Advent is the antidote to the faux-Christmas of the world around us. Stores and ads are coming at us with relentless energy. Every business or non-profit you’ve ever given your email address to is trying to entice you to spend more and give more. If the church were out to pander to you, we’d be doing the same, bringing you nostalgic, feel-good Scriptures about baby Jesus, the happy Holy Family, coming peace on earth.

But instead, the church has curated an experience of the apocalyptic, of an adult Jesus saying things like “blessed are those who do not take offense at me.” These weeks of Advent remind us that Jesus’s first coming was to a world longing for justice, longing to know that God sees our suffering and would draw near to us. And in Advent 4, he finally does – through God’s work in the complicated life of a backwoods carpenter.

Two out of every three years, this fourth Sunday of Advent brings us Luke’s account, which focuses Mary and Elizabeth. But this year, we get Matthew, who centers the story of Joseph, the adoptive father through whom Jesus belongs to the line of David. We get to enter his world as he grapples with what it means to be a “just man” in the morally complex situation he finds himself in. And we will be reminded that the invitation of Advent is not to have a picture-perfect life but to be the men and women God has called us to be in the story he is writing in our world. I hope you’ll join us!

Dustin+ gives an annual update on Gospel Conversations!