What, exactly, is coming...?

This past Sunday, young adults gathered (as usual) in our cozy room at church for conversation after worship. The topic for the day was "Advent," the 4-week season that precedes Christmas; the name Advent means "arrival," or "coming."

When I asked what's coming up in folks' lives--what the month of December usually feels like, they gave amazing responses. They talked about the pressure of the season: financial pressure; pressure to find the best gifts for the right people; pressure to be all things to all people--to be "perfect" in one person's words. That's big-time pressure.

They talked about the pressure to "feel" Christmas in certain ways--to get weepy about corporate-sponsored tree lightings or 24/7 Christmas muzak. There's the persistent insinuation throughout the culture that Christmas should be "magical" and "special." I have to be dressed just right for the Christmas party; I have to decorate the apartment (or my desk) in just the right ways; I need to be thoughtful and kind, grateful and charitable. There is even the pressure of the season's expectation to feel hope, peace, love, and joy.

In light of the pressure, I'd hate to think that church adds a load to people's shoulders by pressuring folks to believe that something is "coming" in the birth of a little baby in the manger--and that this "coming" needs to be received with childlike joy and delight.

I find relief from all of this pressure with this piece of news: Jesus was born already--it doesn't make any difference how I feel about it.

Irreverent? True. The "coming" that Advent speaks of has nothing to do with Jesus' birth. It has to do with the "Second Coming"--the coming reality of the Kingdom of God on earth.

This coming is much more spiritually interesting and lovely than waiting for the annual remembrance of the birth of a baby who was already born and won't be born again. Advent is an invitation to cut through to the center of life--to think and dream and pray about the kind of world that God wants us to live in. God uses Advent to remind me that when this world comes, it will happen through the ways that you and I choose to live, love, and serve.

Take a load off--lose the pressure to feel excited about baby Jesus. I'm trying to adopt a quiet time each day in Advent to dream. Let my mind imagine the best possible world there could be... and see myself living that reality in my day-to-day life. In the words of St. Patrick:

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left...
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Living the kingdom life is the farthest thing from pressure or perfection - it's pure freedom, perpetual grace.