I did not grow up celebrating Advent. So I have been a curious student over the past 20 years as I have ministered in communities that celebrate this season. I have found it difficult yet spiritually enriching to focus each year for a season on what it means to eagerly await for Jesus to return and to see how our hearts are united with those who were so long in waiting for their messiah to be born. My hope is that through these songs, the Christmas season can be reinterpreted, expanded and deepened in a fresh way for our hearts. That we would see the birth of Jesus and the return of Jesus as a connected cosmic event which has been set in motion and will not be thwarted until it is brought to full fruition in the new heavens and the new earth being inaugurated by the literal return and reign of Jesus Christ. May we be formed to sincerely proclaim from our deepest heart, "Come, Lord Jesus!".