It certainly is that time of year. You know: Advent. The Christmas season. That time of year. In that time of year, at least where I live, the last gasps of fall colors have frozen over, and somehow, amidst colorful lights, prematurely dark evenings, and excessive shopping, we are ritually transported 2,000 years to the past.
In that transportation, I always try to focus on the feelings of the people who were waiting for the arrival of Jesus. I don’t think they knew what His name would be. I’m certain they had no idea what He would be like. But they had hopes and dreams of a Messiah coming to right the wrongs of the world they were living in, and they had been waiting for a long time.
When I think about Advent, my mind's eye traces a path from the young, expectant mother Mary to the other Jewish people living in the land at the time. And then to the countless Hebrews and conquered peoples in that part of the world even before the first century. Back before the Roman conquest of the Levant. Back before the revolts of the Maccabees and the many false messiahs, prophets, and warrior kings. Back before Ptolemy and Seleucus carved up Alexander’s nascent empire, and back all the way to the exile of Judah to Babylon.
In a period largely not covered by the Protestant Bible, countless generations of God’s people waited for the coming of the Messiah. The wait must have been excruciating. Unquestionably, some of them had given up hope and many others had tossed their hope on any upstart usurper that promised a new tomorrow. There had been false messiah’s before, and plenty revolutionaries, all of which failed to secure the religious or political freedoms the people were desperate for.
And though the centuries dragged on, and the holy land was rolled over by empires again, and again, it did not last forever. Like how light is bent by the immense gravity of a black hole, so to is all of history bent and arched towards the birth of Jesus Christ. C.S. Lewis called the incarnation of God into the person of Jesus the “Central miracle… the grand miracle”.
When we come to understand not only the power of Jesus’s birth in its proper context of a world painfully aching for it, we are transported back. We share in that great cosmic expectation of a world soon to birth the true hope of glory. Each consecutive day of Advent brings us one step closer to that culmination.
And that’s why the Advent season is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s surprising even to me, since I’ve always disliked the changing of the seasons generally, and the cold plunge into winter especially.
That time of year is a time where the rituals of faith bear remarkable importance. Through them we bear witness to and participate in events that we missed by almost a full two millennia. Our attentiveness to the candle light of Advent not unlike those wisemen following the light of a star all the way to our savior.
It’s important, I think, in the waning of the daylight that our faith waxes. As we grow tired and ready for the year to end, our hearts and minds are prepared for the birth and rebirth of our faith. I need that revival. To be reminded that in the darkness of night, in the backwater of empires, in the weakness of humanity, in the destitution of an animal’s food trough, our faith was born.
In this time of year, if you recognize that God has truly blessed you, would you share your blessings with important missions that need support?
We have 4 opportunities to bless missions around the world:
- With a new medical center and school in India: #1 India Campus Medical & English Medium School Project
- With clean water in our international fields: #2 Clean Water Wells for International Fields
- Supporting our Field Leaders directly: #3 Support for Latino Ministries & Kenya Field Leaders
- New land for a church in Kenya: #4 Land Purchase for New Kenya Church Building
Share the Blessing funding as of December 1st, 2025.
CGGC eNews—Vol. 19, No. 49
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