Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel

Oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, shall come to you, O Israel

This week we begin the celebration of my favorite season of the church year: Advent. Advent contains within it a sense of longing for something that has not yet come to fruition. A longing for Emmanuel to come and dwell in our midst. A longing for love, hope, peace and joy to be birthed in our lives.

With this theme in mind, we ask oursevles a simple question: What do we long for? What makes us feel like lonely exiles? I know this time of year is difficult for many people. It is not "the most wonderful time of the year" for everyone. As we begin our Advent journey it is important that we name our longings. It's important that we identify the losses we feel so that we can begin the process of letting go of some of them. Without the letting go, our spiritual houses are way too crowded for Christ's loving presence to be birthed in our midst. Therefore, we should think of Advent as a "spiritual garage sale" where we begin to sort through and get rid of the sadness, pain, fear and worry that makes this a less than joyful season.