Read Matthew 3:1-12 – “Are you ready for Christmas?”
I’ve already heard that question a half-dozen times – and Christmas is still nineteen days away (Really? It’s that close? Oh, my – how did it sneak up on me that fast?)
Just nineteen days? I have so much to do to get ready? There are gifts to buy, meals to make, devotional to be read, sermons to be preached, visits to be made. How will I get everything done in just nineteen days?
Wait a minute! It’s always like this. I’ve always got places to go, people to see, and way too much to do.
What I love about Advent is that it reminds me that there is at least one thing I am not responsible for. I don’t have to find God, approach God, or seek God. No! This season is not about me being on a journey to find God, but simply resting as God finds me.
The Prophet Isaiah and then later, John the Baptizer, make it clear that the Advent journey is one that God makes. It’s always that way. God comes toward us. Our only preparations are to have the faith to receive God arrival, to rest in God’s grace, and to repent (reorient) our lives to the great truth at God loves and treasures us.
