Here We Go Again

Today is the first day of Advent, the season of the year, marked by the four Sundays that precede Christmas. It is a season that is filled with joy and hope and anticipation. Children (and well, let’s face it, adults too) all over the world where Christmas is celebrated have eagerly awaiting December 1...the day that they can begin opening Advent windows on their advent calendars, one for each day as we head toward Christmas, each one filled with a candy, chocolates or a surprise.

Advent is a well-celebrated season in Sweden, probably in part due to this being the darkest time of year up there and the extra light supplied through candles and decorations is more of a necessity than a luxury! I could always find these wonderful Advent calendar candles, numbered with 24 numbers and a cute little symbol. I would burn each portion of each day while doing a little reading about Advent. This year, when Doug was in Minnesota, he went to the Swedish Institute’s Julgladje, (Christmas Joy). I asked him to look for an advent candle for me and he found one! So this advent, I get to maintain my tradition of watching Christmas come closer by burning this cute little candle every day.

But this Advent we also stand in anticipation of a bigger event that is unfolding in our lives. A couple of months ago we were contacted by the pastor of a church in Europe wondering what our status was and if we were open to employment. We said that we were basically waiting (the central theme of Advent) to see what God might have in store for us next. He told us that his associate pastor was going on paternity leave and that he’d like us to consider coming and filling in for him while he’s on leave. It didn’t take us long to say yes and in the past week the details have finally been worked out and at the end of January we’ll be moving to Luxembourg to serve at All Nations Church Luxembourg. 

We are thrilled. Luxembourg city is a gorgeous little town that will be fun to explore more deeply. We love the lead pastor and his wife and we both have some prior connections with this church.  4 years ago I spoke at their all church retreat. Last year Doug preached there and this church was one of my interview churches for the book I’ve been working on that pertains to the church being a place of welcome for strangers and foreigners. So in some ways we already feel a connection to this community and it will be great to get to know them a bit better in the coming months. The assignment is short, only mid-February through mid-June. Yes, we are taking Maddie with us. But because it ends in the teeth of summer, we plan to stay in Europe for a few extra weeks, perhaps doing some pulpit fill-in for pastors wanting a vacation and taking time to visit friends who remain there. We had already planned to return to Europe in January, to visit our friends in Paris and then attend an International pastor’s conference in Egypt the first week of February. So we’ll still do that but instead of coming back to the US, we’ll stay on in Lux and start work around Feb. 17. 

Lux city is a beautiful place and we look forward to exploring it with even more depth. We do welcome this opportunity to return to Europe for a season, to connect with Paris and the American Church there, to spend some time enjoying the gorgeous Swedish summer, to have some time to savor relationships that mean so much to us even though the geographical distance is great. And of course, we feel very blessed to connect with another congregation and look forward to serving that community in whatever ways we can.

We’ve been waiting and wondering what our next steps will be. Now we know. So it’s back across the pond once again. May your Advent journey be filled with hope and anticipation...Christ is coming. Let’s get ready.