The End of Advent Draws Near

Here we are, approaching the end of our Advent journey. For some of us, it will be one of the strangest Advents we've ever had. Some of us have been together as a church, but we've been worshipping outside, masked and mostly silent. Some of us have continued to attend church in our homes; after many months, many of us are still not safe enough to take the risk of assembling in person.

As we process the modern good news, a vaccine rolling out, which may mean that life will be more normal in a year, it's worth thinking about what parts of the pre-pandemic life we want to bring back and which parts are better left behind. Those of us who have healthy immune systems have learned an important lesson we might never have learned any other way--we've learned what it's like to navigate a hostile world.

Many churches have moved to being more accessible than they ever would have been before, without this powerful motivator. I hope that we continue to think about those who can't be with us in person, once the vaccine makes it possible to assemble again. I hope we continue to experiment with online opportunities for people who can't assemble, vaccine or no vaccine. Disability activists would remind us of how inaccessible many of our churches are--inaccessible in so many different ways.

Mary's Magnificat sang of God coming to us in the margins, in the unexpected places far from the thrones of power. These days, these margins might be familiar to us. These margins are where where we've all been living for months.

As Advent comes to a close, it's a good time to return to the words of Mary when she sings of the God we will meet in the margins. Soon we will be swept up in the excitement of Christmas. But Mary reminds us that the baby in the manger is not destined to stay a cute baby in a Christmas card. This baby has come to disrupt our normal lives, just as this past year has disrupted so much of our normal lives.

As we move forward into 2021, let us remember the lessons of 2020; let us remember all the ways that lives can be disrupted. Let us heed the call of the angels who appear to tell us that redemption is underway. Let us resolve to be part of God's plan to bind up the broken to create something beautiful.