“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living a heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.”—L.R. Knost
People of God, I eagerly await a return to the ordinary and mundane.
These last few weeks have been emotional, exciting, stressful, and life-giving for me. As exhausting as this past election season was, the post-election period seems to be only more aggravating. My family made a well-planned, cross-country move, but even the best planned journeys can be a little hectic. We’ve said farewell to dear friends in our previous faith community, and we have begun learning your names and faces in our new faith community of ELPC. And just when it feels like I have room to breathe and relax, then the seasons of Advent and Christmas arrive! Did I mention I eagerly await a return to the mundane and routine? You might be feeling the same…
A return to the ordinary (dare I say, normalcy!) would be nice, but it might be difficult to achieve in the coming weeks. In the liturgical calendar, we have transitioned from what is called “ordinary time” to Advent, a season of preparation for the coming of the Christ Child. In Advent, we reflect on how God meets us in our ordinary lives and how God transforms our most mundane moments into our most sacred moments. Such intentional reflection is meant to prepare us to receive anew the Christ Child. In Christ, God enters ordinary human life, and life itself is forever changed. So you see… liturgically-speaking, politically-speaking, spiritually-speaking, there is NOTHING ordinary about our current season. It truly is extraordinary.
Your hospitality these last few weeks has been extraordinary. Hearing some of your stories and your hopes and dreams have only reaffirmed this notion that in our everyday acts of loving our neighbor, God always shows up. Thank you for making Divine Love real in my life and in the life of my partner, Nino. Thank you for being the beloved community of God, one that follows Jesus and strives for justice. People of God, you are truly extraordinary.
As much as I would like to go back to some things being “ordinary” again, I also do not wish to miss out on God showing up where I least expect it. What about you? Are you prepared for God to show up in ways you never imagined before? Are you ready for God to make something truly extraordinary out of our mundane, everyday circumstances? As author L.R. Knost reminds us, life is like a rollercoaster. Breathe. Hold on. This amazing and awful, ordinary life is about to be even more beautiful as God shows up again in the extraordinary miracle of Emmanuel, God with us.
Blessings,
—Pastor Michael