Talashia Keim Yoder looks at what it means to slow down and clear the path for Jesus this Advent season.
Talashia Keim Yoder lives in Goshen, Indiana, with her husband and two children. She is entering her 17th year as a pastor at College Mennonite Church. She is the writer for Mennonite Education Agency’s Lent-at-Home and Advent-at-Home resources and is the content provider for www.buildingfaithfamily.com.
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My family recently moved into a new home, in the same town we’ve lived in for 20 years. Our previous home was on a busy highway. Entering and exiting our driveway required us to rapidly slow or accelerate to make the jump between “driveway speed” and “highway speed” — 45 miles per hour. This new home is tucked back in the trees. It’s in a neighborhood with winding roads. I’ve discovered that I often don’t even have to touch the brakes as I come home. I just reach a certain point in the road and coast my way through the neighborhood and into the tree-lined driveway. My daily journey has changed.
A couple of months after moving, when the webs of my brain had cleared enough to pay attention, I began to notice that this journey is affecting my spirit, as I enter and exit. I find myself easing into my outside world when I journey from home to work or other activities. And I’m no longer “coming in hot” when I arrive home after work. I move more slowly, and I approach my family more thoughtfully. I suspect that my new daily journey is making me an easier person to live with.
The landscape of the journey matters. The prompt from this year’s Advent at Home worship guide that is calling to me is “Clearing the path for the journey.” December, for many of us, is full, full, full. There are concerts, and parties, and extra things at church, and holiday tournaments, and gifts, and family gatherings, and travel, and decorating, and baking, and, and, AND … The problem is that they are all good things. There’s nothing we really want to take off that list. And yet, when we keep it all on our December path, the path becomes so cluttered and rocky and full of ravines that we spend all our energy just trying to get through!
Clearing the path means taking a thoughtful look at our expectations for the season.
Which events are the rocks that mark the path, and which ones are the stones that will trip us? Which traditions are the gentle hills that give shape to our walk toward Jesus’ birth, and which ones are pits that we might struggle to get out of? What is essential in this journey ahead of us, and what has become a distraction? How do we clear our path, so that we can be present to this journey toward the birth of Jesus?
Clearing the path isn’t easy. It involves releasing some of our expectations for ourselves. And sometimes, it involves not meeting the expectations of others. Path-clearing is made easier when we don’t do it alone. Remember, this year’s Advent theme from “Leader” is “Together on the Journey.” Together.
Another gift of our new home is that, for the first time in almost 20 years, we live in a neighborhood. Not only that, but it’s also a neighborhood where many people go for walks. I venture out for walks, for mini-journeys, at varying hours of the day, and without fail, I encounter other humans. Even better, our family has begun a weekly Sabbath practice of taking a sunset walk with another household in our neighborhood. As we slow down and clear the path, literally and figuratively, we are not alone.
In the anxious times we find ourselves in, this Advent season can be a moment to take a deep collective breath. As we journey toward the manger, toward the birth of a baby who saved the world, we walk together in the assurance that God was, God is, and God will be.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.
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