It's not trending on twitter.
It's not celebrated at ceremonies.
Giving up has got a bad name.

You relinquish control, hand over the credit... maybe even lose your dignity.

Now it's all about Pinterest-worthy DIY creations,
branded, high-end productions,
and hipster craft beer selections.

What are we celebrating anyway?

Advent is about much more than just counting down the days to Christmas.
In fact, as Mike Frost clearly explains, there is much more to it than that (read his excellent blog here).

Advent, a season that begun yesterday, didn’t traditionally have much to do with Christmas at all!
It was a season of preparation...
                          but preparation for baptism!

Last night we celebrated as 6 people from our church, aged between 10 and 50, took the plunge (literally) into the waters of baptism.



In so doing, they captured the real heart of advent -
it's not about chocolate, cosmetics or craft beer
but rather a commitment of faith.

We remember Jesus' coming,
we participate in the life he gives,
and we live in eager anticipation of his return.

In the waters of baptism, the old life is washed away
and the stain of sin is removed.
As we rise from the water, we are lifted into new life
and we will never be the same.

Now that's an advent worth celebrating!

One year ago we got in a pool with a group of people watching us, and got dunked... getting dunked by my brother would usually frighten me, but this time it was amazing (despite being slapped in the face and almost strangled - see video haha).

The weekend before we moved to Melbourne, we had lunch with a few close friends and family and were baptised, prayed for, and sent out by them. It was a special time.

What is baptism? I recently read this in, Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist:

The word sea-change is from Shakespeare, from The Tempest: a man is thrown into the sea, and under the water he is transformed from what he was into something entirely new, something "rich and strange."
The beautiful and obvious connection, of course: baptism. We are tipped backward into the water, and raised into new life. We leave behind the old – the sin, the regret, the failings, and we rise out of the water cleansed, made new. A sea-change if there ever was one. 

Check out this video of the afternoon:
I'm getting all reflective, thinking about being in Melbourne for a year and what God has done in and through us. Our baptisms were just the start...

We wore t-shirts (thanks Hillsong) that said, I Have Decided on them, sung a song called Christ Is Enough (thanks Hillsong) where we declared what we have decided, and both wrote down lists of things that we have decided to put to death and things to bring to life.

Putting to Death

Bringing to Life

In the lead up to that day I wrote a list of things that I have decided... Here are four of them:

• to care less about impressing people and more about impressing God
• that sickness will not rule in my body
• to do whatever is best for God's glory and my good, with no consideration of time or money
• to never become so grown up that I forget whose child I am and stop being dependent upon Him

And in the past year, God has enabled these things as we have stepped out in faith and boldness. He has put us out into deep water, and there's nowhere I'd rather be...

These were fitting lyrics that we also sang that day (and at our wedding). They ring so true.