Longing for more

We were made for Christmas, and here, in Advent, we learn that longing

Gentle reader,

This week brings us the longest night of the year. When it’s dark at 3pm in Chicago, I am longing for the light. We were made for Christmas, but here, in this season of Advent, we learn the depths of that longing. We learn it because we’re not there yet.

We were made for joy and peace. But we must live with pain and violence. Advent invites us to learn that Jesus is here with us in the darkness, in the pain. There is no dark corner in which he is not present.

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Today, I have, for you, an image and a song.

First, please, do yourself an enormous favor and listen to Mahalia Jackson singing “No Room at the Inn.”

I made this digital collage using two photos from contemporary Gaza: a photo of airstrike damage (Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) and a photo of a woman, carrying an infant, crying after leaving Gaza City (Kenmasaka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

If you need a book to help you as we dwell in the darkness, I recommend Fleming Rutledge’s Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Christ.

May we remember that Jesus is here with us in the darkness. He pitched his tent, right here, with us.

Grace & peace,
BFJ

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