Sometimes I read something and am awed by the wisdom some people have. This seems to happen a lot when I come across the writings of Lesslie Newbigin. The quote below, sent to me by a good friend, strikes just the right chord at this time of year:
“The Advent faith is the faith that there are really new possibilities for our world. It means that we have a certain skepticism towards this world. We do not act as if this was the only possible world… are sure that this other world is not just a dream, but that it is real and reliable indeed that it is – so to speak – just round the corner, ready to break into our world and turn everything upside down. This is the Advent faith… The Advent season should come as a reminder to us that we can never be, and should not be, adjusted to the world. We are here to proclaim the reality and the imminence of a wholly other world, a world in which different powers rule and different standards operate. We are here to make it possible for ordinary men and women really to believe this, and therefore to live in hope and readiness. But what is the basis for our assurance that a radically different kind of world is possible? It is that this radically different kind of world has already broken into this world and that its powers and its standards have begun 
already to work. Here we touch upon the other side of the Advent message. We do not merely – like Old Testament prophets – speak about an unknown day in the future; we speak about a known person who has already come, in whom Advent has begun. We speak about a new world who’s powers are already at work in our own experience. What we look forward to, therefore, is not a wholly unknown event; it is the completion of what has already been begun in the coming of Jesus; it is the victory of the powers which are already at work in this world, grappling with the powers of evil; it is the public manifestation and acknowledgment of the reign of Jesus at the right hand of God which is now hidden, an object of faith but not yet of sight.”
– Lesslie Newbigin, The Good Shepherd – Future and Advent
Newbigin gives meaning to all the hard work being done by pastors, teachers, missionaries, social entrepreneurs … for all of those who comfort the afflicted, house the homeless, create jobs for the unemployed … for all of those who not only dream of a better world but actively create a better world … for all of us at PathLight who put kids through school, build the faith of teachers, mobilize volunteers to expand their hearts … for all who understand that the Kingdom of God is here, now, present. That’s what this season of Advent is about.
Come, Lord Jesus, be with us.