Wow! I can’t believe that it’s already Advent and moving into December! How did this year go so quickly? 

A young man (who doesn’t attend church anymore) told me that he finds it really funny when people tell him to “Keep the Christ in Christmas”. If you know much about the history, you know that Jesus most likely wasn’t born at this time of year. And you probably also know that the Christians “appropriated” a pagan holiday and much of its symbolism into our “Christmas” holiday. I get it. But most of us aren’t celebrating Yule or Saturnalia today. Most of us are celebrating the Christmas that we learned growing up from our grandparents and parents. 

Perhaps if you’re lucky as I am, you might have had great-grandparents from the “old country” who shared their stories and customs. And that “Christmas culture” that we learned is based on the gift of love that was given to us by God. It was the gift of a King who arrived as a humble, helpless infant. This infant, baby Jesus, is the root of our Christmas celebration. So why celebrate without him? Why decorate and shop and bake and wrap? If you’re shaking your head right about now and saying, “Why DO I do all this extra work?”, let me invite you into the reason for the season.

Advent is a time of waiting. It is a time of hope. The hope that the Israelites had was that SOMEDAY Messiah would come. This Messiah would bring light into the darkness and save His people. We don’t have to wait 1,000 years for this prophecy to come true. It’s already been fulfilled! Yearly, we refocus our attention onto the coming of the Messiah. And we prepare ourselves for this gift with the season of Advent which begins four Sundays before Christmas Eve. Four weeks of expectant waiting. Four weeks to prepare our hearts for the coming of that little baby. Four weeks to focus on Hope and Love and Joy and Peace.  

Isaiah’s prophecy found in the 9th chapter reads: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” 

We all need that light that shines in our darkness. This year, may it lead you to the story of the manger. May you find the child lying in it that brings you to your knees. And may HE become the light for you. Merry Christmas!

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Kelly Jahn is pastor of the Juda Zion and Oakley Union United Methodist Churches.