I love Advent! I especially love this first week. I’m still in the newness of the holidays. Decorating has begun, buying gifts for loved ones, spending time contemplating this holy season and what it means to me this year.
Each year I open myself to see and hear the sights and sounds of Christmas in a new way. What is the deeper understanding of this season, and the events told of long ago? Of course the Marys are close by, both Mother and Magdalene.
When I envision Mother Mary being approached by the angel Gabriel, I don’t see a little peasant girl poor and shy. I see a strong young lady who knows, on some level, that she is called to birth a deeper reality of Spirit into the world. She might not have known it would be in the form of a child. There are always mysteries to the ways that we are called to express Spirit in this world. There is a spirit within us that is ever calling us into these mysteries. I call that spirit HOPE.
Hope might commonly be thought of as a deep wishing for something to happen that isn’t happening. Hope, elpis in Greek, is a great anticipation of good, and expectation of 100% completion. Hope is that within us that knows who we have come here to be at this time on this planet, and the ways that we will birth that truth. That hope is going to look different for each of us. The power comes when we, as Mary did, say yes even when we don’t have the complete picture. Every time we say yes to this desire within, we demonstrate within this world a greater reality. It is by standing in our hope that we make a difference in the world.
May this Christmas season be one of Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy.
Grace-filled Blessings,
Rev. Charli
Rev Charli Tupper 
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