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Our Hope of Advent

Today is the first day of Advent but it has felt far from it. The first Sunday in advent usually holds a bit of excitement for me as I get to see the sanctuary dressed in evergreens, stress about making sure the wreath liturgy is in place, and making communion meaningful as we prepare for Christmas. However, today was different.

Being a shepherd without a flock is interesting. One might think it would be a holiday or vacation. Instead, it feels as if something is missing. There is a hole in my heart where where a congregation once held space. Loneliness, insecurities, and doubt all have taken up residence where a community of believers once lived. 

Today, I woke up with no church to attend. No liturgy to plan or sermon to deliver. I longed more than anything to simply attend a church service and worship in community. Yet, there’s no place nearby to belong. I searched and thought and tried to come up with a plan but ultimately, there was no place for me to feel safe and secure as the birth of the new Christian year began.  

I wonder if that is how Mary and Joseph felt upon their arrival into Bethlehem. The place where Jospeh had been born. The place that held deep connections to who Joseph was, yet, there was no safe or secure place for him to belong in one of the most vulnerable times of his life. My immediate family lives hours from anyone we know or love. We are stranded here in a place that seems familiar and so foreign at the same time. 

Mary and Joseph found themselves forced into this time of transition with no sense of safety and security. When it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse, when the way forward was impossible, Emmanuel was born. Surrounded by donkey shit and bleating goats, right there in the middle of Mary and Joseph's impossible, God became flesh and dwelt among them. 
Not going to lie, life is hard right now. We have no clue what life is going to look like tomorrow much less a month from now. Things are up in the air and people keep asking us questions we are asking ourselves. We do not know, but as we sit in our impossible, surrounded by donkey shit and goats, we trust that Emmanuel will come. 
That is our hope of advent. 

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