If you didn’t already know, you may have suspected that I spent the first, almost 50 years of my life worshipping, being shaped by, and formed in Baptist theology and traditions. I absolutely loved—and continue to love—the vibrant, emotive, and spirit-filled worship in the Baptist church. I have fond memories of the Christmas seasons of my childhood and youth. Although we did not celebrate Advent, the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas were filled with preparing and waiting. There were Bible verses and Christmas pageant parts to memorize, Christmas hymns to practice and perfect, and sermons were preached culminating on the Sunday before Christmas with a rousing and reassuring sermon on the miraculous birth of the Christ-child.
I also have fond memories of adults applauding after my Christmas recitation was flawlessly delivered (okay, sometimes there was coaching from my mom in the front pew); singing Christmas hymns and songs that I absolutely adore—”Silent Night,” “O Holy Night,” and “Go, Tell it on the Mountain”—and I loved, loved, loved receiving the bag of oranges, apples, nuts, and candy given to all the children (adults too) on Christmas Sunday. Those were the sweetest oranges and apples I have ever eaten! The preparation, waiting, simplicity, and complexities of my childhood Christmas memories envelop me like a warm, comfortable, and assuring blanket—even as I write this letter.
In God is in the Manger, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.”
We are always in a state of waiting, for something personally, professionally, and as the body of Christ. Over the last three years, we waited to return to in-person worship and work; waited to gather for celebrations and to break bread with family and friends; waited to see peoples’ faces, bright smiles, and expressions; and waited to feel “normal.” And, as a community of faith, we are currently waiting for God to reveal our next senior pastor.
And as we wait, may we not be lulled into complacency or indifference. I am reminded by my childhood memories that waiting is not static, it is dynamic, energetic, and committed. There are a number of ways to actively prepare this Advent season: purchase a gift or two for a child on the Deacons’ Giving Tree lists; attend the Blue Christmas service on Friday, December 9, and a Cathedral Concert; download or pick up a copy of the Faith Formation Board’s Advent Devotional; help a neighbor, friend, or a stranger; prepare a meal for a homebound member or friend; attend the children’s Christmas Pageant on Sunday, December 18; support a third-world artisan by making a purchase at the Deacons’ ELPC Ten Thousand Villages shopping days on Saturday & Sunday, December 17 & 18. And pray! Pray for our community of faith—our staff, leadership, and one another—and pray for our church ministries and community.
Bonhoeffer wrote, “The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent.” I pray that we anticipate and await the Advent of the Christ child every day, actively, vibrantly, enthusiastically, not just in this season.
Advent blessings and love,
—Pastor Patrice