2020: What a Year

                                                                                                                                                         Sunday's Theme: Time

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       “It’s surely been a year.”  Enough said. Well, that is awkward if these are the first lines of this year’s Advent blog. But no kidding - what a year. One surely to remember. One surely many of us wish to forget.
   
       Our struggles are global and national and personal. A deadly Pandemic has riddled our bodies and our spirits. This Pandemic has taken away graduations and celebrations from our children. It has taken visits away from our older ones. It has robbed all of us of hugs. The violence in our country against people of color has bubbled over and brought us to the streets and to our knees. Many endured more hurricanes than we had letters in the alphabet. We have been met with words that have wounded and words that have offered hope. With kindnesses that have bubbled up there has been so much destruction and pain. Courageous and strong leaders have died in recent months who held the candle out to show us the way in our darkness. It will take the lot of us to fill their shoes. The election that brought hope again for many, but not for some. It has surely been a year.
   
       Today we begin Advent. Today we set out on a four-week journey that leads us to Bethlehem. Today we are offered the opportunity to step off life’s merry-go-round and follow a star. Today we are invited to reflect on all that has engulfed us, we are welcomed into intentional days to choose to slow down and let our hearts catch up.
   
       When I find myself overwhelmed with all the things I don't know- which is certainly this year -- I try to remind myself of what I do know. As I reflect on 2020, I take comfort in the lessons we are given each day from trees. They are daily growing, stretching, persisting all around us. For all our days they stand as our teachers ready to remind us of truths always deeply rooted. Trees mark their time on earth with rings that round the circumference within their trunks. Each year holds a dark and light ring side-by-side. This pair can tell you if there has been a fire. The rings tell us if there’s been too much or too little rain. Each tree balances time within time. Hard times and wonderful, blessed times. Years captured side-by-side telling the life story of each tree. Light and dark paired to measure time and history. These teachers standing all around us remind us of a greater picture than just this moment. All these moments are our story. Times of fire and drought alongside times of abundance. All of it held together in the life of each tree. As it is with us, each of us hold time within time.
   
       We set our hearts today to Bethlehem. 2020 has been a year with far too much and not nearly enough. One year in my life and in yours. Poet, Emily Saliers would remind us that “we are better off for all that we let in,” and I believe she is so very right about this year. We are here in this place, in these days. In this coming season, we are invited to lean into something bigger and brighter, something deeper and richer, something as familiar as a favorite song and as close as our next breath. As we set out toward Bethlehem, we are invited to remember all along the way what has been true our whole lives – Emmanuel, God is with us.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
   
  
  

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