Holiness can be a bit sneaky. It can visit us during the most ordinary, mundane moments leaving us stunned and breathless with surprise. Sometimes we don’t recognize holiness until it has come and faded. The long, dark nights of Advent are heavy with mystery and starlight and this year I’ll celebrate by looking for Holiness.

WEEK ONE: Holiness Found at the Bon Iver Concert

There was an evening this fall when 10,000 people and I were promised “a beautiful evening.” We were all packed into the Xcel Energy Center to hear Bon Iver, a Grammy winning band from WI. Maybe it’s because I didn’t bring any to-do lists with me and I had to leave my Mom-ming duties with the super-capable babysitter. Maybe it’s because, unlike at home, I was suddenly a spectator and absolutely not in control of anything. For whatever reason, when I heard the opening artist promise us “a beautiful evening” my heart soared.

All I knew was that we were promised a beautiful night. I held onto that promise.

As the stage lights pierced the darkness, for a moment, ten thousand people became like one. The music seemed to call out from the wilderness; a wilderness of impeachment hearings, Amazon forest fires, climate change, and unending violence of all kinds. And that voice refreshed us, gave us breath, and prepared us to go back out into the wilderness… transformed. 

I knew it was a good concert. My favorite even. Still, it wasn’t until the next day that I realized it was thick with holiness.

Keep awake this Advent… for this is the season of preparing; the season of stars shining in the darkness; the season of voices calling out in the wilderness; the season of waiting for peace on earth.  God promises to be near.