It is the beginning of Advent.
Advent is Latin.
It means coming.
Who is coming? 

Jesus is coming.
A baby born to save the world. A baby who is God.
He shows up in a fetal ball.
He who carved out the universe curved Himself into a fetal ball in the dark. He tethered himself into the uterine wall of a virgin, and let His cells collide, light splitting all white.
He gave up the heavens that were not big enough to contain him and let Himself be held in a a hand.
Thi is a mystery.
He became a baby so small, and an infinite God became infant.

The Giver becomes the Gift.

He has a a heart beating in the chest cavity of a held child.
His hearts beats hope, change, love - the whole planet has been spinning round waiting for Him.

Advent. 
Jesus is coming. 
When you open the Bible and read of his coming,
you first read of His genealogy. 
The gift starts to upwrap itself.
You know the stories of Christ’ family tree.
You need His geneaology.
The branches of His family, the love story of His heart
that has been coming for you since the beginning.

And you think about your own family.
Family matters.
Family gives you context and origin gives you understanding.
The family tree of Christ gives you hope.

There are women in His family tree.
Four broken women who felt like they were outsiders.
Women who were tired of being taken advantage of.
Who wants to go unnoticed, uncherished, and unappreciated?
Women who thought about giving up. 
Christ claims that those who are wondering
and wandering and wounded are His. 
Christ grabs you into His family tree, His line, His story, His heart,
and he gives you His Name, His lineage, his righteousness.
Christ gives you grace.
Is there a greater gift?

This is a love story unlike any other.
It’s a love story that has been coming for you since the beginning of time. 
You can miss it.
You can brush past this gift.
You can rush through it.
You can not see how it comes for you over the edges of everything.
Every page in Scripture has been waiting, reaching, coming for you.
You could wake up on Christmas
and only see
that you did not take the whole of the Gift.
Christ gives you grace.

Advent. 
Jesus is coming. 
Christ gives you grace.

Waiting for the coming of the Lord in the manger
who made himself bread for us who are starved.
Watiing for the Savior in swaddling clothes who later wears clothes of Righteousness for those who are worn out.
Christ brings in Christmas.
Without rushing, without pushing.
He is here.
Mark this waiting.
Mark this art in your life.
Mark Advent with a counting.
It’s a way of staying awake and not missing anything. 

The first Sunday of Advent I read of covenant keeping, promise-keeping God. 
“Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot -
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root…
Is that the day the heir to David’s throne will
become a banner of salvation to the world.
The nations will rally to him,
and the hand where he lives
will be a glorious place” (Isaiah 11:1, 10).

It changes us.
It changes our hearts. 
Out of the stump of hearts…
Miracles will grow within, open slowly, bear fruit. 
Our hearts will make time and space for Him
to come to a beautiful, glorious place.
A place of sheer, readiant defiance
in the face of the world careening mad and stressed.

Advent. 
Jesus is coming. 
Christ gives you grace.

We will listen to Old Testament stories.
We will imagine the branches of the family tree of Christ
all the way back from Adam.
Each story points to Christ, the relief, the incarnation of God.

Advent. 
Jesus is coming. 
Christ gives you grace.

He is the exquisite gift cut and given for us.
Broken.
He is the Gift who hung on a tree for us.
The Gift who was pierced for you,
wounded and willing. 
He unfolds himself on the tree
​of your endless, greatest Gift.
​

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
​
Romans 10:14-15

If You Can’t Find the Words, Preach with Your Feet.  

We were standing in her ramshackle hut — with the tarp roof — at the top of a hill.  The bare-footed woman who lived there had no shoes of her own.  And in that moment, I knew what I needed to do.

I took off my shoes and gave them to her. I walked out of her village barefoot.

I am telling you this story, not because I’m some kind of hero. The reason I’m telling you this story, is because of what happened next:

When it came time to leave, I balled up my skirt in my fists, and began to walk carefully down the rocky path. It hadn’t occurred to me that my first-world, tender feet would have trouble navigating the path. My feet were accustomed to carpet, not sharp stones. I winced with every step.

Another woman, seeing my discomfort, stepped out of her home and began to walk ahead of me. With her own, toughened bare feet, she began to kick aside sticks and rocks. She leaned over and picked up thorns with her fingers. The woman stayed several steps ahead of me, clearing a path for me. I can’t begin to tell you how humbling this was.

She never said a word, but with every step she took, I sensed the goodness of Jesus. She couldn’t speak English, so she didn’t have any words for me. But she preached a pretty amazing sermon about servanthood with those hands and feet of hers. She just smiled and kept motioning me to come farther down the path. Walking behind her, I was moved to tears, and a part of me wanted her to stop. I didn’t deserve such care.

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! (Romans 10:15)

Whenever I read those words in Romans, I think of that bare-footed woman who made a clear path for me. Her selfless act of love reminds me that we don’t need a lot of money, influence, power, or status to preach the good news. All we need is a willingness to walk the path with other people.

How beautiful are her feet.

Do you want to share Jesus with the world in the coming week?

Simply take those beautiful feet of yours and walk the path with others. Serve. Bow low. Give. Offer comfort, even at your own discomfort. Love. With simple acts of service, people will see Jesus alive in you. Your life will preach a sermon, even when your lips aren’t moving.

How beautiful are the feet of friends, who drive their neighbors to chemo.

How beautiful are the feet of foster mothers, who won’t stop praying for God’s unstoppable love to break through.

How beautiful are the feet of nursing-home workers, who care for our elderly brothers and sisters.

How beautiful are the feet of teachers, getting classrooms ready for new students while praying over every desk.

How beautiful are the feet of CEOs, who bring the ethic of Christ into the workplace.

How beautiful are the feet of bloggers and poets and song-writers, who string together Gospel-laced words that help us make sense of the world.

How beautiful are the feet of women everywhere who, in this moment, feel invisible and unseen in their small daily tasks but press on, because this is what God has called them to.

What you are doing matters a great deal, friend. Oh, how beautiful are your feet!

It doesn’t matter where those feet have been in the past; what matters is where they’re going today.

When you hear these words – “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” – who do you think of?  

How do you preach?  Use your feet.  

​The words can be few but the steps taken together should be many.

This Post was originally on Jennifer Lee’s Blog. Walk in the word before you talk about it!