When the teenage girl missed her period, all the world could do was wait.

Advent is the season of active waiting for Christ’s arrival. We intentionally relive and remind ourselves so as to not forget. We bare ourselves to the good news of the coming arrival permitting it re-order our lives and communities.

While there is an expectation for the culmination of prophesies and promises, at the same time there’s a raw humanity to it all: A teenage girl is expecting – morning sickness, cramps, unreasonable cravings. In her belly, a fetus develops in stages; In her belly she incubates hope. As Mary and Joseph sneak into Bethlehem under the stars, Jesus smuggles himself into humanity.

Amidst the busyness of the next few weeks, may our hearts and minds be in a place of expectancy for the one who has come to make all things new.

*Special Note* As a special project for this month, our goal is to raise $1000 for the Inn of the Good Shepherd. They do great work locally amongst the poor in Sarnia, and it would be swell if we could pitch in during this Christmas season.

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Being in sync with God is less like stringently following a playbook of do’s and don’ts and more like humming that tune that’s stuck in your head and allowing it to put a directional spring in your step. That spring leads us in the direction of sacred rhythms…rhythms of grace, awareness, surrender and peace. Conversely, modern society cultivates and infects us with its violent rhythms…rhythms of production (you’re only as valuable as what you can do) rhythms of speed and space (always moving at an insane clip, ultimately concerned with filling our space with stuff) rhythms of fear (you're not good enough, so what are you going to do about it?)

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