by Eli Withers

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I have come to appreciate the season of Advent in recent years more than really makes sense to me, when I stop to think about it.

I mean— let’s be real. It is essentially a season of waiting, and none of us are all that good at waiting. The Latin word Adventus (which is where we get the word Advent) really means coming. So while waiting is certainly part of it, this season is also about anticipation and expectation; it is a time to pause and reflect. It is about faith and hope and all the rest.

Even though in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five we are really celebrating the coming of Christ after he was born, lived and walked on this earth, and gave his life for us, poet Malcolm Guite says, “The whole purpose of Advent is to be for a moment fully and consciously Before Christ.” It is a time to marvel in the eternal gift of the incarnation—when “the Word became flesh and made his home among us” (John 1:14 CEB).  

There is so much more to the idea of incarnation than we can discuss in this space, but consider for a moment what the incarnation of Christ means to you and me even today. As Christ himself fully embodied God, we, too, are called to live out an embodied faith and spirituality… the incarnation teaches us to experience God from the tops of our heads to the tips of our toes.

I recently discovered the writings of theologian and storyteller John Shea. He shares in his 1992 book, The God Who Fell from Heaven, a poem called “Sharon’s Christmas Prayer.” It is a delight.

She was five

sure of the facts

and recited them

with slow solemnity

convinced every word

was revelation.

She said they were so poor

they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

to eat

and they went a long way from home

without getting lost. The lady rode

a donkey, the man walked, and the

baby

was inside the lady.

They had to stay in a stable

with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)

but the Three Rich Men found them

because a star lited the roof.

Shepherds came and you could

pet the sheep but not feed them.

Then the baby was borned.

And do you know who he was?

Her quarter eyes inflated

to silver dollars.

The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air,

whirled round, dove into the sofa,

and buried her head under a cushion

which is the only proper response

to the Good News of the Incarnation.

Oh, the wonder of a child at Christmas! This Advent, when it would be so easy to succumb to the chaos and commotion of the season, may we each find time to stop… and simply wait. As we continue to learn what it means to live in the gift of the incarnation, may we find ways to more fully embody what it means to look forward to the celebration of our Lord and Savior once again. May we, as we come Before Christ in these days, find reasons to jump in the air and whirl around as we make every effort to grasp all this season means for us. May our faith, too, become flesh.

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Eli Withers is the associate pastor of Harrisonburg Baptist Church in Harrisonburg, VA.

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