The Advent of a New Tradition

It’s that time again. All of us who love the Lord will wrestle with the coming season. How best to honor this time we’ve chosen to celebrate the human birth of the Son of God?

Some of us will bemoan the commercialism that has overtaken the holy day and scale back. Others will pull out all the stops to remind others that Jesus is the reason for the season – we’ll bake, decorate, carol and quote Linus all in the spirit of celebrating the coming of the One we love. Others will use the season to write letters to the editor protesting the banishment of nativity scenes at town halls or lecture cashiers on politically correct greetings. All of us will wonder if we’re getting it right. Is Jesus pleased with what we are doing? Is our focus correct? Are we reflecting Him well for those who only see the holiday as a reason to buy expensive gifts, drink too much and take time out of work?

I’m just like everyone else, wondering how best now (as every day throughout the year) to live my faith in private and how to express it in the marketplace.

Something I’m going to try this year comes from reflecting on the name “Emmanuel”. God with us. Other religions have elusive gods, distant gods, punishing or fickle gods, impersonal gods, gods who must be placated, cajoled or assuaged. Not us.

We serve a living God who crossed unimaginable barriers to be WITH us. He sought US out. He made the first move toward relationship. He knows us because He hard-wired us to want to be WITH – created us with a need to relate to Him and a desire to relate to others. This flipped focus faith is because we follow the only God who was not created by human imagination but who revealed Himself to humans.

So, during this season of advent, I’m going to celebrate and express my faith by creating daily opportunities to be WITH – God and others – intentionally.

I want to be sure that I am celebrating the season by spending daily time with the One who sacrificed everything to make it possible for me to be WITH Him. God with us. That’s big. So daily, I want to be with Him.

During my time with Him, part of what I’ll do is ask Him to show me who needs someone to be WITH that day. I’m going to look for a way every day to be WITH someone in a way that is meaningful for them. It may be a phone call. A cup of coffee. A movie shared. A back rub. A note expressing what I appreciate about him or her. A visit. A shared workout. A walk. A meal provided. An unhurried conversation where I listen more than I talk.

And, I’m going to begin with those closest to home, then move on to the family of God and THEN reach out to others. I think sometimes we Christians are so busy trying to show Jesus to others that we neglect to represent Him to those closest to us – those in the same house, same family, the next pew. Peter exhorts us to “love one another deeply.” Let’s be about it this season.

To keep myself on track, I’ll post a daily update on my new advent tradition in between my regular blog posts. If you want to give this a try (or do it already), feel free to share your adventures in the comments section. I’d love to hear from you! Advent begins November 29th – feel free to start ahead of time.

Emmanuel – God with us! Good news indeed. Too good to neglect or to keep to ourselves. God wants to be with us! Let’s do it. Let’s be with Him.

And no one I know needs another card or another cookie but I know plenty of people who need to know someone is with them in whatever is happening in their life right now. Those of us who walk around with Jesus inside us shouldn’t keep Him locked up, especially since He loved us so much He made a divine effort to become one of us – to be WITH us.

Where two or three are gathered together, He is there WITH them. How cool is that? How perfect is that for Christmas?

So, who’s up for it? Are you ready to be WITH?