Dear Families and Friends of Peace,
This past Sunday was the first Sunday in the season of Advent—the four weeks that lead up to Christmas (similar to how Lent is the season that precedes Easter).
For us, Advent is a season of hopeful expectation. Over 2000 years have passed since Christ’s birth, and we know what we’re going to celebrate on Christmas—that God came to us in the flesh, fully God yet fully human—through the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Yet despite this knowledge, some days the joy feels far away, especially when the anxiety and busyness of the season overshadow what everyone else tells us should be “the most wonderful time of the year.”
And so in Advent, we wait, with hopeful expectation, knowing that—year after year—we need to be reminded of the Christmas story, the gift of Jesus Christ, and the miracle of his birth. Because every year, with all that weighs each of us down, we long for the joy and celebration that comes with Christmas—a joy that only Christ can provide.
And that’s what makes Christmas worth the wait and why it so much more than just a reminder—Christmas is a proclamation that Jesus Christ is Emmanuel—God with us. That God, good and gracious, came from heaven to earth so that all would know his love—and there is nothing that God won’t do for us to experience it.
Advent Blessings,
Joe