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Rev. Michelle's Message December 5, 2024
We are now well into the first week of Advent, so it seems like a good time for a reminder about what the season of Advent is all about. Advent is a time of preparation and a time of waiting. Traditionally, during Advent Christians are waiting for the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One, the Christ. In Unity, because we believe the Christ is who all of us truly are at our core, we place more of an emphasis on that Christ Spirit being reborn in us.
So rather than simply waiting for this event to happen, we focus on preparing ourselves for this symbolic rebirth. We turn our attention to making room in the inn of our hearts for that innocence and purity and goodness that is symbolized by the Christ Child to be born anew in our own consciousness.
And so rather than a time of passive waiting, Advent is a time for us to be actively involved in preparing ourselves. We do this through prayer and meditation, as well as all the other activities we typically engage in during this time—singing Christmas carols, participating in generous giving, taking time to gather with others to renew the bonds of friendship and love, opening our hearts and our homes to those in need of connection and support. Even taking the time to write Christmas cards to friends and family is an act of preparing our hearts to make room for more openness, receptivity, warmth, and connection.
You may want to take some special time each day during this season of Advent to light a candle, say a special prayer, quietly reflect, or read the day’s passage in your Unity Advent booklet. When we prepare our hearts with love and caring, the Spirit of the Christ is born easily and effortlessly in us. We find ourselves feeling more loving, more accepting, more forgiving, more generous, more at peace.
This is what Christmas is truly about—allowing ourselves to be transformed by the love and joy and peace and hope of the season so that we experience a rebirth into a greater expression of the Christ in, through, and as us, so that we may be a blessing to others and to our world.
Blessings,
Rev Michelle
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