I've really come to love the season of Advent, yet it's only been in the last couple years that it's become something that I've given any attention to.  While I've always loved Christmas, I've felt strongly in recent years a pull towards trying to distance myself from the commercialization of the season, and trying to find peace and contentment amidst the craziness.  I mean, I've always known the true story behind Christmas - I've heard it my whole life.  But Advent has forced me to look even deeper at its meaning - what does Christmas REALLY mean?  What did it mean to the people in the time when Jesus was born, and what does it mean to me today, in 2011?  How did this baby, God in the flesh, change the world when he came?  How does he change my life today?  And how can I live my life in anticipation of His arrival - both looking back at his birth, and forward to the day when He comes again?

One of the ways I've been trying to focus my thoughts through this season has been with daily readings from an Advent devotional - 'Watch for the Light'.  There's been lots of little gems in there, including this one from my reading today (written by William Willimon):

We love Christmas because, as we say, Christmas brings out the best in us.  Everyone gives on Christmas, even the stingiest among us, even the Ebenezer Scrooges ... 

Yet I suggest that we are better givers than getters, not because we are generous people but because we are proud, arrogant people.  The Christmas story - the one according to Luke not Dickens - is not about how blessed it is to be givers but about how essential it is to see ourselves as receivers.

We prefer to think of ourselves as givers - powerful, competent, self-sufficient, capable people whose goodness motivates us to employ some of our power, competence and gifts to benefit the less fortunate.  Which is a direct contradiction of the biblical account of the first Christmas.  There we are portrayed not as the givers we wish we were but as the receivers we are.  Luke and Matthew go to great lengths to demonstrate that we - with our power, generosity, competence and capabilities - had little to do with God's work in Jesus.  Gad wanted to do something for us so strange, so utterly beyond the bounds of human imagination, so foreign to human projection, that God had to resort to angels, pregnant virgins, and stars in the sky to get it done.  We didn't think of it, understand it or approve it.  All we could do, at Bethlehem, was receive it.  A gift from a God we hardly even knew.

... This is often the way God loves us: with gifts we thought we didn't need, which transform us into people we don't necessarily want to be.  With our advanced degrees, armies, government programs, material comforts and self-fulfillment techniques, we assume that religion is about giving a little of our power in order to confirm to ourselves that we are indeed as self-sufficient as we claim.

Then this stranger comes to us, blesses us with a gift, and calls us to see ourselves as we are -- empty-handed recipients of a gracious God who, rather than leave us to our own devices, gave us a baby.

And then I stumbled upon this little beauty of a prayer, that so adequately puts into words what I long to find during this season of waiting:

An Advent Prayer
 - by Henri Nouwen


Lord Jesus,

Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.

We who have so much to do, seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.

We who are anxious over many things, look forward to your coming among us.

We who are blessed in so many ways, long for the complete joy of your kingdom.

We whose hearts are heavy, seek the joy of your presence.

We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking light.

To you we say,
Come Lord Jesus….
Amen.

And just because it's so darn cute, I wanted to share this video here as well.  I promise it will make you smile!