Advent in our Lives

by Kyndra

I am settling in at my apartment in Euless, TX. Shaun is settling back into our home in Reno, NV. I am looking forward to many things now that I am back in DFW, and one of those things is re-joining the community at Church in the Cliff (CITC).

In all the buzz of moving and taking our first step on this unknown journey we have chosen for ourselves, I was reminded by CITC that this weekend begins the season of Advent. Courtney (CITC pastor) writes ...

"... But this is Christmas-time. As we prepare for Christ's birth why not focus on hope and celebrate all things sweetness and light? ... All I can say is that our tradition is smarter than that. The ancients knew that you could not fully celebrate light and life without first waiting in the darkness. And that darkness is not always tight and gloomy, but can instead be a place of God's deepest work. It is into this darkness that we step on Sunday, the first day of the Christian Liturgical Year. We step into the deep, deep blue of the night sky just before dawn. We step into the mystery-yearning to be taught again this year that it is somehow in the waiting that we encounter the mystery of God's presence. "

I am appreciating the side by side beginning of the Christian liturgical year and the beginning of Shaun's and my journey in separate physical locations. I don't expect our journey to be easy or happy all the time, but I don't expect it to be fully dark either. I expect both. And, for now, it brings me comfort to acknowledge that the dark before the dawn, the waiting, is also a time of heart work and an encounter with "the mystery of God's presence."

All is good.

Comments

[Isreal Ayele]

It seems like you have a good community there. Good thing you have dependable people around you, especially at times like this. However, wherever you are, what matters most is your faith. :D