Dear friends,

Weddings, births, and new seasons of life usually have hopeful expectation leading up to the event, then a honeymoon period.

But the older I get, the more I try to bypass both hope and honeymoon and skip to the hard part. Things will eventually get hard, so I might as well get to it.

Of course, there is wisdom in not placing one’s hope in circumstances and events, in going into a new season with eyes wide open. 

But sometimes ​“wisdom” is fear in disguise. If I anticipate storms of disappointment and shutter the windows of hope and joy, I may feel ​“protected,” but I’m also alone in the dark.

“Advent,” writes Trevor Hudson, ​“invites us to overcome our fear and to receive the joy that Jesus brings.”

Advent is a season to push back fear and familiarity, to resist ​“skipping ahead” to disappointment and suffering, to be re-enchanted with God the Baby and know ​“the thrill of hope” that makes a weary soul rejoice.

But hope and rejoicing can’t be forced. So how do we make room for them?

Trevor suggests, ​“Make a conscious effort today to rejoice in the good gifts that come your way — a warm cup of coffee, the friendly face of a loved one, the beauty of a sunrise or sunset.”

Adele Calhoun also offers practical ideas for entering into the practice of celebration.

And there’s singing, especially singing with others. (Which, if you’ve watched the movie Elf, you know is the best way to spread Christmas cheer.)

On Sunday, a friend invited us to her annual caroling party. 

It was frigid that night, and I was exhausted. Having gone last year, I knew most people wouldn’t bother to answer the door to hear us sing. But our family reluctantly piled in the minivan and drove to Deb’s, where we were given a hot cup of cocoa and a book of carols. As we sang in strangers’ yards, my heaviness turned to joy. 

I’ll leave you with words from Frederick Buechner. While working as a chaplain during the tumultuous 1960s, he delivered this prayer to jaded faculty and students:

Lord Jesus Christ, help us not to fall in love with the night that covers us but through the darkness to watch for you as well as to work for you; to dream and hunger in the dark for the light of you… Give us back the great hope again that the future is yours, that not even the world can hide you from us forever, that at the end the One who came will come back in power to work joy in us stronger even than death.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Renovaré,