“Angels! Were those angels? Why us, the shepherds? Why did we hear about his birth? I don’t know. But I know this is big. This is momentous. The One we’ve been waiting for is here. Let’s go and see.”

“Look, a new star. Is it the predicted one? Something is new. Something we’ve awaited has arrived. Let’s go and see.”

“I wish I had somewhere else to put Him. Something warmer to dress Him in. But I’m so glad He’s here. I may not be his “father”, but I feel a connection with Him like no child before. The one I’ve awaited has come. Can I see Him, Mary?”

“I can’t believe it. A teenager from Nazareth. That’s all I am. Why was I chosen? I’m so glad He’s here. (And I’m so glad He’s out!) The long awaited, momentous One has arrived. Let me see Him.”

Whether the world knew it or not, it was transformed on this day. He came to change things. The awaited One arrived. Not in the way anyone expected, however. All throughout the Christmas story, we see the unusual being chosen to do the extraordinary. They all ask “Why me?” They can’t believe that a glorious God would choose them. But He did. He chose to use them to bring peace to the world. Today, He’s chosen us to bring peace to the world. We’re called to be His Marys. And Josephs. And shepherds. And wise men. And temple workers. And stable-owners. We all have a part. And we can all rejoice in His arrival. Thankfully, we know that not only did He arrive once, but He’s arriving again. His Kingdom has been established for us to work in and love in and grow in and change in. One day not too far away, He’s coming to rule His Kingdom. What kind of kingdom are we preparing for Him? Are we anticipating His momentous arrival?

Live life all year in Advent mode. Anticipating. Have an incredible Christmas in remembrance of what He has done, is doing, and will do. He changes everything.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

Luke 2:14

I love the definition that Princeton University gives for the word advent: “arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous).” My church has never really taken part in Advent and the rituals surrounding it. This year, however, I’ve really begun to be exposed to it at college and begin to understand it and what it means. It’s the awaited arrival of the most momentous thing in history–Jesus Christ.

Just think back to this night some 2000 or so years ago. Mary and Joseph just finished up a long few days of travel from home to visit a little town called Bethlehem to be counted in a census. They searched the village for any place to stay: a home, an inn, a tent, anything. Yet all they found was a little stable.

I can only imagine the thoughts flying through Mary and Joseph’s minds. Did they know the time was coming? I mean, Mary was probably 9 months pregnant and looked like she was about to pop. (I wonder what the pregnant food was in Israel. I suspect they didn’t have nachos and milkshakes in the stable.) They had to suspect it was coming soon. But would it be tonight? They were anxiously awaiting the arrival of something incredibly momentous.

Today, the Christ child has come, lived, died, and risen again for us. Today we live anxiously awaiting the arrival of a Savior again. Before His last coming, He sent a messenger named John. Before this coming, He sent a messenger named you. He wants you to share the anxious awaiting with others. Something momentous is coming.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 1:68-79