The Messy Middle

Advent is all about the messy middle. Smack dab in the middle of exile, destruction, and the crumbling of a people’s sense of identity, Jeremiah pens a letter encouraging his kindred to live now, thrive now. Build homes, grow food, and create families, he writes. Don’t wait until you’ve emerged out the other side of this unmooring experience, he seems to say, but claim life now. In your longing and waiting, in your sorrowing and struggle, seek the welfare of the strange new land and unfamiliar people around you, for in their welfare you’ll find your own. In the messy middle of our own collective experience (of lingering pandemic and so much more), perhaps we too can be encouraged to claim life now as we redefine home and food and family, seeking the liberation and wellbeing of all.