That’s what I’m going for – total transformation. But without a magic wand, I am finding this whole transforming thing to be a process rather than a flipping of a switch or a waving of said wand. A “process” takes time. Total transformation takes time. The total transformation I desire is taking longer than I would like. After all, it’s Advent and I am preparing to remember and to celebrate the arrival of the Christ Child here on earth some two thousand years ago. We celebrate this event every year so that we don’t forget God’s greatest gift to us, His only Son, Jesus. I never want to forget that God kept His promise and made a way for me, a sinful person, to be reconciled to Him, a Holy God.

Infinite is the chasm between sin and holiness. Infinite is God’s love for me and for you – a love so enduring, so merciful, so strong that it spans the chasm and allows me to walk across into newness of life, reconciled to my Heavenly Father forever. God’s infinite love took on human form in the person of Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. God entered into our world and lived with us for awhile, that’s the miracle I celebrate every Christmas – that He came!

So during these dreary days of December, I am attempting to decorate my house for the holiday. This is part of my Advent preparation. I clear away my accumulated clutter, making room for Christmas decorations, all the while wondering how and when so many extraneous things filled up the spaces and took over. It is time again to consciously make room to receive my Savior and my King. I don’t want lesser things to crowd Him out of my life. And so I use this Advent time to prepare to celebrate Jesus’s birth all over again.

Every decoration I unpack is a memory, starting with the Zambian Nativity Scene I set out in a space usually occupied by family pictures. I think about my time in Zambia and the people there as I arrange the figures of this special Nativity, while picturing people all over the world celebrating Jesus’s birth in one accord. Advent ushers in a time of unity and peace among believers all over the world. In many languages, in many nations, with all sorts of customs and traditions unique to them, people all over the world are preparing to once again remember and to once again celebrate the arrival of Immanuel, God with us. Such a thing had never happened before, nor will it happen again in this way.

As I prepare the way in my own life for the Christ Child to take His rightful place, I take comfort and joy in knowing others are on this Advent journey with me, remembering with wonder the miracle that took place some two thousand twenty years ago. My Advent journey continues, but the transformation is slow. I will need to do more than a decoration a day if I am to be ready in time! After all, I am preparing a way for the Lord.

“A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ ” (Isaiah 40:4-5)

His glory will totally transform you and me and all who receive Him,

sincerely, Grace Day

This would appear to be obvious. The question that consumed the Israelites was, “When would God send the Messiah/Deliverer that He had long promised? The prophets were full of prophecies and predictions about when and where the Messiah would appear. Sounds eerily like today, doesn’t it? Our world today is obsessed with the second coming of Jesus. Predictions abound as to when this event will take place. But then that’s nothing new. In every era of human history since Jesus’s ascension into heaven, people have believed they were living in the end times and that Jesus’s return was imminent. So the question persists today – “When is Jesus coming back?” People want to know so that they can be prepared, I guess.

This would seem to be the logical question of Advent because when you are preparing for someone’s arrival, you want to know how much time you have left to get ready to receive them. You want to know when they will arrive. Regarding Jesus’s ETA, we are given an answer in God’s word, but it is not an answer that stops us from continuing to ask this same question again and again, to the exclusion of other, perhaps more important questions. Our answer is found in Matthew 24:36 –

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

We are told clearly that we cannot know when Jesus will return to earth. But perhaps this is not the all important question of Advent, even though it might seem so to us. Could it be that the true question of Advent was posed by Jesus Himself when He asked His disciples this –

“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

That’s the true question of Advent – not, “when is Jesus coming?” but “will He find faith here when He arrives?” In other words, will Jesus find anyone faithful to Him when He returns? Will He find people watching, waiting, believing, preparing the way for His entrance, doing the work He entrusted to us to do until His return – (“go, make disciples of all nations”) – will He find us faithful? I take this question very personally. Will Jesus find me faithful?

As I prepare to remember and to celebrate God’s gift to humankind, I will let this question guide me through this Advent season. In the midst of decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking etc. I want to be found faithfully fulfilling the tasks God has given me to do for Him. As I celebrate now the first Advent of God’s presence here on earth, I am simultaneously preparing for the second Advent of His coming to earth, even though I don’t have any idea when that will be. It’s like this story Jesus told His disciples –

“It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ” (Mark 13:34-37)

That’s what Advent requires of me – that I watch! I am to anxiously await and expectantly anticipate my Master’s return. Waiting for his return is not a time of idleness but of activity. In Jesus’s story each servant had an assigned task. I do too. I want to be found faithfully executing my God given tasks when Jesus does return. What a privilege that the Master would trust me to take care of His house and business while He is away. If I have let dust and clutter accumulate in His absence, I need to be cleaning and clearing space in readiness for His return. If weeds and brush have overgrown the path to His home, I need to prepare the way for Him to return.

Such are the duties of Advent. The wait for the Master’s return may grow long but I do not give up hope that He will come. I believe in spite of the circumstances that surround me and I prepare as if His appearance is imminent. Noah obeyed and built the ark even though he was surrounded by dry land. He stayed faithful even though his circumstances didn’t make sense. Advent requires faith – faith that the long expected Jesus will arrive when the time is right, just like He did the first time.

“But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

God’s timing is always perfect. It seems much of Israel had grown weary with the wait and fallen asleep. Their lights had gone out and their hearts had grown cold. Maybe that’s why they were unable to recognize and to receive God’s Son when He finally arrived on that first Christmas. Maybe that’s why we remember and celebrate Jesus’s first Advent, so that we will be better prepared for His second one. Maybe it is so we learn the lessons of the first Advent which will remind us never to lose hope, but being steadfast in belief, to be always waiting, watching and preparing ourselves and our world for Jesus to enter in, just as the faithful servants in Jesus’s story were preparing for their master’s return, even though they did not know the day nor the hour.

Advent prepares the way for Jesus to be welcomed in once again, especially into those places where He has been previously crowded out, locked out, kicked out, overlooked, ridiculed and rejected. Advent opens the door so Jesus can enter in.

“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of glory.” (Psalm 24:7-10)

lift them up! let Him in!

sincerely, Grace Day

This morning it occurs to me that before Jesus’s birth, the Israelites were living in a perpetual season or state of Advent. Why? Because they had been promised a Messiah, a Deliverer, a Redeemer, someone who would come and rescue them from their enemies and oppressors. They did not know when God would send this Savior to them, so they should have been in a constant state of readiness to receive God’s gift to them whenever He should arrive. But as we read the story of Jesus’s birth and life, it is clear that people were not prepared to receive God’s promised gift of the Messiah. We read this about Jesus in John 1:10-11,

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.”

Jesus did not receive the warm welcome one would expect a long-awaited Conqueror to receive. There was no pomp, no circumstance, no fanfare – well, no fanfare on earth – although the angels, the stars, all of heaven rejoiced loudly at Jesus’s birth (which the shepherds witnessed). But here on earth, people were not prepared for Jesus’s arrival. They were not watching and waiting for God’s Promised One. So Jesus and His parents ended up in a stable because there was no room for them in any of the people’s homes. The Israelites had lived in a permanent season of Advent and still missed the big event.

Oh, there were a few exceptions. Two, to be exact. Simeon and Anna did not miss the arrival of God’s life-saving, life giving gift of His Son. What made them different? Well, Simeon is described in this way,

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:25-26)

And we read this about Anna,

“There was also a prophetess, Anna, . . . She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” (Luke 2:36-37)

What do I know about these two individuals from these descriptions? Simeon and Anna were actively watching, waiting and worshiping while they waited for Jesus to arrive. They hadn’t given up hope. They hadn’t stopped believing in God’s promise to send a Savior to them and to the world. Even after four hundred years of silence, they were eagerly expecting God’s miracle, so they spent their time preparing to receive the miracle when He came. Every day was Advent for Simeon and for Anna. They were watchful. They were ready. They received the baby Jesus with joy.

“Simeon took Him (Jesus) in his arms and praised God, saying: . . . ‘my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all people,’ ” (Luke 2:28-31) and Anna’s response?

“Coming up to them (Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus) at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:38)

Seems like the appropriate response to this miraculous gift is praise, thanksgiving and rejoicing to God, the Giver of the gift of Advent, which is Jesus.

Interestingly enough, we, too are living in a time in which every day is a day in the season of Advent. We are living in inter-Adventmental times. (I know, I just made up that term – but it fits) We are living after the first Advent, Jesus’s birth as a baby into this world, but before the second Advent, which is Jesus’s promised return to earth to set everything right and establish His never-ending kingdom. I read Jesus’s words in Revelation 22:12,

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”

I read in Mark 13:26-27 this –

“At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”

Jesus’s return – something to look forward to for sure. But in the meantime, I need not be idle. Advent is filled with the activity of preparation for my Redeemer’s return. I need to prepare my heart –

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.” (Psalm 51:10 & 7-9)

Yes, I need to let God clean me up. I need to let God do His transforming work in me, making me ready to receive Him when He returns. I will take God up on the offer He made to me in Ezekiel 36:26 when He said –

“I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

A heart of stone can’t receive God’s gift of Jesus, but a heart of flesh, tender and open, can. Ironically, I need God’s help to prepare for His return. I can’t clean myself up, but my Heavenly Father can help me prepare a way and a place for Him to enter in and to make His home with me. That is the goal of Advent – to be ready and able to receive Him each and every day of my life. After all, Jesus calls to me and to you, dear readers –

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

Advent opens the door in anticipation of Jesus’s arrival –

“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” (Psalm 24:7)

sincerely, Grace Day