMEN: Four Stories You Need to Read Before You Read the Story of Jesus.

To order a copy for yourself, you may click here:WHY THESE WOMEN

I hold all my readers dear and pray that you experience the presence and peace of Emmanuel, God-with-us, this Christmas, whatever kind of Christmas is yours. May you be uplifted, filled, encouraged, and recognize within your own story, the narrative of His birth.

LOOKING AHEAD to 2023 - Come January, we will take a look at offerings for the new year but I encourage you to plan ahead if you are part of a faith community in need of an offering for Lent or Easter. One Lent retreat is already booked and they tend to fill early. Here are some of those dates for you to plan around:

  • Ash Wednesday - February 22nd
  • Lent - February 22nd through April 12th
  • Holy Thursday - April 13th
  • Good Friday - April 14th
  • Holy Saturday - April 15th
  • EASTER - April 16th
  • Easter Season - April 16th through May 28th

If you have questions or ideas for the new year, you can reach me at my email--or use it to just check in or say Merry Christmas!

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