In the advent season, observers anticipate and prepare for the birth of the baby Jesus, a symbolic longing and waiting and believing in the presence of Love in the world.  And though the same narrative of hope is told again and again each year, every year can bring a new experience of the Christmas story, born out of the joys and sorrows of this life, in this moment.

"Should Christ be born a thousand times anew

Despair, o man, unless he's born in you."     -Silesius Angelus

Angelus remarks that the observation of Advent and Christmas is empty without one's openness to how the spirit of Love and Hope might be born in the human heart and borne out into the world a thousand times anew.

In practical terms, the nativity story could be an invitation to ask, "What unexpected joy and hope can be born out of challenging, downright awful circumstances?"   Though distinct from one another, sacred winter holiday stories touch upon this question.  A winter solstice story tells of the richness of the dark winter giving birth to new days of light, a similar invitation to incarnating hope in the midst of challenge.  The Hanukah story tells of the priests who persevered in hope to purify the Holy Temple, using oil that burned miraculously for eight days, despite the meager amount they possessed.

No matter what your story, 'tis the season to revive again that human gift of hope- beyond all the evidence that points to despair.  I wish that you may be open to the magic and wonder of the season, that Hope and Love be born in you and your ways of being in the world.

In faith,

Allison