Prepare the Way

Christmas Eve

So it’s Christmas Eve. The wait is almost over. Either we are now prepared, or we have tossed the idea of preparation. Either way, it is time to settle into mystery. It is time to follow a star, head over to Bethlehem and join a bunch of other stragglers around a manger. 

What will greet us there?

Hope.

In C.S. Lewis’ the Chronicles of Narnia, four children who find their way into a wondrous land through the back of a magical wardrobe in their uncle’s house. It is called Narnia and it is a kingdom where animals talk and where Kings and Queens govern from tower-filled castles. When the children first enter this land they discover that it is under the control of the wicked White Witch who rules with an iron fist and a cold heart. As the story unfolds, one of the children, Lucy, meets a faun named Mr. Tumnus. He describes the White Witch to Lucy by saying, “Why it is she that has got all of Narnia under her thumb. It’s she that makes it always winter. Always winter and...NEVER CHRISTMAS; think of that!” ...always winter....and never Christmas...” 

Sound dismal? These past few days of only 3 hours of light and -41 temperatures make ‘always winter’ a scary thought for me to imagine! Life like one long winter of cold, snow-covered ground, trees with leaf-less branches, constantly clouded skies.... with no Christmas.... nothing to look forward to....

But at the manger tonight we are reminded that Life is NOT always “winter.”  In The Chronicles of Narnia Jesus is represented by a huge lion named ASLAN. And at the beginning of the chronicles it is always winter in Narnia because ASLAN has not been seen in the land for generations. But when ASLAN comes (and He does....about a third of the way through the first book) Christmas comes and spring begins again.  In this story C. S. Lewis reminds us why Christmas is so special. At this time of year we celebrate the truth that there is hope!  As the lyrics to the old Christmas Carol say, “The HOPES and FEARS of all the years are met in THEE tonight!” We receive the gift of hope as we realize if this God-baby is here - anything is possible.

Wonder.

We marvel at the ordinary becoming holy and the holy becoming ordinary. We stand in awe before the mystery of a God that places glory in every existing thing! Shepherds, straw, myrrh, dung, dogs, donkeys all testifying to a God who is does not stay in the heavens but comes to the glorious muck.  The signature of our Savior is that He comes into the mess. You can recognize Him because He will show up in the messiest place you can imagine.  He chooses not to answer our prayers by lifting us out of the doubt and pain of our lives, but by coming right down into the middle of them.

Love.

We ponder the depths of God’s love affair with our world that produced this baby. A love affair that began at the beginning of human time, that is fully present today and that will reach through all our tomorrows. It’s made up mostly of our mistakes and His forgiveness. Our wanderings and His faithfulness. We think about this love-child and just how far God would go to be held in our arms. It is a love beyond reason.  As it turns out, all the preparing and longing we have done during this Advent season was really just a taste. A taste of the longing and waiting that resides in the heart in the God Himself. A longing and waiting for us to follow His directions, bow before in worship, and pick Him up and hold Him in our arms even as He holds us in His.

So please linger at the manger tonight.  Stand in wonder and gratitude and then let out a yell and do a dance (or at least let out a big smile!)  as you realize that God has come near.  For you.  To you.

[And so we conclude this Advent blog - thanks to all you readers and contributers for joining me on this journey.  I've prayed today that Jesus will come fully into your life and that your life will come fully to Him - Merry Christmas! - Steve]

Standing in Awe

The word 'wonder' has a duel meaning.  On the one hand it means to question, “What Child Is This?" On the other hand it means to marvel, to stand in awe,  "What a Child this is!" We speak about the seven wonders of the world.  In the far North we stand at night and stare up at the stars and the Northern Lights and we wonder at the universe. The Bible speaks of the wonder of God’s great love. It speaks of Jesus performing signs and wonders. The people being filled with wonder when they saw Christ.

There was a lot of wonder associated with the birth of Jesus. Mary pondered these things in her heart. Those who heard the shepherds were amazed at what they were told. The wise men were over-joyed when they saw the star – they were all filled with wonder. I need a sense of wonder at Christmas time too.

Someone once called us to wonder by saying that “Life is measured not by how many breaths you take but by how many times your breath is taken away.” 

In my life there are several things that steal my wonder.

The first is familiarity. Somebody can live under the splendor of these Northern Lights and eventually get so familiar with them that they don’t ever stop to notice, much less wonder at, them.  Some people lived in Nazareth and so close to Jesus that when it was announced that he was the Messiah – they couldn’t see it. “O, that’s just Mary’s son we’ve seen him as a carpenter.” And they dismissed him, and they missed him.

Many of us have been through a lot of Christmas’ and we are so familiar with it, sometimes it can lose it’s wonder.  The Bible speaks of people who have ears but don’t hear, who have eyes that don’t see, who have minds, but they don’t understand.

Another enemy of wonder is immaturity.  As a teenager I went to see Niagara Falls. After a long trip across the country, we eventually arrived, got out of the car and looked at that spectacular scenery. I was filled with awe, for about a minute!  Then I was ready to leave - I couldn’t understand why the adults wanted to spend so much time to absorb the scenery.

Immaturity misses the wonder because it is always drawn to that which appears to be more spectacular. Who wants to gaze at water tumbling over rocks when you can watch the latest DVD or play the latest Xbox game? Who wants to think about God at a Christmas time when there are presents to buy and parties to attend and World Junior Hockey to watch ? Immaturity can seen at any age.

Perhaps the most deadly thief of wonder is cynicism. The skeptic by nature doubts, challenges, and questions all the time. The cynic loves to sit on the sidelines and make fun of others who have sense of wonder and try to throw cold water on their enthusiasm. He imagines that his doubt is sign of his intellectual superiority – but in reality it is often a sign of ignorance.

There is an old story about a man who made a visit to the Louvre. He found it hilarious that visitors were “Ah! Ah! – ing” about all the paintings that were there. He glanced and them and said, “I don’t see anything to get excited about.” A man standing near him, who had come to love each painting said, “Yeah, don’t you wish that you could?”

Christmas season with 2 and 4 year old children includes one wonder-filled moment after another! “Look! Look Daddy! Look!” My kids have got me seeing things this Christmas that I haven’t seen for a long time!

What would take for us to recapture the wonder this year? Maybe we need to dive into the story as if for the first time?

Approach that stable again. It’s just a small shed really. Smaller than you thought, simpler and older.

Walk right up to it.  Get close enough that you can smell with your own nostrils that distinct odor of the barn.

Hear the creak of the door as you open it up and let your breath be taken away as you peer in at that scene on the inside.

Notice the animals, the straw, the dim light and warmth.

There’s Joseph. He’s kind of blocking your view. He’s a larger man that you had imagined – then you remember – the carpenters in that day had to cut down their own tree – they were kind of lumberjacks. As you stare at his face you can tell by the expression that he is a new father – he’s relieved and exhausted.

There’s Mary. Not sitting up like she in the traditional picture – but as most mother’s would be, she is lying down on the straw. Her face is kind of pale. Her hair is matted from the perspiration of the trauma of giving birth. Her face too is amazing to see. She has distinct look of satisfaction and accomplishment. She did it!

Stand on your tiptoes now and look at that bundle she has in her arms. It is a little baby. If you look carefully you can see that little face. Those tiny features. That soft hair. Those little tiny fingers with pink fingernails.

Anytime you see a baby you are filled with wonder but when you understand this child is the Son of God - it takes you breathe away.

If I had been there, I would have been nervous to ask but I would have had to, “Mary? Can I hold the baby?” 

What would it be like to hold the baby Jesus?

Anytime you hold a new baby you wonder- you look at it and wonder what will happen to this little child when he or she grows up? But when you hold Jesus and you know what is going to happen it will take your breath away.

Wouldn’t you be tempted to just rub that tiny brow?  Knowing that 33 years later that brow was going to be pierced with thorns.

Wouldn’t you be tempted just to pat the cheek where Judas was going to kiss a kiss of betrayal? And rub the other side where the spit would land?

Wouldn’t you want to rub those tiny shoulders?  “O Baby, you don’t’ understand, but one day there is going to be a cross on these shoulders.”

Then to hold those tiny hands and know the wonderful things that those hands would do! Touch blind men and make them able to see! Touch lame men and make them walk!  Caress lepers and they would be cleansed! Take loaves and fishes and they would multiply in these hands! And with these hands little children would be held, and blessed.

As you rub those tiny hands you would know that one day they would bear nails and be suspended on a cross.

The wonder of all to think that Jesus carry in himself the payment for my sin!

You then hand the baby back to the mother. But don’t leave yet. Let the wonder of it all captivate you for a moment.

Christmas is the one time of year that we seem to give ourselves permission to ponder the spiritual. In the wonder of the moment take this chance to invite him in.

Invite him to come into your celebrations and meals and up and downs and busy-ness of this season

Ask Him to give you the courage you need to keep Him in your life every day this upcoming year.

Seek His comfort for your loneliness – search for Wisdom for your decisions.

Tell Him you want Him directly involved in your life, and thank Him for all that He’s done and will do for you.  And thank Him for the wonder of Christmas.

That 2000 years ago, the all powerful God, the one who specialized in taking that which is common and making it spectacular, the all powerful God who took a rod and parted the sea, the all powerful God who took a pebble and killed a giant, the all powerful God who spoke the universe into existence, said to his angels, "It is time for me to show them my love, and in order to show my love, I am going to have to set aside my power."

That is worthy of our wonder. All year long!

The Gift Wrapped in His Son

Early last Christmas season I sent Dad a new computer program. I wanted to give a gift that would make life easier for him. The program would allow him to send a fax straight from his computer. I sent it proudly, confident that I was helping him ease into the world of modems, baud rates and the wonder of computers. After a couple weeks I still hadn’t received a fax of thanks so I called him.

“So Dad have you sent any faxes lately?”

“No, actually son I can’t seem to get the thing to work.”

“What? (incredulously) Aren’t there instructions?” (of course there were)

“Yes, they are right here” (patiently)

“Aren’t there help files?” (like I was speaking to child)

“Yes, several.” (he spoke to his child)

“So what’s the problem?”

“I guess I just needed you to come with it.”

I hung up muttering about computer illiterate elders — my giving spirit dampened. I decided I was content to let him remain in his state of computer frustration. Next year he’d get a tie.

Looking back I realize a lesson about giving. Sometimes instructions wrapped in cellophane and help files don’t get the job done. Dad didn’t need more advise or another manual with the gift - he needed his son.

It was a timely message. We too need help. Not to manage desktops, but to manage life. Not to figure out how to send faxes but how to obtain forgiveness. God knew what we needed. We needed salvation. We needed help with our sin. So God sent us a gift. We celebrate that gift each Christmas season. We celebrate because the gift did not come as a manual (we couldn’t have figured it out), it didn’t come as another command (rules couldn’t contain this gift!), another bad example wouldn’t do. No, God in His wisdom sent you and I the gift we needed wrapped in His only Son. The Father’s love was not sent priority-post, air-mail or even e-mail it was sent via His Son — as a baby, born in a barn. Christmas reminds us that God will do whatever it takes to give the gift. He traveled from heavenly realms to earthly depths and worked through a teen-ager and carpenter to wrap His only Son in flesh all so that by Jesus’ living, dying and rising you and I could receive THE gift. Wow!  That is reason to celebrate!

I spent my morning thanking the Father for the gift wrapped in His Son.  Maybe I’ll see you shopping today and remind you of it too — I’m off to look for a tie.

Clearing Space

Yesterday we put our house up for sale. Tomorrow a prospective buyer is coming to look at it. Which means, of course, that today is a busy day! There are floors to scrub, walls to wipe, carpets to vacuum, dishes to wash, books to re-arrange, and oh, so much junk to get rid of!  We live in a 16ft wide trailer and every bit of space counts.

Not a bad analogy for Advent.

Preparing the way means paving the way. It means clearing out anything that might get in the way of new life. I’m not sure exactly what it will look like for Jesus to come this year. One of the hardest parts of Advent is letting God come in His time AND in His own way. We wait without knowing what exactly will come, not knowing when it will come, what it might look like or how it might change us. We can’t plan it all out but we can get ready. Which means creating space or more precisely, clearing space. There is stuff to clean and stuff to toss. A careful sorting through of old ways, old loves, old paradigms, old edges is essential. Today is the day to empty hearts, minds, schedules and patterns so that there is room for new life. Here’s some stuff that is currently taking up too much space in me.

Independence. The idea that I can take care of myself and everything will be OK as long as I keep working at it.

Family. If I could just get close, committed family around me I will be happy and complete.

Planning. If I can figure out the way that things are going to work I can then get busy making sure they do!

Religion. My soul will be safe when I get my faith sorted out, sifted through and put together.

These are all good things, they are just taking up too much space.  It is hard for me to have space in my house and not fill it with stuff. It is even harder to have space in my heart and not fill it with idols.

Prepare the way. Prepare for something new and something mysterious. Prepare the way for a gift brought in person from the Living God right to you. God Himself will come to those who have saved Him room.

But as for today, what’s taking up too much space?

Half way through Advent

Well, we are about halfway through Advent.  After two weeks of great reflections, we will continue on this week and narrow our focus somewhat. 

Worship leader Chris Tomlin gives us a good image for our coming reflections.  “I feel as though we’re like this landing strip in the desert for our great, incredible God to arrive on; a way for Him to come into people’s lives,”   
I like that. Imagine your heart as a landing strip.  You are a runway and God is getting to ready to land!  Based on these words from Isaiah 40 , "Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God’s arrival!"  I'd like us to consider some of the obstacles that need to be removed so that God can get a clear landing in our hearts.

Thunder in the desert! "Prepare for GOD's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth,  a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, Smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks.  Then GOD's bright glory will shine and everyone will see it.    Yes. Just as GOD has said."

Isaiah 40:3-5 (MSG)

A Time To Gather Up Hopes

It’s only the second week of Advent and already I am weary of waiting for Jesus.  Waiting is the hard work of hope.  I've faced this struggle before.  It's not that I completely toss in the towel on the  idea that Jesus is coming - I just lower my expectations. I still believe He’ll get here eventually, I’d just rather not bank my life on it.  So instead, I choose to spread out my portfolio of hope. I'm tired of waiting for Him, so I put my hope in other things - rational, common sense things - that I can touch and see - tangible, practical things. I put my hope in the goodness of people and programs around me. I put my hope in advanced technology, modern medicine and whatever goodness and knowledge I can acquire and notice in others. I trust in willpower and potential.  Sure, they may not save me from my sins but they do relieve me of self-doubt and give me some instant payoff.

Perhaps preparing for Jesus means taking careful inventory of the location of our hopes.

We all have an internal hope chest. A place where we store our deepest longings and dreams. Human beings are incurable hopers. It’s why we get married, have kids, go to counselors, buy ab machines, read self-help books, play bingo, go on blind dates, read the Bible and go to church. It’s why kids bounce off the walls on Christmas morning. We are hopers. We hope. We have hopes. On the day when hope is lost, we begin to die - from that day on we are just marking time. The question is not whether you and I have hopes, the question is, “Where have we put our hopes?” 

“In what have I invested my hopes?”

When you hope-hunt through my life where will you find my hopes for love, peace, fulfilled dreams, change, Spring, joy, eternity?

Advent is a good time to centralize hopes. Give it a try.  Go ahead and gather them all up together in a big pile and pick the whole floppy, slippery thing up – all the broken hopes, lingering hopes, forgotten hopes and things that you long ago labeled hopeless - then, carefully walk over and place the whole thing on a baby in a manger.  If you can do it you will join a long list of other hopers who have believed that because God invaded our earth in Jesus, the best is yet to come for this messy world and for you and me.

Refusing to Lose Wait

How do you feel about waiting? 

I don't like it when I call someone and get put on hold. I don't like it when I have to wait in line at the bank or the post office or the Tim Horton’s drive-thru. I don’t like waiting rooms. I don't like being at a stop light sitting behind an accelerator-challenged driver when the light turns green. I don't like it when I pull into a gas station and all the pumps are occupied, and I have to wait for somebody to pull away. When I go to the grocery store, I scan each check out lane even before I start shopping – I want to find out which is the shortest line so I can get into it. I get frustrated at airports where it seems like every one is in a rush to get you somewhere so that you can wait.

Like most kids, as a child I had a hard time waiting for Christmas to come. Do you remember the feeling? Something's coming. There is a present with my name on it under the tree. It might be something wonderful or something disappointing, but until it comes, there's not much to do but wait.

Life is full of waiting.

We wait for things come. Phone calls. Marriage. Children. Employment. Reunions. Retirement. Faith. Christ.

We wait for things to be over. Meetings. Winter. The NHL lockout. Separation. Depression. Cancer. Waiting.

Lewis Smedes puts it like this:Waiting is our destiny.As creatures who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope for. We wait in the darkness for a flame we cannot light, We wait in fear for a happy ending we cannot write. We wait for a ‘not yet' that feels like a ‘not ever.' Waiting is the hardest work of hope."

Scripture calls us to wait. God tells his people 43 times in the Old Testament "wait upon the Lord."  Apparently some things should not be rushed. In fact, the Bible seems to give a high place to those who learn to wait.

Waiting is more than just delaying gratification. It is part of God’s plan for working out His character in our lives. Most often this ‘working out’ is just as vital to our spiritual life as the very thing that we are waiting for. Waiting can be seen not a state of in-activity or ‘putting in time’ until we get what seek, but rather it a statement of trust that God is in control and not me.

Waiting well means choosing to allow what is hoped for to grow and mature before it is birthed.

Waiting forces us to realize that we are not God – it pulls our hands off the wheel and our feet away from the gas.

Waiting reminds us that if the thing we hope is going to come it will be at God’s initiative.

So we wait for Jesus.

      Trusting that He is working in our waiting.

      Trusting that He is worthy of our waiting.

      Trusting that He is worth the wait!

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Romans 8:22-28 (MSG)

Spiritual Spidey-sense

The latest game on continual repeat in our house is hide-and-seek in the dark. What a great game! All four of us usually end up giggling and laughing. 

My daughter Sydney (2) is just old enough to get the idea. Well, sort of… I close my eyes, count to ten and then announce, “Ready or not here I come!” immediately from the behind the couch I hear a yell, “Here! Daddy here!”

Aiden (4) on the other hand has become a master at staying in hiding. In fact, he’s started to hide whether or not we’re playing the game just so that we’ll look for him. He’ll stuff himself under the bed or on a shelf or in a dresser drawer and not make a peep. I’ve had to tell him that he is not allowed to hide inside appliances. One day I searched Extra Foods for 45 minutes before I found him behind a 10 foot tall stack of Cheerios.

Hide-and-seek in the dark is fun for me too. The part I love most is the feeling of anticipation. There is something about waiting in expectation that heightens my awareness. I hear every creak in the floor, each dripping tap and I am super-aware of where others are. My Spidey sense is in it’s prime during this game! I am never more alert than when I am anticipating that someone is coming.

Advent has cranked up my spiritual Spidey-sense this year. I’m on the lookout and I’m seeing and hearing all sorts of things that I would normally miss.

As a close friend listened to and loved my wife through our recent miscarriage, a couple of times I am sure I saw angel wings hovering around them.

I looked at that homeless man staggering past the post-office and thought, “John the Baptist?”

Is this task before me a terrible inconvenience or is it a birthing-pain - a reminder that Jesus is trying to be born in me?

Was that an angelic choir backing up my kids as they rolled on the floor in belly-shaking laughter?

When we look at the world we don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. The call of Advent is for us to be anticipation people. With eyes peeled and senses aware we assume the 'ready' position - at that moment the horizon shivers and shimmers into a new focus and we find ourselves seeing things we've never seen in December before.  This is the path to wonder.

How's your Advent anticipation level?  Is your spiritual Spidey sense tingling these days?      

Ready?

         Or not?

                 Here He comes!

I thought I heard a Voice...

These first days of Advent are wintry days. Days of waiting. Days of darkness.

Just outside my frosted window it is -35 degrees Celsius. Factor in the windshield and it’s somewhere colder than -50. As we Yellowknifer’s say to each other when we burst indoors, “Whew! This is the real thing!” The sun will rise tomorrow morning at  9:32 AM and be gone by 3:17 PM. Such is winter North of 60 - cold and dark and it will get colder and darker yet. Up here we have four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and construction. In other words, 8 months of winter and 4 months of poor snowmobiling. Our faith community is truly the Frozen Chosen.

I’ve had people tell me that since God made winter, it must be good. Yeah… right. There is no mention of winter in the Bible before the Fall. In Genesis, the Garden of Eden contains trees that are bursting with life and fruit and people who did not need to wear clothes.  Wherever that Garden was, it was not anywhere near Yellowknife! So basically according to the Bible, winter is evil! We all know this to be true. We know it in our bones. That’s why people say things like, “I’ll do that when hell freezes over.” The ultimate in human suffering is hell and winter joined together!

Actually, winter has it’s special attraction and exotic beauty. Tonight though, I am aware of a different kind of darkness and a different kind of cold.  A kind of wintry Advent that none of us can move South to get away from.

As I began Advent on Sunday by complaining aloud to God about the darkness of the world, I slowly became aware of something even more disturbing. I began the conversation indignant and frustrated and ended it humbled and quiet.  The longer I talked with God the more obvious it became that the darkest places and the deepest shadows had very little to do with unanswered questions or tragic circumstances. In fact, the darkest places were not the things that I do not understand, but the things that I have known about for many years. When I took off my parka, Sorels and toque and sat in the dark for awhile, I realized that the darkest and coldest places were not on the outside.

Naming this interior darkness doesn’t quite capture it, but words like doubt, fear, insecurity, and depression give you the general idea (without me having to be too specific J). Some of it has to do with the past and some of it with the future. Some of it is about things like shame, regret, and despair. Some of it is just disappointment.  Disappointment that I rush, instead of savor, life with my wife and kids, that I don’t change like I know I should, that I love God so little and sin so much. Perhaps the coldest sensation is the realization of the large gap between what I long to be and what I must admit that I am. Perhaps the darkest truth is that I am not more disturbed by the darkness and cold that I find within.

Yet even as I realize those dark, ugly places in my life some part of me is still aware of some small light. It seems dim, but I feel like there is something or someone with me. A presence that is willing to travel into the winter of my soul. How else could I be seeing anything? When I am forced to look deep within I discover the cold and the dark, but I also discover that I am not alone. Somewhere in the mess of me there is Light.

God doesn’t seem to change seasons very quickly. He doesn’t take away the darkness all at once. Instead He offers us what He offered His own son, not a way around inner or outer pain, but a way through it. God’s way is not so much plucking us from darkness and death but rather, He seems to do His thing by bringing us light and bringing us back to life. He doesn’t take away our winter - He transforms it.

In the midst of the darkest and coldest winter, if we search long enough and listen hard enough, we will hear the whisper of One who says, “You’re not alone. Something is coming!” You might hear that voice deep within you. You might hear it in a conversation with a loved one, in a baby’s cry, a child’s prayer, or a Christmas carol or card – wherever - tune into that Voice this Advent and you will hear hope – hope that darkness, cold and winter - even in Yellowknife - will not last forever.

“But me, I'm not giving up. I'm sticking around to see what GOD will do. I'm waiting for God to make things right. I'm counting on God to listen to me. Don't, enemy, crow over me. I'm down, but I'm not out. I'm sitting in the dark right now, but GOD is my light. I can take GOD's punishing rage. I deserve it--I sinned. But it's not forever. He's on my side and is going to get me out of this. He'll turn on the lights and show me his ways. I'll see the whole picture and how right he is.”

 Micah 7:7-9 (MSG)

Asking Advent Questions

Advent begins in the dark. Like waiting in a theatre for a movie to begin, the dimness of the room stirs in us anticipation for the coming light. The scriptures that are traditionally assigned in early advent are not light or lite and they call us to live a kind of double-life with our culture as we approach Christmas. All around us things are getting brighter. Houses, lamp-posts and trees are all coming alive with sparkle and glitter. Malls are beginning to play, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.”  But for those of us on the Advent road we are not yet there. We have some distance to travel first and for now, the road is dark.  Our first step is to take an honest inventory of that darkness and one way to do that is by asking some  ‘Advent questions.’

Recently a well-loved woman in our community was murdered doing her job. She was a good friend and co-worker to many. She was a new mother. In the wake of her death, more than one person has asked, “Where is God in this?” That’s a good advent question.

Last month my wife and celebrated the news that we would be parents again for the fourth time - two weeks later we discovered that we would never get to see the child.  Apparently some babies are not meant to live. We are left sitting in the dark clutching broken expectations and wondering, “God? Didn’t you hear our prayers?"

You have some advent questions of your own. They may have to with failure, pain, broken dreams or broken-ness. They may come from an incident, a habit or just the realization that you are long ways from being the person you longed to be. Darkness comes in many forms and leaves plenty of questions scattered in its wake.

Can I make a suggestion as we begin this journey? Take some time today to speak your Advent questions.  Stop for a few minutes and complain out loud to God. You do know how to complain right?  Complaining to God is a long standing Scriptural practice. Begin advent by getting real with God. Ask Him the questions you wonder but have been afraid to speak. Don’t filter your words.  Tell Him what you think of the darkness in your world – inside and out. As best as can let God have it and hear it. “Cry out in the night. Pour out your heart like water in prayer to the Lord.” (Lamentation 2:19) Just like you’ve got a pitcher of water and you’re pouring it out in a glass, you can pour out your heart to God. Tell Him all the emotions and ask Him all the questions that are bottled up inside of you. Ventilate vertically.

This is not an easy step.  We’d rather surround ourselves with candles and angels and varnished nativity scenes.  It takes a lot of courage to look into the dark. It takes guts to name and articulate the things that lurk in the shadows. And yet, the only place you can meet God is in reality, and sometimes the reality outside and inside is a messy, confusing, dark place. The authentic, hopeful light of Christmas comes not by looking away from the darkness but by looking straight into it. Not by looking away from death but directly into it. Otherwise the light will never be the real thing, it will flash and flicker but never give life.

So go ahead and complain! It just might be the most spiritual thing you can do today.