We started Advent by creating space. Like many other Americans right now, our home is school, office, and home all combined into one. We couldn’t decorate or prepare our home for Christmas season without moving some things around. That moving around lead to a going through and sorting. We discarded broken toys, donated some toys that we were ready to pass on, and found all kinds of toys we hadn’t seen in awhile. There’s something about that process of cleaning, sorting, and donating that creates space for something new to come.
As we were cleaning, we found missing piece of a puzzle that we haven’t seen for eight months. We finally got to enjoy the whole picture all pieced together.
I thought about this as I was preparing for worship. I wonder if instead of focusing on what we are going to do during Advent or what we are carrying into Advent, if this year especially our call is simply to create space for something new and unexpected to appear. Maybe in a year that our calendars are must less full of cocktail parities and gatherings, we have actually created space for a new way of celebrating this high and holy season.
Maybe at the end of this Advent season that also marks the end of a very unexpected and trying year, we will find the missing piece of the puzzle of our lives, or rather the missing peace.