It’s happened again.
If you came up with some logical guess what “it” is, you’re probably wrong.
I just wanted to let you know that one of our granddaughters has just announced there is going to be an addition in their family. The news caused me to get out the old abacus to count people.
We had five children. Collectively those five produced 16 children, and I’ve lost count of great-grandchildren. Young or old, each is unique in his or her own way.
But then, isn’t that true of every one of us in the family of God? Don’t we celebrate special “seasons” in our lives? Not baseball, football or basketball — I mean “seasons” like first dates, graduations, weddings, promotions and other special events in life.
For me it’s always been Christmas. I think of the mystery of wrapping gifts, especially when I was a little feller, growing up without much during the Great Depression years of the 1930s. I think of the sad Christmases when homes were impacted by war, illness, or strife of one kind or another.
I reflect on better years when I was a young adult and went to the Christmas Eve services at the small church in my village, a church that may have been the subject of the prettiest Christmas card ever.
And I reflect on every Christmas in every church, large and small, I served in 40 years within the pastorate.
I tend to think the Advent season, the 40 days before Christmas, is a unique period of time. It’s a time of anticipation, of opening each Advent calendar window each day, of whispering about gifts and putting up decorations, all preparing to celebrate the birth of God’s son — the greatest gift ever.
But Advent is a time when Christians should take time to reflect, to consider the amazing gift that God has bestowed on humanity. We are given hope, even in our darkest moments. We are loved and can love others, even the least lovable.
There are times when our lives are filled with joy, like the unbounded joy when a new baby is brought into the world, and peace, the kind that God has sought for each of us.
That is what the Advent season is all about for me: leading up to the birth of a savior, Jesus, whose personage represents all four: Hope, love, joy and peace. I hope it is for you.
Bruce Mitchell is a retired United Methodist pastor living in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
