So often this season involves shopping for gifts to bless the people in our lives that we most cherish. For some of us it is a major chore because we are not a fan of shopping or because we are never able to think of what to get for the person. For others it is a grand adventure because they love shopping or are simply great gift givers.

Shopping for Christmas gifts changed for many of us during the pandemic of just a few years ago. Most of us couldn’t go out and we began to do the bulk of whatever shopping we did online. We got accustomed to the challenges of tracking things online and hoping the date things were promised actually turned out to be true. Many of us chose to continue with that manner of shopping after the pandemic rather than face crowds or bad weather by going to a mall.

If we’re honest, some of us just aren’t in the mood to shop or do the usual things for this particular Advent season. There can be many reasons including grief, economic shifts, or illness of some sort.

When I was growing up, our family had more than one or two special traditions around this season, but gift giving was not a highlight of the time. There was never a great deal of money, but even so there was not a lot of time spent considering what gifts would most bless each one. My precious dad was a dear, but very poor at choosing gifts for my mother and though she loved him dearly I knew she was sometimes disappointed.

As a result, the very first Christmas that I was allowed to go shopping for gifts for our family with my dad, I couldn’t seem to stop finding things that I thought would delight and bless my mother. We were walking up and down the streets of my small hometown, stopping in the popular shops of the era such as Sear Roebuck, Woolworths, and others you can guess or add to that list.

At some point on the shopping trip, my dad checked in with me to see if I had found something for each person and was somewhat dismayed to discover that I had spent all my money and had a number of parcels, but they were all for my mother.

I still recall my dad pulling change from his pocket and a couple of dollars to give me to try to find something for my brother and him. It was already time to be heading home and I needed to hurry. Somehow, I had a harder time shopping for them because I was so aware of the desire to bless my mother with some things she would never expect that I had spent it all on her at the beginning of the shopping trip.

That early experience left an indelible impression on me that is still present today. I am not a big fan of “shopping,” but I love to give gifts for almost any reason or season. I will always honor the requests for some things if given a list, but I go on a quest to find something special for each person. It may not be the most expensive gift, but I am always looking for something that communicates to them that I “see” them and have a sense of what delights them. If I don’t meet that goal of something special, I am invariably not all that excited even if I bless the person with some nice things.

The first year my husband and I were married I went on a quest to find a Daisy Red Rider Air Rifle. He had something like it as a boy and his had been loaned for an event and was totally used up by the time it was returned to him so off I went to get my sweet new husband a facsimile of his boyhood favorite.

Six years ago, I gave my husband a special box at Christmas. A note was attached with little envelopes tucked inside. The note explained that the box represented “a year of dates.” Each month he would open a small envelope to discover a surprise date I planned for him for that month and we would end a year later in December for our 55th anniversary. It was the most fun I have ever had surprising him with new places or old haunts and a few double dates. (I think he loved it as well.)

As I look at the gifts we have purchased waiting to be wrapped and placed under the tree, I am aware that there really aren’t as many of those special surprises for those whose hearts I would seek to delight. A variety of things got in the way of the usual shopping trips to places that fueled my imagination. In the process it seems our whole family is aware less of what they would like to have and more about what they are most grateful for. And even though we all won’t be able to be together in one place this year, we celebrate the gift each of us is to the other. We celebrate our son’s health after a cancer diagnosis five years ago and recent tests show he is in remission and “cancer free” though now cured.

We celebrate my husband’s health after several unexpected things sent him to the hospital this year and we celebrate no progression in my mild Parkinson’s symptoms as I practice a diligent exercise plan and work with our personal trainer. In addition, I think we realize the gifts of freedom, food, fellowship, and friends more than ever before.

For each of us there is a fresh awareness that we have already received the perfect gift. It isn’t wrapped with tissue paper and ribbon under the tree but arrived at different times for each one of us at just the right time. It fit perfectly the size of our hearts and was and is the person this season is supposed to be about.

Jesus is the perfect gift and each day of the year we can enjoy his presence. He knows us best and even in shadowy places and hard times, He seeks to delight our hearts with the love, joy, and peace that can only come from Him.

When our minds and hearts are longing for what is missing during this Advent season, those missing pieces, people, places, and traditions can loom large. Other times during Advent we may have faced challenges, but this year for some will be harder because there will be an empty chair at the table or there may not be a table because fires or floods have destroyed the place they called “home.’

Some of us have done all the decorating and even some baking, but some of us have not felt the same special something that the Christmas season tends to bring us.

As we wait for the Second Advent to draw near, can we remember God is with us now in this moment, in this season, in this different sort of place?

Have the schemes of the purveyors of darkness caused us to forget?

“Hope is a person and His name is Jesus. We all have access to Him if we wish. Hope is on the other side of letting go of all control to God.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

My reflections in recent days have reminded me of one of my favorite Christmas carols. It reminds me of that focus that God is with us, but the lyrics contain the sobering truth that calls for Him to come in the midst of darkness. Of course, you may well know I am speaking of O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

This hymn that is less well-known than most of the others is a ninth century Latin hymn that opens with these words:

“O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.“

The hymn’s origins go back to monastic life 1,200 years ago during the eighth or ninth century when monasteries would sing a metrical phrase of O Antiphons during the final days before Christmas in anticipation of Christmas Eve. Latin documents show the title of the hymn as “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel.”

The English translation came into being in 1851 when John Mason Neale, a priest and scholar, featured it in a hymnal. It’s difference in tone from other Christmas carols or hymns sets it apart for sounding less joyful than others commonly sung, but its message resonates in this season as we read or sing the lyrics.

The word Emmanuel in the title and lyrics refers to the Hebrew word, Immanuel, meaning “God with us”, first appears in Isaiah 7:14 and we see it again in Matthew 1:23. In each case the name represents a hope that is to come and in the first verse speaks of Israel mourning in exile while they wait for the Lord, a reminder that God is and will be with them in the midst of their hard time.

There is much we can learn from the lyrics as we “wait in exile.”

Are we so caught up in what is happening now that we have lost track of the “not yet?” Have we missed that He is with us even now as we wait for the Second Advent?

“The present age does not have the last word.

Life that leads us through the wilderness is unexpected and daunting. It can drop us to our knees in prayer and supplication or cause us to ignore what’s best in order to gain a quick entrance to the other side. This is the intersection of life where God is waiting. This is where we either say “yes” to God and trust Him to provide and protect, or we grab the steering wheel to maneuver the path in our own power.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

Perhaps the words of this hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, might echo in our prayers this Advent season.

“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

Consider Mary Geisen‘s words penned during the pandemic:

“But in the middle of this crisis, we as believers can rest in the truth that Jesus arrived two thousand years ago as a baby ready to live and die for our transgressions. We can proclaim with the authority of Jesus that He will come again as we wait for the pandemic to subside. Most of all, our hearts can cry together “Come, Lord Jesus” as we hold the present and future in the palm of our hands, believing that God already has this figured out.”

The Advent Narrative

Reading Luke’s narrative of the first Advent tells us much about those who lived during that time, but is it possible that his words penned so long ago also say something about us?

Prophecy about the expected birth of Jesus had been around for a long time for those who had heard it and yet the question that came to the lips of more than one or two were, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting?” A casual reading might make it too easy to scoff at the uncertainty that lays behind the question. After all we may think, how could they have missed this?

There can be many answers that come to mind including what Luke says:

“He said, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. There are others who need stories. But even with stories some of them aren’t going to get it: Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,
Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.”

Luke 8:10 (MSG)

Were they asleep or only dull of hearing and murky in sight? The people of the first Advent knew the One was to come, but what did they expect?

What we expect often determines what we see and hear. There is a narrative at work in each of our hearts, minds, and spirits that has been sown over the course of our lifetime. It is that narrative that we believe to be true and we take in things we see and hear that align with that narrative and set aside those things that do not.

And narratives run through every area of our lives and if we are not alert to them, they open the door to deception and choices that lead us down paths the Lord never intended we take.

At the time of the first Advent many were surely looking for a king who would bring the harsh rule of the Roman Empire to an end. Others were looking for a warrior who would take over by force and root out the evil conditions so many were enduring during that time so that justice could prevail. Despite the prophecies they had heard, they were not thinking about Him coming as a helpless baby to a nondescript couple in a stable in Bethlehem. That didn’t fit their narrative of what they wanted to see happen, hoped would happen.

They missed seeing how Jesus comes in the midst of the ordinary, the common small places and things in life.

John gives an even more unique image of the One that was to come and will come again:

“The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word.
The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one.”

John 1:1-2 (MSG)

How abstract it can sound that when mankind was looking for a king or a warrior “the Word” was sent.

“Some people may wonder: why was the light of God given in the form of language? How is it conceivable that the divine should be contained in such brittle vessels as consonants and vowels? This question betrays the sin of our age: to treat lightly the ether which carries the light-waves of the spirit. What else in the world is as capable of bringing man and man together over the distances in space and time? Of all things on the earth, words alone never die. They have so little matter and so much meaning…”

Abraham Heschel in Run with the Horses by Eugene Peterson

Scientists and researchers spend their days looking to try to see what they have not seen previously in order to understand it or discover secrets previously unknown. Yet, many of them looking through telescopes, microscopes and vast amounts of data can miss what is there. Consider how Alexander Fleming returned to his lab in Scotland in 1928 after a two- week vacation to discover mold had accidentally contaminated a culture plate of staphylococcus that led to what he didn’t expect – the discovery of penicillin.

I think God must delight in times He surprises us. It reveals how far beyond our imagination He is, but yet He wants us to “see” Him and “hear” Him, to not miss Him.

In the midst of the “not yet” as we wait on the second Advent, might we also miss Him?

I think the key is not only whether or not we are awake and watching, but whether our hearts are beating at one with Him as a result of our intimacy with Him.

Our heart is never fooled in recognizing the person on whom our affections are set. We sense the person before they even speak when they enter a room. We recognize the fragrance that is them before they ever touch our hand. It is a knowing born of much time spent together.

After all, where it is, we first encounter Jesus? Does He not come knocking at our heart?

“For those who listen for Christ’s coming, a knock sounds over and over again. The things that come forth are not necessarily highly spiritual. Sometimes they are very simple things.”

Mary Geisen quoting Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt in The Advent Narrative

Scripture tells us the Second Advent will not look like the first, but not unlike the First Advent, those whose hearts are already aligned with Him will surely not miss that glorious appearing.

Yes, 2025 is a different season, but we must not lose sight of Him in the midst of all that would cloud our sight or distort our hearing.

“When God wrote the script for our lives, He linked hardship and goodness in an effort to reach us in our reality. Independence is admirable, but dependence on the One who created us is where we meet Hope for the first time.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

How easily we can miss the significance of the choice God made to humble Himself and choose to come to earth in human flesh to show us what mankind had been missing for thousands of years about how great was his love, grace, and mercy. Somehow, we think of it at Easter on the cross as He hung there without considering what is beyond our imagination to consider about his choice to come to earth as a baby in the humblest of places.

The nativity scenes we set up during the season of Advent are so pristine compared to the reality of that manger where Mary and Joseph first laid Him. Any farmer would tell you in vivid detail the sounds and smells that would have surrounded them. Stables smelled of hay and straw (both old and new) and of the dirty stalls of the animals that spent time there. Dust was everywhere. It was not pretty or clean.

How like Him to come into the mess of such a place! He comes into the mess of our lives and chooses to live within us when we accept Him.

It wasn’t just on the cross that He showed his love in his humility. But none of us mortals are very good at humility if we’re gut-wrenchingly honest.

“Humility looks like caring for others more than we care about ourselves. It is looking beyond ourselves and recognizing the beauty around us. Humility keeps the spotlight on Jesus. When we shine it on ourselves, it reflects the flaws and messiness that Jesus has already redeemed through His death on the cross.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

Perhaps our struggle with humility is not only about pride, but our unwon battle with selfishness that requires us to lay down our lives for others as Jesus so clearly showed us and still shows us each day. Maybe we don’t spend enough time looking in the mirror of the Word and seeing ourselves as accurately or clearly as we ought.

Over and over again humility is the convicting message of that first Advent. It was the manger, the humblest of parents chosen to be the earthly parents of Jesus, and it was the shepherds who were considered lowly in that culture who were first blessed to hear the news and see this babe in the manger who had come to save them. Consider who God honored with this privilege we read about – shepherds of all people, not the religious leaders of the day, not the chief rabbi of the town – shepherds.

This Advent again gives us space to make room for Him in our hearts and enter into the scene more deeply and personally, to finally grasp just a bit more than we take time for other times during the year when we are out and about, and now busier with the seasonal traditions we love. It can serve as a time to consider with greater anticipation the Second Advent yet to come and where we are in that journey.

“A life worth living takes us on a journey of preparing well. But it is not just the preparation and awakening of our hearts. God leads us through the “not yet” as a challenge and call to let Him dive deep into our very core. He wants our faith to look like the roller coaster ride that we hold onto for dear life because we don’t know what else to do. It is wondering and believing for more. It is saying “yes” when we prefer the “no.” God knows, and whether the path feels comfortable and familiar or takes us off road on the adventure of our lives, He is with us in every step forward and backward.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

This year is perhaps when we ought to remove the masks we can often wear when we spend time with the Lord, the masks that we foolishly use to be less honest and real with Him than He deserves or that we need to be in order to lead a more sanctified and holy life. That would be humility.

“The first requirement in a personal relationship is to be ourselves. Off with the masks. Away with the pretense.”

Eugene Peterson in Run with the Horses

This Advent season of 2025 is not without hope, not without promise. If it seems that way, where are we looking? The smelly dusty manger in the midst of a world ruled by the Roman Empire should adjust our perspective if we pause to really see it and enter into the story behind the scene our nativity sets depict.

“The best part of our God-driven stories is the hope that is ours every step of the way. It is ultimately the desire to end up at the manger to see Jesus and the gifts He left there for me and you. Max Lucado says it like this: “The path marked Humility will take you to the manger of the Messiah.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

The lowly shepherds became the first eyewitnesses of what God was doing. God has not stopped the story, his story, and we are eyewitnesses to what He is doing now in big and small things. We are part of the story.

How will we spread the word and share the story so that no one will miss the Second Advent because we were asleep or silent?

Some of you may be dreaming of other years and Christmases past that have left indelible imprints on your mind and heart. Many of you might have immediately thought of the song “White Christmas” that includes lyrics about what the songwriter was dreaming of. But do you know when that song first came on the scene?

It was first aired on December 25, 1941 during a radio show sponsored by the Kraft company. Bing Crosby was the one singing it just weeks after Pearl Harbor had been bombed and the world was locked in the grip of war that was upending the lives of people all over the world. It was far from what we may traditionally think of when we hear that song.

Some of you know it was written by Irving Berlin whose fame spread with other favorites like “Cheek to Cheek” and “God Bless America.” Few of you may know that he was a Russian-born Jewish immigrant who did not celebrate Christmas. It’s been said that the impetus of the song might have come from a sad point in his life some years before the song was first aired.

Irving Berlin and his wife had a three-week-old son who died on Christmas Day in 1928 and every year thereafter, they visited the baby’s grave on Christmas Day. Who can say if the melancholy lyrics harkened back to an era before Christmas Day broke their hearts in grief?

Somehow, we tend to wrap up this season with memories of some of the most poignant seasons of Christmas that we have celebrated. Some of those are sparkling times of wonderment, but others can be tinged with sorrow and grief that revisit us each time Christmas rolls around.

Perhaps you struggle with dreaming because of so many dreams that never came true or ones that haunt you with shadows of sorrow.

“God knows and sees you in this place of unrealized dreams. He hears your deepest desires and He wants to see your dreams realized. Instead, you find yourself in this wilderness place where nothing looks familiar and nothing seems to be happening.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

It is at this very moment that the enemy of our souls whispers words meant to destroy our hope and joy, our assurance that God, Emmanuel, is with us still in such a place as we find ourselves.

It is a skill the enemy has been practicing from the beginning of time and whose devices to upend the hope of the Christ Child and Christmas are depicted vividly in Max Lucado’s book, Cosmic Christmas, that describes the war in the heaven by Lucifer that was meant to disrupt God’s plan and design more than 2,000 years ago.

Consider how Max Lucado describes the enemy in one scene in Cosmic Christmas when Gabriel and a host of angels meet Lucifer on their journey to earth:

“My battalions looked upon the devil in confusion. Before the send-off Michael had tried to warn them, but no words prepare you for Lucifer. Without speaking a word, he enchants. Without a touch, he seduces. Angels have been known to follow him without resistance.

But I had the words of the Father in my heart. “He has been a liar from the beginning.”

Max Lucado in Cosmic Christmas

No matter how dim the light may seem at any given moment, no matter how many dreams lay crumpled on the floor of our minds and hearts, God is still there, and the enemy has been a liar from the beginning and his efforts remain. He may sense his time is growing short before the second Advent comes.

It is now we must hold on to the truth that fuels what we believe.

“It’s believing that God is working behind the scenes in our hearts, minds, and souls even when we feel caught up in a holding pattern.”

Mary Geisen in The Advent Narrative

Seasons of waiting are never easy for us whether we have a lot of experience with them or this is our first one. They require we believe the best about God and that He is good as scripture tells us.

It can be hard to trust and believe something good can come from something that feels (or is) the exact opposite, but we must remember that is not unusual in God’s story throughout the ages. He has disarmed mankind and the forces of evil by using what was to bring an end to us for the greatest of good.

In Cosmic Christmas Max Lucado paints a scene in heaven where Gabriel is being commissioned to come to earth to visit Mary about news of the babe she is to carry. In the scene Lucifer is challenging God yet again and asks where will the final battle be. Max Lucado pens the words of God’s response:

“The Father sighed at the dark angel’s resistance, “On a hill called Calvary.”

A few paragraphs later Max Lucado wrote the words of how the worst scene can bring such great good:

“Jesus, Nail, Cross, Blood, Tomb, Life.”

This year we may attend wonderful concerts and oratorios of Christmas, cookie baking gatherings, shopping trips at the local malls, and gatherings of friends and family in larger numbers, but perhaps He invites us to a quieter Christmas. He is inviting us to intimate time with Him, time to listen and hear, and time to prepare for the second Advent as we wait for Him in the “now and not yet.”

Photo by Anastasiya Gepp from Pexels