DAY-9: As I’ve been writing about the various players in the Advent story, I’ve noticed that nothing about this exercise strikes me as anywhere near 2,000 years old.

Everything is coming at me as current, contemporary, cogent, and markedly relevant.

It’s because, of course, we engage our experience of Christmas faith in exactly the way God intended when God had the physical presence of Jesus exit (stage up), and the Holy Spirit enter, (stage center); Acts, chapters one and two.

Advent is a “right now” happening because right now is when we are preparing for the coming of the King. Not some distant memory; not blowing the dust off some ancient parchment; not simply a tale told and re-told over time.

This is why the characters I want to introduce into the story today are  just as much a part of the Advent story as Joseph, Mary, Zechariah, Herod, and the Magi (later we’ll consider the Shepherds, the Innkeeper, the angels, and others).

HOME: Our son, Andrew, and his lovely wife, Alicia, have been relaxing at Maul Hall for the past week. They’ve been part of the fabric of life here, and that has included living out loud the fact that Christmas is not a memorial to the birth of Jesus but a living, real-time, documentary event.

Advent really doesn’t work as an exclusively spectator tableau. That’s one reason the “Walk Through Bethlehem” event at WFPC was so powerful. People are invited into the story. That’s the point.

When Andrew and Alicia served us dinner Friday evening, they were representing Advent Love. When we exchanged gifts around the gaudy, light-saturated tree, we were all participating in Advent Joy. When we attended worship together Sunday morning, we were celebrating Advent Hope. When we sat by the fireside, sharing stories and laughter, we were entering into Advent Peace.

All this receives its depth, its vitality, and its richness from the presence of Jesus.

As a family, we are preparing for his coming by celebrating his presence now.

AND THEY’RE OFF: So an hour or so ago, when we walked into RDU to say “goodbye,” Andrew and Alicia took the living hope, peace, love and joy of Advent Present with them.

That’s the whole point of this season of preparation. It’s preparing for Jesus by experiencing Jesus now.

I’d recommend such an observance for each one of us, even those who are really not sure yet about becoming a disciple. Invite Jesus into this experience, walk with him through this Advent, and then open your heart to see where he leads you.

– In Peace and Promise – DEREK