Something’s up. Do you feel it? It’s possible it’s just the Christmas jitters but I think if we’re honest, it’s more just ol’ fashion tension. It’s felt in conversations with family members and friends we haven’t chatted with in a bit. Maybe it’s present at the office or job site. Maybe in school. There’s… something unsaid that is being said very loudly between us in the various spaces and contexts we find ourselves in each day. I could probably point my finger to a few sources, but let’s just be real and concede that whatever this something is, it is almost certainly tied to the political situation south of the border and its leaking through our own border. Regardless of political “side” you find yourself on–if any at all–the tension continues to result in a drifting apart from one another, which royally sucks because in this season of togetherness we’re entering, it’s the connecting and moving toward one other in authentic ways that really makes the holidays such a meaningful and special time.

So what do we do with this?

Well, it seems the season of Advent, with its weeks of preparation leading up to the coming of Christ our King, is itself full of tension – but this time a tension between waiting and celebrating. Advent is a time pregnant with deep meaning as we anticipate Jesus’ promise to come again, to be God-with-us. But let’s separate ourselves from this for a sec and just try to imagine the tension felt in that particular moment in time and history for the 1st century people of Judea living under Roman occupation within a corrupt religious system, longing for redemption and freedom from oppression and continued exploitation by those in power over them. Talk about tension. Every day was an exercise in keeping your mouth shut and ensuring the world around you did not catch wind of your frustration for fear of greater oppression. And this all taking place in the midst of rumours of a Messiah who had come (Was coming? Where was he?!) to set these oppressed people free. 

The tension felt then is the same tension of Advent we’re experiencing 2000 years later. It is a tension of hope breaking into the reality of despair, of light pushing back the darkness. For those first-century Judeans, it was a longing for justice and the courage to believe in God’s promises even as they faced political turmoil and personal suffering. This is not entirely unlike this weird tension we’re all feeling these days. We live in a world that feels increasingly polarized, where the divide between us often seems wider than the bridge we’re called to build. And yet, Advent speaks directly to this moment by reminding us that Jesus came not just to unite the like-minded but to reconcile all of creation to Himself.

In this season of waiting, perhaps the role for us is not to avoid the tension, but to lean into it. What would it look like for Grassroots to actively choose connection over division, even in our discomfort? Or to actively listen, even when we know we won’t agree (and they’re clearly wrong)? To make space at our tables for the other? Advent invites us to embody the kind of peace that doesn’t ignore tension but transforms it—just as Jesus did.

And this transformation isn’t just abstract; it starts in the small, everyday ways we move toward one another. It’s found in forgiving a hurt, offering a kind word, or setting aside the temptation to win an argument in favour of building a relationship. These are not easy choices, especially in a season where stress and exhaustion often feel overwhelming but they are the choices through which God’s kingdom begins to take shape among us. No one EVER said following the way of Jesus was easy. Well, maybe someone did say it…. but they were straight up wrong. 

As we begin to light the candles of Advent this coming Sunday, let each flame remind us of the light that overcomes the darkness—a light not rooted in our circumstances or political systems, but in Jesus. Let it remind us that our ultimate hope is not in avoiding tension but in trusting that God is with us in it and maybe even using this tension to point us to a greater dependence on him.

My challenge to all of us as we enter this season, myself perhaps most of all, is to resist the drift that the tension is bringing and instead lean in toward one another, bearing witness to the Prince of Peace who came to reconcile and redeem. Because at the end of the day, this isn’t just some seasonal tension we need to navigate at Christmas, this is at the heart of what we’re called to do every single day as Christians.