In just a few days, my wife and I will be celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary. During these six years, we have moved around quite a bit, which means we have not established a regular practice of where we will go and what we will do to celebrate this date together. Each year we have celebrated our time together in a new and exciting way and this year will be no different. Despite the variations in the where and what of our celebration, we do have a common practice of how we celebrate. Each year as we celebrate, we take some time to remember how our common story began. We look at old pictures and share our favorite memories of how we met, how we became friends and ultimately, how we fell in love and chose to spend our lives together.

This “[refreshing of] our memory,” as the author of 2 Peter states, helps us to not only recall where we have come from, but also assists in recalibrating us toward our future shared destination together. Likewise, during this Advent season, the church will gather together in a variety of places and ways, yet we will—as the body of Christ—celebrate our story through the remembering of our beginning. We will share stories and in so doing, remember both where we have come from and also where it is we are going—together.