Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness…
Advent is about waiting and yearning. The deep desire of the ages—that all creation be wrapped up in the final, saving acts of God—is the subject of the whole season we have set aside and called Advent. This year we are facing a world seemingly gone mad. The war in Ukraine drags on, and now the tit for tat death-dealing of the middle east is out of control again. While it is the beginning of a new church year, it is also the season when the shadows lengthen, and the night comes early, and in the midst of so much darkness we begin cast about for light in our lives. In the midst of the darkness that has been unleashed in the world, we are looking for a little light, a little hope. The distance we have to travel mentally seems that much further, so we are not entirely sure if a little candlelight, or a little tinsel, and hanging some greenery will comfort us. At the same time that the grip of winter tightens and we cast our eyes to the sky to see how heavy the snow fall will be this time, we are mindful of the cycle of terror and death that stalks the land that Jesus called home.
The church, wisely it turns out, notes that the moment the darkness begins to gather that we cast our minds to yearning. An eternal yearning, not just for light and peace which is part of the season but in what we read in scripture and what we sing in our churches – we begin to pay attention to the deep yearning we believe every soul has for God. Yearning is the deep desire for God to act: “Oh that you would tear the heavens and come down…” (Isaiah 64:1-9) and make a definitive conclusion to the changes and chances of this mortal life for all of us. It is a profound desire to see God and see God’s action in the world as it promises a new heaven and new earth.
Expectation for a Christian is the conviction that that God is going to act and chooses to wait vigilantly. Contained within that expected act of God will be a profound bit of good news for all those who find themselves hopeless, or helpless or hapless. The faith that in God’s declaration “Behold I am making all things new… ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. ‘” (Revelation 21.5) is the only hopeful word in this world of death and destruction.
I will be blunt, the world is wrapped in chaos, confusion and fear. The world would seem to be captive to death, war, famine, and pestilence. Add to that the political uncertainty and the explosion in the costs of ordinary necessities of life and you will begin to perceive the profound and unsettled way the world is feeling. It is no wonder the ancient prophets, whose oracles we read, when they experienced similar crises spoke of both their yearning for God to ‘hurry up’ and their expectation of the coming of God’s final action.
Christians, we have a triple duty in times like this: we have to live with the both our yearning for God to act, and testify to our faith as well as the expectation that God is going to act as the people who yearn for justice and peace call out to him. Advent is the season in which we do this through prayer and preparation for the Christmas miracle. How trivial that makes the usual “24 shopping days left before Christmas” kind of expectation seem. Our drive to acquire things is a cheap imitation of the real desire to prepare the heart and mind for the coming birth of the Holy Child.
We can attend to the mystery of the season and our above-mentioned triple duty by studying the words of the prophets who told us to wait for the One who was to come. We can deepen our trust in the Word of God by looking closely into those things which generations of our ancestors proclaimed, their hopes, their faith and even their eternal salvation. The cold winds and deep snows might then show us a way to reflect and rest and trust that the Spirit of God is still working in spite of the very terrors that might otherwise drive us to our knees. Jesus is coming, and he will gather us as his own into the eternal kingdom. Not even death can prevent this, because not even death could hold him. Yearn for that new life that is promised and expect the miracle that Jesus is preparing for each of us.
Advent: a season of expectation and preparation
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness…
Advent is about waiting and yearning. The deep desire of the ages—that all creation be wrapped up in the final, saving acts of God—is the subject of the whole season we have set aside and called Advent. This year we are facing a world seemingly gone mad. The war in Ukraine drags on, and now the tit for tat death-dealing of the middle east is out of control again. While it is the beginning of a new church year, it is also the season when the shadows lengthen, and the night comes early, and in the midst of so much darkness we begin cast about for light in our lives. In the midst of the darkness that has been unleashed in the world, we are looking for a little light, a little hope. The distance we have to travel mentally seems that much further, so we are not entirely sure if a little candlelight, or a little tinsel, and hanging some greenery will comfort us. At the same time that the grip of winter tightens and we cast our eyes to the sky to see how heavy the snow fall will be this time, we are mindful of the cycle of terror and death that stalks the land that Jesus called home.
The church, wisely it turns out, notes that the moment the darkness begins to gather that we cast our minds to yearning. An eternal yearning, not just for light and peace which is part of the season but in what we read in scripture and what we sing in our churches – we begin to pay attention to the deep yearning we believe every soul has for God. Yearning is the deep desire for God to act: “Oh that you would tear the heavens and come down…” (Isaiah 64:1-9) and make a definitive conclusion to the changes and chances of this mortal life for all of us. It is a profound desire to see God and see God’s action in the world as it promises a new heaven and new earth.
Expectation for a Christian is the conviction that that God is going to act and chooses to wait vigilantly. Contained within that expected act of God will be a profound bit of good news for all those who find themselves hopeless, or helpless or hapless. The faith that in God’s declaration “Behold I am making all things new… ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. ‘” (Revelation 21.5) is the only hopeful word in this world of death and destruction.
I will be blunt, the world is wrapped in chaos, confusion and fear. The world would seem to be captive to death, war, famine, and pestilence. Add to that the political uncertainty and the explosion in the costs of ordinary necessities of life and you will begin to perceive the profound and unsettled way the world is feeling. It is no wonder the ancient prophets, whose oracles we read, when they experienced similar crises spoke of both their yearning for God to ‘hurry up’ and their expectation of the coming of God’s final action.
Christians, we have a triple duty in times like this: we have to live with the both our yearning for God to act, and testify to our faith as well as the expectation that God is going to act as the people who yearn for justice and peace call out to him. Advent is the season in which we do this through prayer and preparation for the Christmas miracle. How trivial that makes the usual “24 shopping days left before Christmas” kind of expectation seem. Our drive to acquire things is a cheap imitation of the real desire to prepare the heart and mind for the coming birth of the Holy Child.
We can attend to the mystery of the season and our above-mentioned triple duty by studying the words of the prophets who told us to wait for the One who was to come. We can deepen our trust in the Word of God by looking closely into those things which generations of our ancestors proclaimed, their hopes, their faith and even their eternal salvation. The cold winds and deep snows might then show us a way to reflect and rest and trust that the Spirit of God is still working in spite of the very terrors that might otherwise drive us to our knees. Jesus is coming, and he will gather us as his own into the eternal kingdom. Not even death can prevent this, because not even death could hold him. Yearn for that new life that is promised and expect the miracle that Jesus is preparing for each of us.
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