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Happy Advent! Just a few days into the season, I guess I am feeling compelled to celebrate this year a little differently. Bear with me everyone. No, I am not going to try to convert any of you. But I am going to express what is on my heart this Advent Season: HOPE.

That’s right, HOPE. Even with all the horrible things that have been occurring the past several weeks, months, years, actually, I still hold so much hope; a new hope for a better life and world in the future.

The sermon at church this past Sunday, combined with the first reflection of our Advent book study really put it all in perspective for me. For years I would hear everyone talk about the “reason for the season,” but honestly, I still didn’t really know what that truly meant. As I have come to understand, the truth is, the real reason we should be celebrating Christmas is because it is all about miracles. And one amazing miracle over any other.

It’s not just the simple fact that a poor, unwed, teenage girl gave birth in a barn, (because they had nowhere else to go), but that that birth was the most miraculous gift from God – as Jesus became a man. God was born into being an ordinary, everyday, hard working person. Just like you, just like me.

The real reason for the season.

What is the miracle in all of that? Well, because he became like us, he was now able to be with us. And because he is with us – Immanuel – even today, in the midst of bombings and shootings and hate-filled political speeches, he can help us endure all the suffering in the world. And why, exactly, would we choose to endure the suffering of the world? So that WE – you and I – can change this world.

The real reason for this season.

Let’s face it, Jesus had a pretty rough go of it while he was here. He knew it would be tough. And even still, he persevered through it. ALL of it. From exile to hunger and homelessness to being tortured to death, he endured all of it for me, for you. Not because he had to, but because that’s how much he loves us. He didn’t do it to get trapped in a world of suffering, but rather to move forward towards a world filled with justice and love and joy that he hopes we can create for ourselves here on earth.

The real reason for the season.

Jesus became a man, so that in residing among us, his Spirit in us, we may actually learn to live and love like God. As we take time this Advent season to pause and prepare to celebrate God, realize this God is a God who loves each and every one of us more in this moment than anyone could love us in an entire lifetime. This is the God I worship. This is the God I know.

This is the real reason for the season.

I know for myself, as I commit more fully to living a life full of compassion for the least and the lost and to love people without condition, just as God has taught me to do, well, I can only HOPE the world still has so much potential to become a better place.

May all of you find peace and joy and HOPE this holiday season. And may all of you sow your personal seeds of HOPE to create your own Christmas miracles in the days and even months to come.

May all of us – in one miraculous way or another – become the real reason for this season.

Amen.