The Tension of Advent

A post by Rebecca Shasberger

A dear friend of mine believes it’s time for Christmas music once the season’s first snowfall occurs. Another insists there be no Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving, even if it snows before then. I drive them both nuts saying Christmas music ought not start until December 25th (or maybe the 24th), and offering them the link to my Advent playlist yet again. 

Advent is one of my two most favorite seasons of the year. But what’s the point of Advent, anyway?

 As Tish Harrison Warren puts it in her recent New York Times article, “We dwell in a world still racked with conflict, violence, suffering, darkness. Advent holds space for our grief, and it reminds us that all of us, in one way or another, are not only wounded by the evil in the world but are also wielders of it, contributing our own moments of unkindness or impatience or selfishness.” 

Our world is broken. On both macro and micro levels, both in us and around us, things are not as they should be. Sorrow is a legitimate response.

And yet, a Person has come and is coming again who promises to set everything right. God has brought redemption for all the suffering of the world, even as we watch and wait for this redemption to be completed. This is the glorious, uncomfortable tension of Advent. 

It’s easy to look at the massive problems in our world and lose hope that anything could ever change. War. Cancer. Famine. Marital strife. Poverty. Broken systems.

And yet, as followers of the One who proclaimed the time of restoration is at hand, our only option is to pursue restoration as we go about our days. This tension of Advent - that the world is broken but not without hope - lies at the core of Renovare’s mission. We are broken people. The world around us is broken, too, at times by our own influence and in many ways that seem vastly beyond it. 

But God is not far off. God has not forgotten His creation. And so we dream and work and explore how we can bring our lives and our unique gifts to a world that groans as it waits for everything that is wrong to be set right. By God’s grace, may He use us in His unfolding story of redemption.

P.S. Shout out to @tonyhughesphoto for celebrating Advent with his portrait project asking people ‘What are you longing to see made new in this world?’ It was an honor to be part of this series! Check out his work on Instagram.