Across the Pastor’s Desk by Timothy Reker

There is probably a lot of imagining going on these days.

Children might be imagining what will be under the tree this Christmas, parents might be wondering how they can accomplish all that has to be done in the coming weeks and merchants might be imagining a record year of sales (especially on this so-called “Black Friday”).

Each of us probably has dreams, hopes and expectations for the Christmas season. They need to be realistic but also life giving.

If we keep Christ at the center of our activities, we can experience God’s peace and joy. However, there is something more.

Many Christian traditions prepare for Christmas with Advent, the four Sundays leading up to Dec. 25. The word itself means “coming” and there are three ways Christ comes into our lives — over 2,000 years ago at Bethlehem; an unknown time in the future, “the Day of the Lord”; and right now, in the present, in a myriad of ways.

Before we focus too much on Christmas itself, these weeks of Advent enable us to be more aware of Christ’s presence now and to prepare for his future coming in glory.

When Jesus returns in glory, we believe that the kingdom of God will be fully established and there will be no more suffering, pain or death. The readings in early Advent call us to be watchful, ready and alert.

This can be difficult when we are balancing so many activities and responsibilities. We can even forget, or at least be unmindful, of our final destiny. Like the unexpected death of someone we know, Advent can invite us to take another look at our lives and put things in perspective — past, present and future. Pausing and taking time to look ahead helps us to evaluate if we are on the right track and moving forward.

As Advent begins this Sunday, I encourage you to imagine what life in the kingdom of God might be like. This is not a form of escapism (“pie-in-the sky”), but an exercise to help us focus our vision and energies on our present way of living.

There are different ways to begin, such as the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) or St. Paul’s description, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of food or drink, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). What if we took just one characteristic and worked on that during Advent?

One sure “thing” that we will find in the kingdom of God is forgiveness. Our merciful and loving God sent Jesus into the world so that we could be forgiven, reconciled. If that is a gift of kingdom living, then we should be offering the gift of forgiveness to others even now, imperfect though ours may be.

But, are we Christians known as forgiving people? Probably not always the case. True forgiveness includes the honest recognition of the harm done, but offers the possibility of another chance.

In addition to shopping, socializing, wrapping, baking and other pre-Christmas tasks, what might our Christmas be like if we were able to forgive a few people in our lives? Peace and joy. That doesn’t take much imagination.

 

The Rev. Timothy Reker is pastor at St. Theodore Catholic Church in Albert Lea and St. James Catholic Church in Twin Lakes.