Advent is here. And this time of year is busy, so busy, and it’s so easy to miss the “why”. It’s so easy to bustle and rush and stress and buy and give and forget. But we can’t; we can’t skim over the infant lying quietly amid cows and sheep. We can’t miss the God who created all and then came to meet us in our emptiness.

This is Advent, we have 25 days to remember, to remind ourselves, to hold our breath with eager anticipation of the one who came to save. This is the time we watch the sky for the star that leads us to him, this is the time that we listen to the whispers that imagine something greater is coming. This is the time we await our God, we remember his first coming and we ache for the second.

So don’t be caught in the whirlwind and miss him. He’s the point, he’s the “why”. He is the answer to all our questions and desires. It’s Advent, something wonderful is coming, rejoice!

The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come. For these, it is enough to wait in humble fear until the Holy One himself comes down to us, God in the child in the manger. God comes. The Lord Jesus come. Christmas comes. Christians rejoice!

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Advent Sermon on December 2, 1928