Advent Day Twenty-Two

Luke 2:1-4

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.”

Dramatic stories in the Bible get a lot of airtime – like Sarah’s geriatric pregnancy in Genesis 21, Moses’s confrontations of Pharaoh in Exodus 5-11, the Israelites escaping from Egyptian slavery in Exodus 13-14, and the walls falling around Jericho in Joshua 6:20.  Those are great stories!  And each of those great stories starts with a “small” one – like Abraham and Sarah offering hospitality to strangers (Genesis 18), Moses packing up his family on a donkey to make the long journey from Midian to Egypt (Exodus 4:20), Israelites slaughtering lambs and making dinner (Exodus 12), and an army marching circles outside of city borders for seven days (Joshua 6).

Abram/Abraham would become the patriarch of Israel, but first needed to pack up and leave what was familiar and comfortable.  Moses would lead the Israelites out of slavery, but first he had to get back to Egypt.  Mary would give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, but first she would carry him through months of pregnancy, including 90 miles of travel shortly before giving birth.  Jesus would give his life for the redemption of the world, but had a lot of growing-up to do first.

Advent marks the start of the liturgical calendar.  There is much drama yet to come, but so much of what we practice and celebrate in this season is the early steps of faithful obedience in the “little” things.  In this season of expectant waiting, may we cultivate rhythms of rest and work, trusting and walking faithfully with God.

Galatians 5:22-23a

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”