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Reflection:

I don’t know how God’s sovereignty works. 

I don’t know what’s free will and what’s predetermined, and how that all plays out. I just know that the Divine is really really really really really really really detailed in Its working with us—and anytime I’m awakened to this intentionality, I’m filled with wonder. 

There’s a section in the Scriptures where John the Baptist sees his cousin Jesus walking down the street and says, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” 

Kind of an odd comment to make about your relative, and I don’t think it’s alluding to Jesus being rather sheepish at family gatherings. The lamb had been a symbol of sacrificial atonement from the earliest days in the Jewish identity. Abraham, Passover, Isaiah all include references to this. And then John declares that Jesus is this ultimate offering for God’s restoration plan for the world. 

For John, God’s plan had moved from 

lamb to man,

from abstract to physical, 

from cosmic to personal. 

And that is the invitation for us this Advent too. 

In the book of Revelation, there’s a line that reads, “I am the Alpha and the Omega . . . who is, and who was, and who is to come,” which seems to cover pretty much all the things. 

It’s the “who was” part that catches my attention because it means that Who has been around for everything up until now. Who has been paying attention. Who comes into this universe (rays), this time (clock), and this world (earth) as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. But Who also comes to us personally, today, as the answer to our deepest question: 

“Who cares?” 

If we’re honest, isn’t that our real question during this Advent season? Not “What was the overarching theological plan of Christmas?” but “Who cares?” 

Has the Divine been paying attention to what’s going on with us, with us here, with us up until now?

I don’t think our deepest question is “Is God real?” I think our real question is “Is God real in all of this?” This life. The one we woke up in.

I think wonder this season can be found when we move from abstract religious ideas to the minutiae of our lives... the lives we woke up in… because it’s in our everyday lives we will discover The Who who cares.‍

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* this meditation is an excerpt from the book Honest Advent.