Happy New Year!

Wait a second. Happy New Year? Aren't you a bit early? Well, maybe not.

January 1st is certainly our calendar new year around the world. Time for confetti and resolutions and finally getting to go to bed shortly after midnight. But it's also ok to already say happy new year to each other, even on December 7th.

As a Christ follower, there is another calendar that we are invited to learn about and follow as we live our days. Rather than only orienting our days around a school year, holiday breaks, or paydays, we are invited to orient our days and life around learning about God and paying attention to His movement in our daily living. This other calendar is sometimes called "the Christian year" or the "liturgical calendar". It's not that we are boycotting our regular calendar, it's just the invitation that there's more to our days than us and our holidays, paydays, and appointments. There is a rhythm of our year that allows us to take the normal currency of the gift of our days and reorient them into a rhythm of gratitude, the gift of growth and a bending of our knee that we are not in charge of our days...all pointing toward the gracious presence of God in our lives.

So...the reason that we can say Happy New Year today is because the beginning of this different kind of rhythm in our year is the season of Advent and that is what we are currently living in now. Here is a brief vista of what our different calendar rhythm invites us to.

ADVENT: the season of Preparation, Watching and Waiting

CHRISTMAS: the season of the coming of the Light

EPIPHANY: the season of God with us and among us

LENT: the season of cleansing and sacrifice

EASTER: the season of resurrection and new life

PENTECOST: the season of new found power

ORDINARY TIME: the season of building and faith

KINGDOMTIDE: the season of the remembrance of hope

So...let's test this out a bit! What kind of rhythm would Advent bring to us? In the midst of buy, shop, scurry, and rush, what would I prepare, watch and wait for?

The arrival of Jesus in your life in perhaps a new or unexpected way.

Hmmm. I can do that simultaneous to all the other enjoyable and at times clutter of this season? We can. And imagine how that might shape us when we see the wadded up pile of Christmas wrapping paper in the outdoor garbage can a few weeks from now. Some of this season is fleeting. The birth of Christ in me is not.

Jesus, in this Advent season, would you birth something new in me? Would you rebirth something that is already present that I continue to need from you? Even, birth something unexpected......

I wonder.

There's more.