“O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

It is nearly time. I suspect that if we were telling the nativity story in actual time, Mary and Joseph would already be making plans to make their way to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. Even with Bethlehem being not too far from Jerusalem, travel would take longer. Preparations for the journey would need to be made if they are to make the journey successfully. The anticipation of the Advent season is both pressing down on us and urging us forward in hope. The time is drawing close for us to welcome the advent of our Redeemer. 

If you are like me, your own preparations for Christmas by way of an Advent prayer discipline has been spotty at best. The busy-ness of the world seems to find a way to crash in on our best intentions of spending at least a little time in prayer each day to prepare room in our hearts to welcome our savior and redeemer. It is one of those times in which the best laid plans easily go awry. But, I still have some time. I can still jump into a moment of prayer and preparation as I inch closer and closer to the holy night of Christmas Eve. I can easily practice reflecting on the word of the day offered through www.AdventWord.org each day or simply spend a few moments talking with God in the wee hours of the morning or in the closing moments of my day. Without having to upend everything or without the need of feeling shame or guilt, I am able to reflect on the great gift given to us on the night of Christmas Eve.

Perhaps, as we enter into this weekend before Christmas, I can practice gladness in the way that I live my life over the next many days. No matter the circumstance I find myself in, I can celebrate the coming of our savior into the world by taking on a stance of gladness as one way of preparing room for the Christ to find a home in my heart. 

The season of Advent invites gladness in this time as we are so very close to the advent of Christ. Gladness is not the same as the fleeting feeling of joy that we might have from getting a like on a social media post or from opening a gift. It is something that is deeply rooted in my being precisely because I have welcomed God’s grace as an anchor for my being. I practice gladness by first being glad through the grace of God’s love. It is not that everything in my life is going exactly perfectly or that I do not have struggles to overcome. Instead, it is that I know the faithfulness of God’s love in my life and take on a posture of gladness from sharing that same love with those who are in my life. 

The gladness that I share is something that flows out of my own sense of thankfulness for all that God gifts to me in this life - from the people in my life to the food on my table to the clothes on my back to the ability to share the gifts God has given me through my work and vocation. All of these are things for which to be thankful - among many, many others. 

And so, as we approach the final week of Advent, we are invited to be glad and to share gladness with the world. We are invited to do so because of the gratitude we have for God’s blessings flowing through us and out to others through which we are blessed. We can journey with Mary and Joseph towards Bethlehem with a sense that God is doing something truly spectacular in human history - at the time of Jesus’s birth in history and at the time that Jesus is being birthed in our hearts, in our souls, and in our ways of sharing grace with one another. 

Let us approach this final week of the Advent season with gladness in our hearts so that we may, when Christ comes, celebrate with joy and thanksgiving the awesome power of God’s love.

In Christ,

Hunter+