Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity … part 2

Another beautiful reflection offered here … Especially quotable:

… A woman giving birth is preceded by a woman being pregnant. Pregnancy and Advent are alike in enough ways to consider Advent like a little pregnancy for all of us to go through together. As we are waiting for the Human One, we would be working to make the way for the One to come … the One who in turns makes the way for all of us. Which means we are all really making the way for all of us … if we keep Love central.
Pregnancy … so much happens under cover of flesh and in darkness, out of sight but not out of touch or out of mind. It was so clear to me that I was not in charge of what was happening; and yet I did not feel powerless or helpless. I felt an intimacy with mystery that went hand in hand with heartburn and growing girth and hormonal roller-coasters … physical and emotional and – when I let it – spiritual connection.
Advent becomes a way to revisit all of that, intentionally, learning from those memories and the way I feel them connecting to the seasons around me now. My life – in this season – feels pregnant with what is to come: next year’s work and worship and what I will try not to worry about, but just live into.
The days grow short. The light grow dim. The animals hunker down. The wind rises. The stars sharpen. I hear the intake of breath. A Story is about to begin … and hope spirals up in me, like tender fists and knees running along the inside of my belly. Mysterious … tangible … unseen … undeniable.

Thanks so much for these reflections on pregnancy, Advent, and “hope spiraling up.” If you’d like to send a link to your reflection … you can do so via info@brianmclaren.net