Imagining an Angel-Filled Advent

By Rev. Caitlin Childers Brown

Pastor and Minister of Service & Community

Last Lenten season I bought a book of poems by Ann Weems because someone on Facebook said a certain Lenten poem was found in her book “Kneeling in Bethlehem.” Now I should have double-checked this source, because when the book arrived, it was full of lovely Advent poems. While it did not have a single Lenten poem in sight, I was delighted by these wonderful Advent poems and spent much of March and the Lenten season thinking about Advent.
 
The whole book is lovely, but one that has stood out to me this week is a poem titled “Angel-Filled Advent.” 
 
Wouldn't it be wonderful
if Advent came filled with angels and alleluias?
Wouldn’t it be perfect
if we were greeted on these December mornings
with a hovering of heavenly hosts
tuning their harps and brushing up on their fa-la-la’s?
Wouldn’t it be incredible
if their music filled our waking hours
with the promise of peace on earth
and if each Advent night we dreamed of nothing but goodwill?
Wouldn’t we be ecstatic
if we could take those angels shopping,
or trim the tree, or have them hold our hands
and dance through our houses decorating?
And oh, how glorious it would be
to sit in church next to an angel
and sing our hark-the-heralds!
What an Advent that would be!
What Christmas spirit we could have!
An angel-filled Advent has so many possibilities!
 
But in lieu of that,
perhaps we can give thanks
for the good earthy joys we have been given
and for the earthly “angels” that we know
who do such a good job of filling
our Advent with alleluias!
 
Ann Weems from Kneeling in Bethlehem, p. 16

As we go through this joyful and busy season, I give thanks for the earthly angels who fill my Advent with alleluias. From the kind grocery store clerk who brings a smile in Kroger, to the people who are patient with me and my two-year-old, to so, so many of you all, there are earthly angels all around us. As you go from Christmas parties, and shopping, in hustle and bustle, I hope you find earthly angels around you, too. And I hope your Advent season is filled with alleluias!