Advent, a time of beginning, a time of ending. Advent, a time of expectation, of waiting, and of hoping. Advent, a time when salvation sneaks in, when needed most. A time when salvation shows up in the every day of life.
These are interesting days. Days when we wonder about God’s work in the world. Days when we are reminded that salvation is desperately needed, that our lives and our world do not reflect the fullness of God’s creation.
Unfortunately, year after year we must come face to face with our brokenness, with our need, with our sin-sick soul, and with the ways that all of creation still groans for salvation. We also must face our participation in structures of sin and death – the hatred, prejudice, and apathy about neighbor, the -isms too many to name, the ways we seem to have forgotten the centrality of the common good.
Advent invites us into reality, into the messiness of our condition, and into the hopeful expectation of new life. This requires that we are willing to embrace ending, death, and letting go. It also requires us, in this season filled with distraction, to stay rooted in the now, to sow seeds of peace, justice, and love today.
Completeness is coming, healing is near, new life is around the corner . . .
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
God with Us!
We need you, with us.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
God with and in the world,
We need you, in us.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
God through the most vulnerable,
We need you, through us.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
God for all of creation,
We need you, give us new life.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
We are hungry, hurt, haggard,
hopeful, end becoming beginning.