Active Anticipation

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to sprit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  (John 3:6-8)

From Scott:

“I’m just not in the Christmas spirit this year,” my friend said.  “The music, the decorations, the greeting cards…none of it is working this year.”

I had to confess, I haven’t felt much of the “Christmas spirit” myself.  With so much unrest in the world and even here in our own American cities, it is easy to be pessimistic, cynical, or downright depressed.  What is that “spirit of Christmas” we look for each year?  And how do we “get it,” especially in a world bent on suppressing it?

Nicodemus went looking for answers that night long ago, and Jesus gave them to him—just not quite like he expected.  As Jesus further explains the notion of being “born again” to a skeptical Nicodemus, this is not a physical rebirth, but a renewal of the spirit.  “Flesh gives birth to flesh,” Jesus says, “but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” The capitalization in that quote is not insignificant.

While taking care of our physical bodies may boost our outlook, such attention to the physical realm alone will not bring spiritual rebirth.  All of the entrapments of the physical world—the accumulation of financial wealth, fashion, homes, cars, job titles, or the like—will be insufficient to fill the “God-shaped hole” in each of our spirits.  “Spirit gives birth to spirit,” Jesus says, and it is there we should begin.

Just yesterday, a scant few days away from Christmas, I began my gift wrapping (can you say, “procrastination?”).  This is something I actually enjoy doing each year, and I probably take more care in doing it than I need to.  Many of these gifts will be opened by small children who care much less about what’s on the outside of the package than what’s on the inside.  Yet, as I wrap those gifts each year, I think about each of those people who will open them.   I visualize them, and consider what they mean to me in my life.  And yesterday, as happens every year with gift wrapping, I “get” the Christmas spirit.  In that action, and in remembering them, my spirit is renewed.

Nicodemus took the initiative to seek out Jesus that ancient night.  He didn’t wait around waiting for Christ to come to him.  And it seems that the “Christmas spirit”—what we know as true joy to the world—comes not from our waiting around, but in taking the initiative to do something about our spiritual renewal.  It is about opening the space for Spirit to enter, not expecting to have Spirit simply wash over us at the sound of a Christmas carol or the view of holiday lights…or even our passive “participation” in the pew on Sunday morning.

It is not too late.  We wait expectantly during Advent for Christ to come, for the blessed birth—and rebirth!  In these final days of Advent, let our waiting be expectant, but also active.  Let that action open the space for Him to enter, for in doing so, we may be blessed by the unexpected arrival of that Christmas spirit of peace and joy.  “The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”