Our family just got back from our traditional Thanksgiving
Week campout. We spend the few days
before and after Thanksgiving in our travel trailers in an RV park nearby our
home, so that we can spend some time “away” without having to take several days
to “get there and back.” We enjoy the
time together, Jan gets to try new recipes for the big meals, and we all get to
set around a campfire in our portable fire pit every evening. Usually my sister flies in from California,
and Jan the kids have the week off from school.
It is a relaxing time to catch up on what’s been happening with
everyone, and we get to just chill. It
is truly a time to remember for what we are thankful, and why.
Traditions are funny things, aren’t they? You try something once, and if you really
enjoy it, you wind up trying to duplicate it, or even improve upon it. Before you know it, you’ve begun to plan on
it, even count on it happening again and again.
Planning a Thanksgiving getaway usually begins in late August, and we
start looking at a map. “Where can we
go, that we don’t have to travel too far?”
Before long, a destination is chosen, then the menu planning
begins. I can almost see the wheels
turning inside Jan’s mind as she begins to plan out the meals, draft the
shopping lists, and organize the spices that she will need to take along.
A new tradition has come about in recent years that I did
not plan on, but happily have assumed.
For years, whenever my family went camping, we always had fried potatoes
and onions for most meals – especially for breakfast. Dad’s famous recipe included using an old
Coleman stove that had never been cleaned – he said “it added flavor to
whatever you cooked on it.” As the years
went by, I bought a stove similar to his, and began to help him do the morning
cooking – eggs, bacon, or sausage – it didn’t matter. Then eventually, I took over the morning
fare. Someday, I hope that Braedon will
take on this tradition as well.
Traditions have a way of growing on you. Before you know it, they shape you, mold you,
and fill you with meaning that cannot be easily described. As soon as we get home from thanksgiving, the
next set of traditions are started – decorating the house for Christmas. It’s all a part of getting ready.
Which is what Advent is all about. It is about getting ready for the coming of
the Christ Child in our midst. We make
room, we decorate, we prepare, we clean, we start our lists – not just the ones
involving baking, and mailing Christmas cards.
But the real lists. The ones that
we need to keep that will remind us of who we are. And whose we are.
Scripture reminds us of the ways that Advent explodes onto the scene - it doesn't! We want fanfare, and we get modest hints. We want the glorious, the fantastic; but the Prophets share the secrets of what is to come. We want the message to be clear and concise; and we get cryptic, almost hidden allusions to what is about to happen. "Behold! A young woman is pregnant and is about to give birth to a son, and she will name him Immanuel (or "God is with us"). (Isaiah 7:14, CEB).
Somewhere, there are shepherds - perhaps not looking after actual sheep - but shepherds nonetheless. They are keeping silent watch. Waiting. Anticipating something remarkable. And alert. Somewhere there are star-gazers, fortune-tellers by trade, who will be made aware of something spectacular, and it will turn their lives upside down. Rulers will find that their power and their thrones will be no match for what God is about to do. Poverty and suffering will be faint memories of the past, like mists that disappear in the morning sun. And people will begin to sing songs that the heavens will hear, and the choruses will be full, and the Son of God will arise. But it will happen, suddenly. Without provocation. Without warning. In the twinkling of an eye. And then our traditions will begin to make sense. And our worship will have meaning and purpose. But in the meantime, keep faithful. Be mindful of the traditions that have shaped you in the faith.
Scripture reminds us of the ways that Advent explodes onto the scene - it doesn't! We want fanfare, and we get modest hints. We want the glorious, the fantastic; but the Prophets share the secrets of what is to come. We want the message to be clear and concise; and we get cryptic, almost hidden allusions to what is about to happen. "Behold! A young woman is pregnant and is about to give birth to a son, and she will name him Immanuel (or "God is with us"). (Isaiah 7:14, CEB).
Somewhere, there are shepherds - perhaps not looking after actual sheep - but shepherds nonetheless. They are keeping silent watch. Waiting. Anticipating something remarkable. And alert. Somewhere there are star-gazers, fortune-tellers by trade, who will be made aware of something spectacular, and it will turn their lives upside down. Rulers will find that their power and their thrones will be no match for what God is about to do. Poverty and suffering will be faint memories of the past, like mists that disappear in the morning sun. And people will begin to sing songs that the heavens will hear, and the choruses will be full, and the Son of God will arise. But it will happen, suddenly. Without provocation. Without warning. In the twinkling of an eye. And then our traditions will begin to make sense. And our worship will have meaning and purpose. But in the meantime, keep faithful. Be mindful of the traditions that have shaped you in the faith.
I pray that this Advent season will somehow bring back some
of the old traditions – the ones that molded and shaped you into the faithful
disciple you are now. And I pray that
this Advent season will also instill in you some new traditions – ones that
will shape you and nurture you to grow even deeper into the spiritual being you
were created to become.
Get ready. God is
doing something new – again!
Grace and peace,
Brad
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