What Does Advent Even Mean?

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Advent is one of these gorgeous, old words that sadly (I think sadly) only really appears when we're talking about the approach of Christmas. But the word has so much rich maturation, becoming, arrival, and quiescence, built into it. It is a ripening word.

Advent really means that something is arriving, something is coming, something is making an entrance, it is approaching. And we use it with Christmas because theologically and spiritually, in the Christian tradition, we are talking about the birth of Christ. So, the light of the world is being born, and also...we are always waiting for the light of the world to be born. There’s a kind of a little word play there.

I think that one thing that is really beautiful about this concept of arrival, is that it suggests that something is here and still on its way, both things are happening. It's just down the road, it's just getting out of the car, and coming up the walk. It’s around the corner, we can hear it, but it's not quite in view yet. And so, there is both this excitement that we are about to greet (and are greeting) something that we have anticipated and that we want homecoming with and that we want to clasp hands with, and hug, and rejoice with. And also, it's not fully on our doorstep. It is not fully in our arms, in our embrace. It is not completely formed yet, we're still waiting.

And what we're left with is a season of excited preparation, joyful hope, fervent awareness, and staying up late to keep an eye out. Sometimes this kind of waiting and preparation comes with a sense of urgency. And it can also come with, I'm just gonna go there, a kind of threat and ultimatum, like, “You better be read or you're gonna miss out in a catastrophic way!” I don't think that's actually the root of the spirit of this word in this season. It feels more to me in my bones, and in my spirit, and in my cells, and in my experience, as a trusted waiting for something beloved to come back home, to return–to be born anew, to take shape. Something we already trust in, something we believe in, something we know intimate (and we have faith in)--we're just joyfully waiting for it to fully arrive within us and among us, and around us

One thing that we all do when we are waiting, is we naturally prepare. You know, we get ourselves a little gussied up, maybe we do some last minute cleaning, we keep ourselves busy as a distraction, because waiting can be hard and interminable and really challenging for our mind and our humanity. It's boring. It's frustrating, it's triggering. It makes us antsy. And so we distract ourselves into preparatory action, which is really very beautiful. One last sweep of the front porch. One last straightening of the bedsheets before the child comes home or the friend visits, one last check of the casserole, the food in the oven so that it doesn't burn and it's piping hot when people walk through the door. One more look at the watch, just to see and make sure we haven't missed anything. These are joyful, beautiful ways that we work preparation into
our natural antsiness and impatience around waiting.

And Advent is full of all of this. And to be very honest, what also comes with this kind of waiting and preparatory activity can also be some worst-case scenario thinking: What if I've missed it? What if something bad has happened? What if it's not going to work out? What if they don't really come? This also has space for us in our human experience, because the thing is not fully here yet, so there's room for us to worry and get concerned that it will never actually get here.

Advent asks us to honor that as well, to recognize that it is hard to have faith in something that we can't hardly wait for its arrival. You know, it's hard to have faith in the thing that we are kind of desperate and longing for and excited about. It's hard to be patient and trusting and open. Advent makes space for that part of our humanity, as well.

So, I am excited to share this Advent journey with you where we're going to take a look at the season of waiting and preparation through the lens of four animals and their experience of transformation. Because what we also experienced in Advent is a transformational journey of our own. The actual waiting, the actual anticipation for what we are longing for and for its arrival, that process of waiting and preparing transforms us.

And sometimes, it's easier to see and understand our own process of transformation and change and spiritual growth, when we can use a metaphor or lens from another. So we're going to look at Bear and hibernation. We're going to look at Snake and molting. We're going to look at Butterfly and metamorphosis. And we're going to look at Hen and brooding and what it means to give birth to something, only to realize it's still an egg and it has to be born a second time, where even more waiting is involved.

In the Northern Hemisphere, we are going into winter and we are in the thick of winter. So you have this spiritual invitation from the concept of Advent, the word Advent, the season of Advent, to let Spirit lead and for you to follow, for you to wait on Spirit's arrival, for you to sit and prepare and allow Spirit to come to you and guide you.

And our earthly season invites the same kind of following. Things are getting colder, our bodies want to rest, follow the rhythm of the darkening skies, the quieter nights, the shorter days, the quieter, lesser productivity, and the slowing down. And I think in the summer, Southern Hemisphere, there is a partner relationship with this. The earth is beginning to be in bloom. It's beginning to awaken, it's beginning to sprout. And it is starting to bear the fruit that we see in summer. And in that invitation, Spirit is also leading and asking us to follow: Can you pause in the heat of summer and pick some of the fruit that has grown and enjoy it for yourself? Can you pass the time and share some of the early harvest with another? Can you sit and be in a place of reception to the abundance that is starting to happen in the summer months? I think that, in this fall to winter/spring to summer movement for both hemisphere, our earth offers an echoing invitation to that which Spirit offers, which is: follow me. Let me guide you. Let me lead you.

I know that you may be waiting, hoping I get there soon, wanting me to show up as soon as possible.

How can your waiting be joyful and filled with excitement? How can you trust goodness and love, insight, excavation, possibility and growth, peace and hope? How can you believe and trust these are all coming? And also already here? How can you pause and let the earthly invitation give you a long night and a slow day and encourage you in your waiting and preparation? How can you let the hot sun and the fatigue that comes with long periods of brightness and hard work, be an invitation to pause, pick the fruit that's already there, and savor it?

So lots to explore with just this word, Advent, this season of layered waiting, layered expectation, layered anticipation, excitement and hope and trust and knowledge that beautiful things are being born and are just around the corner. Along with this, also, is a kind of painful recognition that it's not quite fully here yet and we are beginning to wonder if it's ever going to get here.

This is this world we adventure. This is the season that we're diving into. I am so excited to share this journey with you now and for the next four weeks. Get ready friends. So much goodness awaits!