Welcome to another podcast of Struggling Well. And once again this morning, we are for inviting our good friend Tim Briggs to have some conversation with us. we sit around this table and we record these podcasts and before usually and after we have some really important and meaningful conversations between the three of us and we have been getting to know Tim little by little through this year that we've been doing this podcast and since he's the age of my children I can brag like a mom. He's a remarkable young man who loves the Lord, he is committed and as his church is named, steadfast. So is he. he's honest with his struggles and yet he is also hopeful and I really really love that about you, Tim. I think you're a cool guy and though I didn't give birth to you and you ever call me mom, I'll slap you. However, I think you're pretty cool.
You're like a cool aunt.
Oh, there you go. A cool ant. That Okay, I'll settle for the cool ant.
You know what you said that?
And what are you?
I'm nothing. Anyway, we've been talking about Advent and Tim shared with us some thoughts that we really wanted him to share with you. So Tim, if you would do that.
We were talking about Advent in between episodes and Jimmy had mentioned it last episode and I was reminded of a book I read by Fleming Rutled. I believe she was an Anglican I think priest. I don't know the Anglican hierarchy, but she preached in New York for a long time. she's written a great book. I think it's just called Advent. And for me, not growing up in the church and then even in my church experience, not having a lot of lurggical experience, the practice of Advent was foreign to me. I didn't really know I didn't really know what it meant.
reading that book was helpful. Our Anglican brothers and sisters really lean into the Advent season
and Advent is a word that means coming or arrival. And for those churches that celebrate the church calendar, the advent season is a time of waiting and longing and sitting in that waiting and longing. She has this quote in the book which I really appreciate. She says, "Advent says no to sentimentalized Christmas cheer. Instead, it invites us to name our sorrows, lament our unfulfilled longings, Pay attention to the pain of waiting in the wilderness, all with quiet hope. Advent begins in the dark.
And I love that quote and I love that there is this intentional space to sit in our waiting
and our longing. I'd love to hear you guys talk. Why is that important?
Well, I think as you're reading that, and this is second time for me to hear it, the idea of waiting and longing. I realize and you all that are listening probably already know this, but Israel was waiting for the Messiah, the one to redeem them. so his birth signified that the rescuer had come. And wow, that just really hits me. The waiting and longing for something so strongly. It's throughout their history. And many many in the Jewish culture now are still waiting. for the Messiah. and because Christmas is so anti that, on one hand, there's, you know, we've lit our tree and our houses and everything that the waiting and longing for him may not seem as intense as it was and but as it should be.
Yeah. And I that quote that you read, Tim, what struck me in that was that this in this waiting we sit in the darkness and that reminds me I think there's three of the four gospels that tell the advent story, the first arrival of Christ. We obviously Matthew and Luke become the ones that we typically default to, but I think John's gospel is a is another telling in a different way of the Christmas story. And as John begins his in verse four, he says about this one who is coming, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. So there's the contrast to the darkness and it goes on and says, the true light which gives life light to everyone was coming into this world. and then I love verse 14 of John 1. And the word became flesh. There's the arrival
and dwelt among us and we've seen his glory, the glory of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. That's the arrival of Jesus. That's the one that dispels the darkness. And Eugene Peterson in the message takes verse 14 and says, "And the word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood." Yeah.
and again, I know there people who don't necessarily like that, but I think it's a great description of what he did when he came to be with us and he is light. So, in the waiting and for the arrival and it's the same thing now to me of his second coming. we look around and see a lot of darkness, a darkness in our own lives, darkness in this world that we live in and we long for the light and this one who come back again is the one who is the light. so that contrast between Darkness and light is what struck me in that quote.
Yeah, I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but from what I understand of the language, the word for waiting and hoping are near synonyms. And I love that idea of,
you know, if we lean into this Advent season, when we wait, it's not an idol waiting. It's not a waiting that will not be rewarded. We're waiting because we do have hope
and we reenact Israel's longing for a coming Messiah while at the same time longing and anticipating for that same Jesus to come back. And so I love how we can sit between the two advents
and we can wait and that may sound gloomy and it is hard. It is hard to wait and it's hard to press into that pain and disappointment but we wait. with hope.
And those two things are intermingled.
Yeah. And for the believer, you can't take away the joining of this life and eternity because it won't make any sense. That hope that we have is not necessarily in things in this world getting better. Although we may desire that, but the hope really is an eternity. And so it comes into that sense in which he came the first time and brought salvation into this world. And he took the darkness and turned it to light. And the light couldn't comprehend it. But and he moved in. But that hope in the second coming is the hope of eternity, which is where we find our real hope. Not just in this life, it's in the life to come.
I wonder if there are those of you that are listening that are in a particularly dark part of your life, whether you know Jesus as your are a savior and you've accepted him as your Messiah or you are a believer who's just been in a really dark space. I and Jimmy just referred to it again and Tim has as well is that in him was life. In Jesus was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. This isn't just these words, these inspired words of God are not just, you know, trit phrases that we can banter around. This is truth. This is the word of God that never returns void. And I can speak from my own experience which doesn't qualify me for anything other than to say that I know what darkness feels like. And I know that often times the darkness feels like it will overcome everything. But God's word says that Jesus is the light to all men and darkness cannot overcome it. So As you are preparing for Christmas, as you're preparing and we're in this advent period, this between the advents, as Tim said, and we are maybe lamenting the past year, I don't know where you are, but know this that Jesus is the light of the world, a light to all men, and his light will overcome your darkness as you lean into him. We're so glad that you listened to us. We are humbled that you would tune in. and we hope that you have a really important and meaningful Christmas this year. Thank you so much.