What a Sandwich Shop Taught Me About Advent

You just can't beat a Firehouse Subs shop. The atmosphere is inviting and the sandwiches are delicious. Great combination. If you've never ordered a sandwich from there, once you pick one of their meal options you have the option of ordering it "fully involved", which means everything on it. I think it is a fire fighting term (please correct me if I'm wrong) which refers to when a fire has consumed all compartments of a structure. It then becomes fully involved.

So what does a sandwich have to do with Advent? Fully involved. That's the connection. God himself, in the form of his son, came to be present among us. He took on a human body like ours. He felt what we feel. He experienced what we experience. Jesus Christ knows what it's like to be us. As a result of being born among us he became fully involved.

Fully involved with my life in a personal why. This is either liberating or terrifying. The God of the whole universe knows me. I'm on his list. He is aware of what's happening with me and has an effect on what goes on in my life. This can be terrifying if we don't want to be known. Maybe we'd rather stay back in the shadows of existence and keep moving in our own direction.

For the person who follows after Jesus Christ, this is not an option. If a house fire becomes fully involved then there is not much turning back at that point. Things move in the direction of the house being fully consumed. Every room of the house is engulfed. When once we choose to follow Christ we are to be fully involved. I am to let Christ in to every room, every compartment of my life. I am to let him change every attitude and behavior. We take on his life, his power, through the Holy Spirit. Paul speaks of this as putting on a new self. Kind of like taking old clothes off and putting new clothes on.

This is what I want Advent to be for me: remembering that Jesus Christ became fully involved in humanity so I could be fully involved in him. He gave me his full presence so I want to live in a like manner. I want to live in Christ like my Firehouse sandwich - fully involved.