Deacon’s Corner: Advent and the Journey of Parenthood

By The Rev. Matthew Simpson

Advent is one of my favorite church seasons. Prepare for the Coming of our Lord! For most of my spiritual life, I have always understood it as a season of quiet contemplation. And I have seen preparation for Christmas mostly as having times and spaces of peace and solitude - so different from the mania and consumption that characterizes this season in our contemporary culture.

This year, however, I have come to understand preparation in a very different way. This past month Kasey and I have been preparing for the coming of children into our home, and I can say “peace and quiet” are not the words I would use to describe the experience.

Preparation has required an upending of our home. Rooms had to be taken apart and moved; furniture had to be bought and assembled (with as few expletives as possible).

Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, the themes of Advent certainly have rung true for us.

Hope at being parents and growing our family.

Peace from feeling that we are being called and led by God to this life.

Joy during our brief times in meeting the kiddos before they move in.

And Love, of course, from all around us: God, this community, our friends and family.

That love has been made manifest in prayer and support. This love has also been shown in humor. I told a co-worker of mine who is a mom, “I imagine on Day 2, we will be thinking ‘we don’t know what to do!’” Her response, “Day 2? Try Hour 2; don’t worry, you’ll be fine, trust me.” I do trust her.

But, this experience of preparing for kids has given me a new perspective on our faith, on Advent, and on what it can mean for us to prepare for Jesus during this season.

Preparation is intentional hard work: there are things to throw away, things to acquire. There is a reordering required, for everything is about to change. The Way of Jesus, the Way of Love and Peace will change everything in our lives. Are we ready?

The Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love certainly ring true, but I would also add Holy Fear with a touch of anxiety comes with preparation as well. A Holy Fear that I will not be enough for this tall order of being a Loving Christian in this world, but the faith that God’s grace will be sufficient for us in this journey.

No matter how much we prepare, we will never be fully ready, but we do everything we can to prepare regardless. I don’t think I have ever been fully prepared for Jesus when he has come into my life and upended it, but I have always been cared for, even when I stumbled and fell.

While a lot of the work of Preparation may be personal, Preparation can not be done alone. We need the love and care of others to make it in this journey.

This Advent may God lead us down the paths that bring us closer to Jesus Christ. To you who God is calling to silence, solitude, and contemplation…God be with you! And for those being called into the jolt of this world, may you know God is with you too! And no matter where we are called, may God grant us the grace to be Light in this world! Advent Blessing to us all! Amen!

“Prepare ye the way of the LORD”