Advent is coming. Advent means coming. Advent is when we actively await the arrival.
But what are we waiting for?
We are not silly enough to confuse Claus for Christ. Saint Nick has come and gone and while his spirit still lives on we know this is not what we are waiting for. Our days might be filled with wrapping up presents. Our nights might be filled with elves on the shelves. Our ovens might be filled with crunchy cookie cutouts. Our radios might be filled with Santa psalter songs, but we know it is all really about Jesus.
Our confusion does not come from the secularization of season.
Our confusion comes from the particularization of the incarnation.
We confuse the details of that holy day – when we first experienced the enfleshment of the divine, when we first met the meat of God. We unwrap our nativity sets and place them with great care in hopes that one might stop by and see the cooing Christ child lying in there. We picture a glowing mother leaning on a beaming father holding a sleeping baby. The evening is calm. The stable is clean. The world is good.
But the truth is, God did not come as a part of a pristine porcelain set. God came into this world through a human birth. Mary screaming. Joseph stammering. The ground covered in bodily fluids. Smack the baby to get him breathing. Cut and tie the cord to stop the bleeding. Think of the first time you experienced the miracle of childbirth… do you have a set of figurines on display every year to act this out for children?
Advent is coming. Advent means coming. Advent is when we actively await the arrival.
But what are we waiting for?
We are not waiting for a polished, shiny Jesus. We are not waiting for a silent serene scene. We are awaiting the advent of Christ. And this story is actually a more appealing story.
God did not come in a picture-perfect panorama. God enters the muck of it all. God enters the yuck of it all. God enters into the messiness of the real world in a real way. And this is earthy news with a heavenly message. Because if God was willing to come into this world in this way, that means God is willing to enter our lives in this way too.
We do not have to be prim and polished for God to enter our lives. We do not have to pretend that we have it all organized and together. We do not have to act as though everything is good; God comes because God knows that it is not. God is coming to be with us – not the idealized version of us – God is coming to be with us. The broken, embarrassed, hurting us. The joyful, hope-filled, celebrating us. The all of us. The real of us. The whole of us.
So this Advent, when you encounter one of those real, raw moments of life… one of those cutting, stinging events of your day… one of those painful, tearful stages of the journey – let us remember what we are waiting for and let us pray together: “Come, Lord Jesus!”
BRIAN CHRISTOPHER COULTER is a husband, father, pastor, author, blogger and Ping-Pong champion who is pretty good at sidewalk chalk and currently resides in Aiken, South Carolina.
