Jesus Wardrobe and Advent

Last Sunday for our gathering I had asked a few artists, musicians and writers to be involved in our worship gathering to give the gathering a more creative flair. And the art, music and words that were created were awe-inspiring. I love that our community is full of creatives who write, draw, paint, play music, and live out God's creative gifts that has been given to them. One of the people who had a hand in the gathering is a writer and I asked her to write two pieces; one reflecting on Love All (which was the theme for the day) and one reflecting on Advent (and ending our gathering and our Advent Conspiracy series) After she was finished with the pieces, I asked if I could share them on the blog and she has graciously allowed me to repost them here. So I share them with you and may them bless you as they have been a blessing not only to me but our entire Veritas community.

Jesus Wardrobe i want to wear love. i find that so insanely beautiful, that i want it that bad. i want balance of course but if i could pick one thing out to wear each day it would be love. that kind of love that christ wore, that drove out all of that fear in us. i want that, i don't know if i can own it but i want to borrow it, i want to try it on as much as i can. until it becomes natural. so natural that it just kinda fits on me, i dont even need to try anymore. because when you are able to wear that love, things start to come easily, almost like you can just throw on a scarf to top your outfit off, or a subtle bracelet. touch it off with some compassion or even some of that kindness. i believe that as we grow and start to fit into the wardrobe God has made us, we can start to understand Him. It is like that favorite shirt that you own and can't get enough of it, it makes you look great. Just imagine putting Jesus's love on every morning. Imagine what kind of glow you would have, what kind of overflowing passion to serve the person beside you. And the best part of it is that we just need to ask. I think i get so used to complaining, and never seem to look down and see what He had dressed me in today. i want that love. i want to dress in it, sleep in it, walk in it and talk in it.

you know i feel in the all of everything, the center of it is love.

Advent advent season seems to come and go, and as it goes we anxiously wait for the true gift of it all. for some of us we want to be able to put that gift into a box, in a nice snowman bag or even on a plastic card. how easily it is to twist a bow around it, stick a to and from tag on and place it under the tree. and by christmas day, we find ourselves asking, where did advent go?

our eyes turn to the tree and we see the presents spilling over the floor, knowing that as we unwrap them one by one. none of them will hold the joy of advent. Because we are so busy wrapping up advent, I want us to unwrap. I want us to see it unraveling before our own eyes. Get on your hands and kness, and take that red bow off of that christmas box,

how as we wait, we find ourselves kneeling, and as the days of advent go on, the christmas box seems lighter and lighter even if it was just that red bow that was removed.

As you wait for the next week to remove the wrapping paper, it seems to come off smoothly, you find it pointless to buy new wrapping paper when this kind fits perfectly fine on any christmas box. as you carry your naked christmas box around all you want to do is to show people, telling them you can’t wait to see what is inside. how you want them to hold the same thing you have in your very hands. how eager you are to tell them what is to come!

as the last week passes, you wonder what this could be. what could this simple white Christmas box hold? and when that day arrives, you rip open that christmas box and thin air appears from the inside of it. your still, and there is just that pure silence. and somehow you find yourself on your knees again, your hands empty and the only thing that you feel is that presence filling your heart.

so, when it comes to unwrapping your gift, what is in the inside of yours?