Road in Between:: The Road You're On

I hope you are getting ready for Advent. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it's a description of the time leading up to the church's celebration of Christmas. It's a version of the Latin word for "coming" and while the origins are hazy, it's easily been observed since 500. 

This year our observance of Advent is centered around the idea of journey. The Christmas story features the journey of a very pregnant Mary and her husband-to-be Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem. There's a journey of the shepherds from the hillside with their flocks to see the newborn Jesus. There's a journey from a group of astronomers from the east to go and celebrate a very special child with expensive gifts.  

Every journey is different, but they all are made up of similar sections. 

1) Departure - For a journey to begin you have to leave somewhere. Sometimes this is a difficult place and there is a lot of hope tied to traveling to a better place. Sometimes you are leaving the most comfortable spot you know on earth and you're heading towards the unknown and unfamiliar. Whether you are filled with hope or anxiety in the departure, there's a movement from something that is known to something that is unknown or uncertain. This is easily one of the most courageous steps that any of us ever take. 
2) The In-Between - Here's where the journey get's real. You're not where you've been, but you're not where you're going. This is the space where our doubts and uncertainties can run wild.  Sometimes this is a very brief place, but sometimes it can it can stretch over days, weeks and even years. Some of us feel like we spend most of our lives in the in-between. 
3) Arrival - This is the conclusion of it all. This is the moment where our work, planning and travel are behind us and a whole new scope of questions and realities flood over us. It can feel like an end or it can feel like a beginning. Oftentimes it feels like both at the exact same time. 

So, where are you right now? Are you getting ready to depart on some new adventure in life? Some of our greatest departures don't necessarily involve a change in zip code, but everything we've known is ending for a new journey ahead. 

Are you in-between? Do you feel stuck between where or who you've been and who or where you're going to be? Many times we know what it means to be the person before we depart and we can picture who we'll be after arrival, but knowing how to be in-between feels impossible. 

Are you at your new destination? Do you feel like you are at a place you've been working hard to get to? Often we've placed so much emphasis on arriving that we don't realize once we get there that there's more to be done. 

I hope you'll be part of Cascade during Advent. Christ is coming. The world is playing out this reality even today. The question is how we engage the coming of Jesus all through the stages of our own journeys.