The Story of Advent
November 29th, 2022
Advent is mostly about looking forward, it seems, but as I get older, I spend a lot of time looking back, trying to remember and make sense of the past. Of course, memory is partial and imprecise, and in its own way quite as uncertain as the future. My control of both is limited. Better to live in the present, I think.
Shepherds, wise men, inn keeper—characters in a story we tell, all looking ahead and behind, not really understanding the event that has brought them together in a seemingly insignificant place—a stable. We say that the event changed the world, but did it change them? Did they have any idea of their roles, of their story’s conclusion?
Are we invited to a stable? Or have we already been there and returned? Are we awaiting our grand moment, or recalling the ones we think we have known? Perhaps in each present moment, it is possible to do all three things—to look back and remember, to look ahead and hope, to act now with attention and energy, with humility and gratitude. That’s my wish for advent.
- Doug Watson