Holidays in a foreign land

Greetings blog readers, this is Pastor Justin signing back in for my quarterly blog. Yes, you´re right, I used to blog monthly, but before that weekly and before that almost daily. Well what happened was life, work, ministry, mission, teaching, writing 3 books and translating another...can you tell that doesn´t leave much time for blogging now.

At any rate, Happy Advent!  Yes, we are midst of the Advent season, which has its flavors of waiting, anticipation, hoping, joy, faith, peace, love, unexpectedness...of the coming of our Lord. And soon, yes, Jesus the Savior of the world will come into our existence once again, to fill our world and faith with light and life. Great things are happening and we hear God´s advice to: "wake up! get ready! expect the unexpected!" (Mark 13:37)

And as we move through this unexpecting liturgical season, I wonder if Joseph had expected the unexpected when he received news that the Roman Emperor wanted to have a count of the whole world... I wonder if Joseph had expected that he might have to leave town with his pregnant fiancée and walk for 4 days in order to cover the 80 mile distance between Nazareth and Bethlehem... I wonder if Joseph had expected that he´d be celebrating the birth of his son, who just so happened to be God, in a foreign land, rejected, marginalized, unwelcomed, alone... I wonder if being in such a different place without his family or support structure at such an important time in his life influenced how he experienced everything...

This year we have unexpectedly decided to stay in Bolivia for Christmas and New Years, something that we haven´t done yet since we moved here in 2009. Most of our friends here keep asking if we´re staying or traveling. When we say we´re staying, they´re excited because they know they´ll get to share their customs and traditions with us. But what they don´t ask is about how we will feel staying here, away from our families back home. While yes, we are looking forward to experiencing Christmas in Bolivia, we also have a longing deep within to be with our families at this special time of the year.

As we´ve come to find out, it´s difficult to "get in the holiday spirit" when we´re here; no matter if it´s Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. Partly it could be that we´re in spring and will soon be entering summer/rainy season, partly it could be that there´s no Christmas music on the radio, partly it could be that we´re far from family. All these things and many more make the season feel seasonally.  Some holidays just feel like they lack the spark of excitement, the newness of things, the warmth of tradition. And yes, as my family knows, tradition doesn´t necessarily mean "sameness" it means love and telling stories and being together (no matter when it happens to come around in the year).

But despite the difficulty in gaining that holiday skip this year, we are blessed, we have God with us (Immanuel) and we anxiously await the birth of Christ in our hearts and in our midst to bring good news and salvation to the world. As we say in Bolivia, "waiting costs", but the rewards are rich! Thanks be to God, Happy Advent and Merry Christmas to you all!