A note from Pastor Travis 12/2/21

Dear FUMC Family and Friends,

As we enter into December, Christmas preparations are all around us. The stores have been decorated and, as I commute to church, I listen to a radio station that only plays Christmas music from Thanksgiving through Christmas Day. There are some people who love the festivities of the Christmas season and there are others who resent the “secularization of Christmas.” Though I don’t participate in the “Christmas cultural wars,” I do recognize that in many ways Christmas has been folded into the winter celebrations of the wider culture. The themes of Christmas have either been secularized into general notions of “peace” and “good will” without any reference to Christ, or they have been pushed aside by consumerism.

However, Advent is different. The preparations for the Christmas holiday largely ignore the rhythms and practices of the Advent preparations for the holy day. This makes Advent a gift to the church. It allows us to step away from the busy pace of the holiday season and prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christ coming into the world. An important part of this Advent preparation is making space for the movement of God’s Spirit through a time of holy rest.

The idea of resting in such a busy season seems odd. It feels like there is too much to do in 4 short weeks to take time to rest. Instead, we hope to find time to rest after the holiday season. However, our Advent worship both provides the opportunity and creates the space for us to step away from the hectic pace of the holiday preparation and be present to the gifts of the season. In his book The Way of Jesus Christ, Jürgen Moltmann writes that weekly sabbath makes creation present in the divine rest…sabbath comes to the exhausted and raises them up. In other words, our rest isn’t just rest from the world; it is rest in God. This is what makes it holy. The God who rested after the work of creation invites us into that rest to be healed. The holy rest of Advent invites us to rest from the weary world and hope in the transformation that is present in coming of Christ.

This holy rest is possible because Advent worship provides us with sabbath space through the rituals that remind us of the meaning of the season, the hymns which allow us to live into that meaning, and the scripture passages which shape us in that meaning. Advent is a season of waiting and hope, and worship provides us with that liminal space for acknowledging both where we are and the longing for what God is doing, in us and in the world.

We need Advent in order to be ready to receive the gift of God’s presence at Christmas and to prepare us to share that gift of God with the world. 

We invite you to join us on Sundays as we experience that holy rest in a busy holiday season.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Travis