Thoughts on the Second Sunday in Advent

Advent. A season of waiting, hoping, anticipating peace on earth. And then in our fallen world, another terrorists’ massacre of innocent people who were celebrating at a holiday party. It makes me and many others anxious and unsettled. In our world, I am less trusting that there is safety anywhere anymore.

And yet, I know that Christmas will come regardless of frenetic preparation activity and over-the-top anxiety.

A couple of thoughts have been on my heart and mind as we start the second week of Advent. One is from Sarah Young’s book, “Jesus Calling,” which I use as a daily devotional. She writes as if Jesus is speaking directly to the reader – to me. It says, “You give me thanks (regardless of your feelings), and I give you joy (regardless of your circumstances). This is a spiritual act of obedience.”

A spiritual practice, to give thanks to God. But also a mysterious equation. Thanks = Joy. Incredible that God’s “math” comes up with the answer of JOY when we give thanks, regardless of circumstances.

Anyone who knows me well knows math is just NOT my thing. Hey, Journalism majors can graduate college without a single math credit. And it’s a good thing, too, because I never would have passed a college math course. I am a words person. Maybe that’s why this word equation is so meaningful to me. Thanks = Joy. And, while I need a calculator to do math, I only need life experience to tell you this equation is real and it works. God’s equation is perfect. When I am thankful, He gives me joy in my heart. And it is cyclical. The more thankful I am, the more joy fills my heart.

Please don’t misunderstand. Joy is not the same thing as happiness. In simple terms, happiness usually depends on circumstances. When things go well, we are happy. When they are complicated and difficult, we are not as happy. But joy is different. Joy is a gift we receive from God, so that regardless of circumstances, we have joy in our hearts.

So, I choose to be thankful because I know that the equation works. Every time. Thankful = Joy. A mystery, but a perfect equation. And I add to that equation that Joy = Peace. Not world peace, certainly, but peace in my heart. Peace that I can live this moment, this day in the confidence that God is with me. I love God’s math: Thankful = Joy = Peace. What’s better than that in any season?

Another Advent thought

During this season, I am reading Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s “God is in the Manger – Reflections on Advent and Christmas.” I have used this little book in other years, but the message is always fresh and current. With all that is happening in our world, I sometimes lose sight of the fact that God is still in control, even in the midst of disasters and terrorists. I don’t believe for one minute that God causes these things. But I know that He knows what’s happening here.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer, who is one of the 20^th century’s most beloved theologians, was in the Tegel prison camp in 1943 when he wrote the letters and thoughts included in this book. He was imprisoned because he spoke out against Nazism and Hitler, and eventually was executed in 1945 as a political prisoner, just 10 days before Germany surrendered.

Even while in a German prison camp, which we know was a horrible, sub-human way of life, Bonhoeffer wrote:

We can, and should also, celebrate Christmas despite the ruins around us …I think of you [his parents] as you now sit together with the children and with all the Advent decorations – as in earlier years you did with us. We must do all this, even more intensively because we do not know how much longer we have.

Advent is about waiting. But Bonhoeffer says, “Our whole life is an Advent season … waiting … for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.” A time when there will finally be peace on earth. God promises in scripture that will happen. We may not see it, but God’s got this. And with His mysterious formula we can have peace in our hearts, even in this chaotic world.

And so during this Advent season, I am trying to live in thankfulness, which results in joy and peace, and in anticipation and celebration because we do not know how much longer we have, but we know we have this season – today and throughout Advent.

Emanuel, God is with us. He’s here, with us in this season. And regardless of circumstances, He gives joy.

Thanks be to God.