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I love the local church. When God's people gather together, those spaces become the most densley presence-of-God-popoulated places. It's also a hub for the voice of God through:

  • Teaching
  • Singing
  • Sacraments
  • Gifts of the Spirit
  • And more

However, the local church is not the only place where God's voice breaks through the silence and pedigreed people are not the only people that God speaks to (ie - Joseph and Mary).

When we remember the Advent of Jesus into the world, we remember that away from hum of the Bethlehem, away from the pedigrees of Joseph and Mary, and away from the excitement of Jerusalem - God's voice  breaks through to respectable yet blue collar and unknown shepherds (their names are never chronicled). Luke 2:8-10a says:

"8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them..."

When we lean into the Advent season we are reminded that God loves to speak into and among the mundane places of our lives - in our offices, at work, keeping up the home, in school hallways, etc. However, it's becoming more and more difficult to be open to the voice of God in the mundane spaces of our lives because as soon as we have a spare 30 seconds (instead of sitting back, taking a deep breath, and putting up the antenna) we end up opening up Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok to enterain ourselves.

Advent actually invites us to slow down, remember that God speaks to us in the mundane spaces of our lives, and speaks to us regardless of our pedigree.