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In this season of lengthening nights and shortening days, it seems contradictory to look for light breaking into our world. We feel and fear the burden of the world's problems weighing heavily upon our shoulders. We hear of war and rumors of war, and the chaos grows ever more noisy. Why would we look for the coming of light? Why would we in this season of expectation, seek out hope, peace, joy, and love? The questions are so many, and the answers are so few.
Yet it is precisely when things are at their thinnest, when the gloom of the world encroaches, and the shadow threatens to overcome, that God breaks into our world. Not to shatter the darkness, but to enter the darkness. God's most profound manifestations occur not in the light but in the dark. God seems to have an affinity with transformation in the darkness. In this season of Advent, we are invited to leave behind the familiar, to slow ourselves down, and take notice of where God is poking, prodding, and praying us into deepening our relationship with ourselves, our neighbors, and with God.
The invitation this Advent season is to hold back the mad dash towards the manger and spend some time along the path of expectant waiting. Read the scriptures, engage with the reflections, live the questions, pray the prayers, and join in the journey with God. Jesus is coming!
-Bishop Deon K. Johnson
Live by faith, grow in grace, and walk in love with St. Martin's this coming Sunday as we come together, in person as well as online, for worship, thanksgiving, and praise. Wherever you are on your journey of faith, allow us to walk alongside you.
“Saint John the Baptist in the Desert”, Hieronymus Bosch, Dutch, 1489
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