Experience Advent...& Christmas!: Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

We Wait

“But, in accordance with his promise,

we wait for new heavens and a new earth,

where righteousness is at home.” –2 Peter 3:13

We are in a season of waiting. Children wait eagerly and impatiently for Christmas morning. Families wait to reunite with loved ones. We wait in line, we wait in traffic, we wait for vacation.

Advent is a holy season of waiting, for in Advent we wait for Christ to return. We profess in our Holy Communion worship: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” This is our hope. Generations of Christians have been waiting for Christ to come again because we hold fast to the promise that when the day of Lord comes, Christ will reign as King and will inaugurate his Kingdom of righteousness on this earth as it is in heaven. There will be no more suffering or pain, and God will wipe every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21).

In the passage from 2 Peter, Peter encourages us who wait, reminding us that God will be faithful to the promise of Christ’s return. God is patiently waiting, desiring that all would come to repentance and salvation. But the day of the Lord will come, as Eugene Peterson describes in The Message: “the galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day – but we’ll hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.”

The holidays are a season of joy for many, but they are also a season of sorrow and loneliness for many more. Many of us and many of our neighbors can be encouraged by the promise of hope, that our present struggles and sorrows will be turned into joy and dancing when Christ comes in final victory. Let us wait patiently during this Advent season, reveling in the hope that we have as a Christians: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Laura Johnson

God of Advent, walk ahead of me, helping me keep sight of your vision of peace. May I hold peace in my heart and pray for peace in our broken world. Amen.

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Christmas is Born!

Fourth Week of Advent: Joy

The fourth candle on our Advent wreath is the candle of joy. As we enter this last week of Advent, we allow ourselves a little celebration--the Savior is coming, alleluia! We've been waiting, and we must wait a bit longer, but God is coming--soon!

The invitation to rejoice during the season of Advent reminds us to consider the joy that awaits the end of Mary's pregnancy. Mary must have felt joy in carrying a child, in anticipating the birth of her son, the birth of the Savior. Her hymn of praise, the Magnificat, praises God for the great deeds that God has done. The God who proclaims righteousness and justice, who has fed the hungry and sent the rich away, this same God looked on Mary with favor and blessed her with the gift of service to the world.

Our joy calls up visions--what gifts can we expect from the Mighty One who has blessed us and looked upon us with favor?

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart (edited)

God of joy, may we dream dreams and share tales of hope as we enter these final days before Christmas. I praise your mighty name. Amen.

Third Week of Advent: Love

The fourth candle on our Advent Wreath is the candle of Love. That seems so appropriate as we begin the last week of Advent, the final days before we receive God's greatest gift to us--divine Love wrapped in swaddling clothes,lying in a manger.

Joseph's place in this drama is one of love. Engaged to Mary, he discovers that she is pregnant. Even the visit of an angel probably does not answer all of his questions or calm all of his fears. But Joseph, I like to think, acts out of love. Love and trust make up for any doubts he might have about his role in this matter. Joseph takes Mary as his wife and makes room in his heart for her son, whom he names Jesus.

We certainly don't play such a dramatic role as Joseph in God's story, but we are, nevertheless, important to the whole. Every action we take, every small or large task we perform, is woven in love into God's cosmic story.

God of love, may everything I do become an expression of your love. Amen.

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart

Second Week of Advent: Peace

The second candle on the Advcent wreath is the candle of peace. When we light the candle of peace, we affirm Isaiah's vision that peace will come on earth. As we move closer to the birth of the Prince of Peace, we are acutely aware of all the places in the world, in our families and relationships, and in our hearts that have not achieved peace. Peace is a vision, a hope, a promise made by the Holy One--that there will be a time when peace will prevail.

Peace, in the global sense, is the cessation of violence between peoples and nations...in Israel and Palestine, in Darfur, in Iraq and Afghanistan. We people of peace hold the vision that God's spirit will rest on the leaders of the world and will whisper wisdom in their hearts, wisdom that will guide their actions toward paths of forgiveness, compassion, and peace.

In our own hearts and lives, peace is the calm in the midst of chaos. Each day, may we hold the vision of peace, seeking times of rest and prayer when we open our minds and spirits to God's powerful, gentle peace.

Let peace be our vision.

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart

First Week of Advent: Hope

The first candle on the Advent wreath is the candle of Hope. When we light the candle of hope--in the Advent wreath or in our hearts--we kindle a flame of expectant anticipation that something rich, something special, is on the way.

As we enter into this Advent journey, we already know that the something special at the end of Advent is the birth of Christ, God's great gift to the world. But much of the richness of this season comes with the anticipation, the waiting, the deferral of the celebration until the appropriate time.

During Advent, the first season of the church year, we relive the story of Jesus, the wonder of how he came to be, the story of his birth. We don't yet know what God has in store, but we trust God's promises of righteousness, justice, and peace for the hurting world and our discouraged spirits. We live in the hope, that despite our current struggles, God has something good in store for us.

Jesus, the hope of the world, is coming to an unsuspecting world.

Beth Richardson, The Uncluttered Heart