There's some unique language thrown around in theological circles that can go a long way in helping us understand the nature of God and God's activity in the world. One of my favorites is irruption. It is also a particularly "Adventy" type of word. I simply cannot hear, say, or type it without it forming an image in my head. It immediately sparks my imagination, igniting divine expectation.

Advent, like the life of the Christian, is a season of contrast and resistance. It is shockingly a dissatisfied life.

Jesus' coming, both past, and future, confronts us because it will not allow us to go on our merry way and live our lives unaffected by His coming. The world as you know it is gone. A new world has come.

The Jesus revolutionary believes that when Jesus returns to flip the world right side up, the weak will be made strong, the poor rich, the unknown known. We begin Advent by reminding ourselves that we are revolutionaries, and the lives we live are lived to one end. Resist the night, and share our specks of light in hope and love with the world around us.

Preparing for Advent. Advent is a season of hope. As such, it is anticipatory and impoverished. It begins in the darkness‚—the darkness among us, the darkness opposing us, and the darkness within us. We see it, name it, and from that uncomfortable place, resist it—all the while attempting to do so in a wash of black Friday deals and mass consumerism.