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Ecclesiastes says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (v. 3:1, NRSV). This may be true, but the calendar we have created often has little to do with what season of life we find ourselves in. Although we try to harness our time on earth by dividing it into hours, days, seasons, and years, we cannot predict how time will affect us.

This is true now as ever. Enuma Okoro reminds us, “The waiting of Advent is over, but we still wait for other things in our lives.” By the same token, as we rejoice in Christ’s birth, still we mourn the tragedies that have surrounded it. And later this year during Lent, the season of penance, we will not be consumed by repentance over past wrongdoings, but will also do other things and experience other emotions unrelated to the time of year. We influence time and time influences us, but neither controls the other.

Perhaps we should consider our calendar not as a dictator of experience but as a guide for reflection. Certainly the authors we have read during Advent have done this. How can we follow their lead? As we enter a new year, how can we remember the particular season we are in while remaining open to the full range of human experience?

A prayer for the new year: God, in the fullness of your time, help us to become the people you created us to be.

On the day after Christmas, our pace seems to slow as we come down from the weeks of preparation and anticipation of Advent. Holiday visitors return home, decorations are put away, and we return to the rhythms and routines of our everyday lives. We may feel a bit of a letdown.

But do we really have to wait another 365 days for the joy that Christmas brings? No! According to the Christian calendar, we are beginning a new year. Our joy does not end with Christmas but starts with it. We often talk about “the Christmas story,” but while it is a beautiful story, it is only part of the story of Jesus and the story of our faith. Every point in this story, from Christmas to Easter, and even that long stretch we call “ordinary time,” provides reason for rejoicing.

Sometimes we have to look a little more closely to find the reason. Again we turn to Mary as an example, this time for her constant and faithful attention to Jesus. In Singing Mary’s Song, John A. Stroman writes about Mary’s continuous pondering and contemplation throughout the life of her son. She often remains a silent figure, but she is always there, watching and wondering what all she sees might mean.

Mary’s initial anticipation ended with the birth of her son, Jesus, but her story did not end there. She raised him, followed him, accompanied him to his death, and was witness to his resurrection. In a similar way, the season of Advent may have ended, but our story has just begun.

How might we remain present and attentive to Jesus and to each other throughout the year? How might we continue to maintain a spirit of anticipation and love?

Christmas and family go hand-in-hand. I love going back to my hometown for the holidays, baking cookies, exchanging gifts, putting up decorations, and spending time with people I have known my entire life. I imagine—I hope—that you also spend time with family and close friends over Christmas.

As we anticipate the culmination of the Advent season, Enuma Okoro calls us to expand our understanding of family. In her book SILENCE she writes, “In the family of God, our responsibility to each other extends beyond race, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and sexual orientation. When persons are in need, we all bear a familial responsibility to be present.” God created us—all of us—for each other. No matter how different we seem, we were all made in the divine image and belong to the same family.

We may find it easy to agree with this idea in theory, but practicing it requires, well, practice. Seeing people who are different from us as fellow divine image-bearers requires constant mindfulness, and treating everyone as family requires great effort. God, our parent, guides and helps us in this endeavor, but it will not be easy for us. We have to work at it, during Christmas and throughout the year.

What practices or experiences have helped you expand your understanding of family? As you gather with those close to you this Christmas season, how might you invite others into your family?

This week in Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent, Enuma Okoro focuses on the friendship between Elizabeth and Mary and the role of John the Baptist in the days leading up to Jesus’ birth. Mary and Elizabeth support each other in times of unpredictability, and John calls the people to repentance as the arrival of Jesus approaches. Together these three figures provide a vision of holy community—the kind of community God desires for us.

Our world often feels like the antithesis of holy community—a fractured, painful place in which evil takes control. We must remind ourselves that Elizabeth, Mary, and John faced the same problem. Jesus was born into a world with hungry people, frightened people, people who endured meaningless pain and suffering.

How can we build holy community in such a world? How did Elizabeth, Mary, and John do it? They waited for Jesus just as we do and they did not wait alone. They prepared themselves and called those around them to prepare as well. They loved and challenged each other, hoped and prayed together.

As we anticipate the arrival of Jesus, the Holy One, God calls us to prepare for his arrival. As we await the perfect holy community that only God can bring, we also must attempt to create holy community in our imperfect world. Okoro asks us, “What are we truly waiting for in this Advent and in our lives?” We are waiting for Jesus, but in some sense we are also waiting for ourselves. How long must we wait?