The Thrill of Advent

The season of Advent begins in a couple of weeks, and I have been reflecting on why I look forward to it so much. When I was young my excitement was about Christmas Day itself, but now it is more about “the waiting” of Advent: the expecting, the unknowing, and the anticipating of new birth. This expectancy is not just about the birth of God amongst us, but is about our new birth as well. I sense this Advent thrill in Julian of Norwich when she says that
 
our Saviour is our Very Mother in whom we be endlessly borne … We are all in Him enclosed and He is enclosed in us.
 
Meister Eckhart shares this same Advent excitement, for he writes,
 
When we say, "God is eternal," we mean:
God is eternally young,
God is ever green, ever verdant, ever flowering.
Every action of God is new, for God makes all things new.
God is the newest thing there is;
the youngest thing there is.
God is the beginning
and if we are united to God
we become new again.
 
As Advent approaches this year, my you be blessed by the thrill, the anticipation, and the mystery of endless new birth; that you are enclosed in God, and God is enclosed in you.

BRIAN HOLLIDAY