Christmas seems to have come faster than ever this year. Well actually, this whole year has had moments that seem to have flown by, and then times that have made this feel like the longest year ever.
With all that has happened this year my heart was touched deeply by an advent devotional that I(Jason) read the other day. Written by Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest in a Nazi prison shortly before he was executed in 1945. Though his words were written more than 70 years ago they feel like they could have been written yesterday.
He highlights how world events can shake us to our core but he challenges us to take that shaking and allow it to move us deeper into the reality of God's kingdom.
"We need people who are moved by the horrific calamities and emerge from them with the knowledge that those who look to the Lord will be preserved by him, even if they are hounded from the earth."
For us, this has been a year in which we have been challenged to examen and re-examen where our deepest trust is placed. Is our trust in things we can control or, in a God who controls all things. On the surface, this question sounds simple. Sure, we trust God. But, placed in the context of the events of this year, I see that God is leading us into a deeper trust of who He his. A stripping away of trust in unstable things and turning to the One who controls all things.
And that is the Joy of the Advent season. It is a celebration of God coming to us and dwelling among us. It is the joy of God working in our lives to draw us closer and deeper to Him so that we will be rooted and grounded in the reality of His kingdom. There we will be filled with true joy that cannot be stolen from us no matter what the world brings our way.
So this advent season, in the midst of all that is happening in the world, we pray blessings over you and your families. We pray that God would reveal Himself to you in new and greater ways.
As we pray for His word to take root and grow here in Thailand, we also pray His roots would grow deep and grow in your homes, workplaces and communities.
If you have a few minutes you can read all of Alfred Delp's devotional and see what God brings up for you.