First Sunday of Advent

On this, the first Sunday of Advent, I spent the morning preparing for our 10:00am service. Some of our friends from Ikon are here, nearing the end of a ~10 day visit. They organized and planned most of the service elements, and it was very interesting and cool. These folks have some amazing creative talents and a way of creating a unique and inviting worship experience.

I found my usual frustrations rising through the morning, though. Even though a lot of planning did go into the service, several things were not. Thinking back on it now, I must admit that more was planned than not planned. Yet, had the Ikon folks not been here, I think it very well could have been a disaster. I'm so very tired of ad-hoc services and missing details. Somehow, I still find myself feeling hopeful. I keep asking myself why I cannot just let these frustrations go. Why do they bother me so? I know things cannot be perfect - why do I try to make them so?

My day finished with a Christmas party in our home for our small group. This was very relaxing and fun, eating great food prepared by my very talented wife and engaging in conversation about how to make this Christmas season more meaningful and filled with generosity.

Funny moment of the day: watching Bob and Ben trying to get down from the roof after Santa took a fall and exploded on the driveway. Actually, I dropped Santa because his sleigh was completely falling apart. The explosion was pretty funny. Everyone escaped unhurt, even Santa.

I've started reading a new collection of writings from Henri Nouwen called Eternal Seasons. The first section is on Advent. The editor has collected 12 short writings from Nouwen on Advent, so I plan to read 3 a week. In the first writing, Waiting Open-Endedly, I found myself stopped on two statements in particular. These seem very fitting for my frustrations mentioned above, as well as my goal of "present-ness" for this Advent season:

To wait open-endedly...is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life.

The spiritual life is a life in which we wait,
actively present in the moment,
expecting that new things will happen to us,
new things that are far beyond our own imagination or prediction.

And so I wait...