FOOD
FOR THOUGHT
(12/07/2008)
An
advent adventure Cindy
Hong
Growing
up I loved Christmas because it meant two weeks off from school and presents
under the tree. Easter meant egg hunts and chocolate bunnies. Switching
over to the lunar calendar, nothing beat Chinese New Year and them little
red envelopes. Moon cakes were pretty to look at during the Mid-Autumn
Festival. At times I wanted to be Jewish because those classmates got
to miss school on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The parents said that
was impossible, taking the opportunity to remind me again that God made
us Chinese and I should be proud of it. For whatever reason, the Christian
calendar never formed my life as did the western and Chinese calendars,
or even the seasonal calendar of summer, fall, winter, and spring. The
Christian calendar remains foreign. Advent means candles. Lent means ashes
and fasting from TV or chocolate. But what is God doing and saying to
us during these two great Christian seasons? For sure it is more than
candles and chocolates. It seems that just as the four seasons order our
physical lives, as Christ-followers something formational can be had by
ordering our lives through the Christian calendar. It may seem unfamiliar
at first, like going to a new country and celebrating their holidays.
It'll take time to find the spiritual rhythm of Advent to Christmas to
Epiphany, Lent to Easter to Pentecost. But perhaps forming our lives to
this calendar will better compel us to live, die, and be raised with Christ.
Isn't it amazing that God in his mercy gave his children a calendar of
our own to live by, to form us and to grow us up in him year after year
after year?
During
Advent season, we reflect on the coming of Christ: past, present, and
future. In the incarnation, God entered human history through the Christ-child.
In the present, Jesus intersects our lives and we are never the same (or
we shouldn't be). And in the future, Jesus will come again to judge and
rule. This Advent may we take time to contemplate the wonders of God's
mercy to us and his love through Jesus Christ. Let's enter into an adventure
with Jesus, letting him show us the way, taking us by the hand to see
the sights and wonders, experiencing him anew. May our pilgrimage mirror
Mary's, coming with open hearts, open hands, and open lives to risk and
take hold of new things, echoing her words and posture: “May it be
to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). Advent reminds us that Christ
comes to us wherever we're at and invites us to do life together. After
all, this adventure is better together!
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