Advent 2

Advent 1

Here's a little coloring page for a verse for the first week of Advent.
Right click to download. Print horizontally on letter paper.

Good Friday --> Christmas

Here's another wonderful song I can't get out of my head if I wanted to:




This played in my head as I read an Advent devotional this morning. From John Piper:

December 11

WHY JESUS CAME

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood,

he himself likewise partook of the same things, that

through death he might destroy the one who has

the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver

all those who through fear of death were subject to

lifelong slavery. —Hebrews 2:14–15

Hebrews 2:14–15 is worth more than two minutes in an Advent devotional. These verses connect the beginning and the end of Jesus’s earthly life. They make clear why he came. They would be great to use with an unbelieving friend or family member to take them step by step through your Christian view of Christmas. It might go something like this…

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood…”

The term “children” is taken from the previous verse and refers to the spiritual offspring of Christ, the Messiah (see Isaiah 8:18; 53:10). These are also the “children of God.” In other words, in sending Christ, God has the salvation of his “children” specially in view. It is true that [Here's our song plug! AND in Good Ole KJV, no less!] “God so loved the world, that he sent [Jesus] (John 3:16).” But it is also true that God was especially “gathering the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:52). God’s design was to offer Christ to the world, and to effect the salvation of his “children” (see 1 Timothy 4:10). You may experience adoption by receiving Christ (John 1:12).

“…he himself likewise partook of the same things [flesh and blood]…”

Christ existed before the incarnation. He was spirit. He was the eternal Word. He was with God and was God (John 1:1; Colossians 2:9). But he took on flesh and blood and clothed his deity with humanity. He became fully man and remained fully God. It is a great mystery in many ways. But it is at the heart of our faith and is what the Bible teaches.

“…that through death…”

The reason Jesus became man was to die. As God, he could not die for sinners. But as man he could. His aim was to die. Therefore he had to be born human. He was born to die. Good Friday is the reason for Christmas. This is what needs to be said today about the meaning of Christmas.

“…he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…”

In dying, Christ de-fanged the devil. How? By covering all our sin. This means that Satan has no legitimate grounds to accuse us before God. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33). On what grounds does he justify? Through the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:9).

Satan’s ultimate weapon against us is our own sin. If the death of Jesus takes it away, the chief weapon of the devil is taken out of his hand. He cannot make a case for our death penalty, because the Judge has acquitted us by the death of his Son!

“…and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

So we are free from the fear of death. God has justified us. Satan cannot overturn that decree. And God means for our ultimate safety to have an immediate effect on our lives. He means for the happy ending to take away the slavery and fear of the now.

If we do not need to fear our last and greatest enemy, death, then we do not need to fear anything. We can be free: free for joy, free for others.

What a great Christmas present from God to us! And from us to the world!”

Excerpt from: John Piper. “Good News of Great Joy: Daily Readings for Advent.” iBooks. 

The Lamb and Gift of Gifts.

This time of year is a perfect occasion to gorge on beautiful old music. I've been doing so on various Rdio, Pandora, and iTunes Radio stations as well as our wonderful local public radio station 91.1 in Nashville.

This tune in the video above, composed by Sir John Tavener, isn't particularly old, but the verses are by William Blake in the 18th century. Not exactly Christmas music but in a way, it is.

The excerpt below is from a favorite book, Valley of Vision, and dovetails nicely with our pastor's Advent sermons on the humanity and deity of Jesus. This is from "Gift of Gifts":

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
He was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

Fulfillment

ECCE • ANC • ILLA • I[ESU] • N[OSTRI] • D[OMINUS]
Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord
German, ca. 1290–1300, from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

The incarnation is the supreme example of fulfilled prophecy, the supreme example of God’s faithfulness to his promises.

And this is surely most comforting, especially as we consider it in the setting of the world in which we find ourselves.

The great covenant promise concerning redemption was made in its most explicit manner to Abraham. You can find it prior to that, but the definition of it, as it were, the explicit statement of it, is made to Abraham when he is told that in him, in his seed, shall all the world be blessed (Gen. 12:3). That is what Mary is referring to when she says: “He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy to Abraham, and to his seed for ever” (Luke 1:54, KJV).

Mary at once sees the significance of what is happening—the significance of the Son that is to be born out of her womb. She remembers what the archangel Gabriel said about him; she did not understand it then, but now she does, and she begins to realize the meaning of “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32, KJV). She begins to understand what Elisabeth means when she says, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42–43, KJV).

Mary sees now God is going to fulfill all these promises that he has made—“mercy to Abraham, and his seed forever.” But how is it happening? “It happens,” she said, “like this: ‘He hath holpen his servant Israel,’” and that word means to succour, to help, or, perhaps better still, to lift up. The people of Israel had been cast down; they needed to be lifted up, they needed to be saved.

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.
Luke 1:54–55

They had been thrown down by an enemy, but someone comes and rescues them; he takes hold of them and helps them to stand upon their feet. So she says in effect, “When I give birth to the Son, I am giving birth to the Savior, the one prophesied, predicted, promised. He is coming. All that was promised to Abraham, all this great mercy, here it is, literally coming into being and into action.”

She is referring primarily, of course, to salvation itself, and this is where her statement is so significant. God had made this promise to Abraham concerning salvation, forgiveness of sins, and reconciliation unto himself. We tend to forget that what God said to Abraham was that this salvation that was to come was to be brought about through this descendant of his that was yet to be born into this world. Now Abraham did not understand this fully; but he understood enough to rest his faith upon it. “He [Abraham] believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6, KJV).

Paul takes this up and works it out as a great argument in the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Romans, and also in the third chapter of the epistle to the Galatians. Our Lord himself also said to the Jews on one occasion, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56, KJV). That is a reference to salvation. That statement means that Abraham was given to see, in a flash—not very clearly, but he saw it—that God’s great salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and reconciliation was to be brought about ultimately by someone who would come into the world, who would be of his seed.

Mary is making a very basic statement here. “That,” she says, “is what is happening.” In other words, we have here a summary of the whole of the Old Testament, and nothing is more important than for us to realize that the whole of the Old Testament is looking forward to this event. The children of Israel were greatly blessed. They were God’s own people. They were unlike all the other peoples and nations of the world, and God showered his blessings upon them.

But let us never make the mistake of imagining that they had everything. All they ultimately had was the promise. But it was enough. Thank God it was enough. But they had nothing more than that. You will find that this is frequently elaborated in the New Testament. There is that tremendous statement of it in Galatians 3; but you find it again in a striking manner in the epistle to the Hebrews, at the end of that great eleventh chapter: “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect (vv. 39–40, KJV). They did not receive the promise. What they received was the promise of the promise, the certainty that the promise would be fulfilled.
And here is the key, of course, to the understanding of the Old Testament. Look at those people as they went to their tabernacle and to their temple taking their burnt offerings and meal offerings and sacrifices—animals being killed, blood being shed and offered, placed before the alter, and so on. What is it all about? What was happening there? Well, the answer is, that was but a covering, as it were, of their sins for the time being. This argument is developed in the tenth chapter of Hebrews: “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (v. 4, KJV). They were simply covered over. Those sacrifices were by types pointing to the coming of the great anti-type; they did not really deal with sin.

But they were indications that God had a way of dealing with sin, and that, says Mary, is what is now happening. Here are the promised mercies. God had promised Abraham and his seed that there would be mercy and compassion. Their sins would be forgiven and blotted out; they would be made the children of God and heirs of glory. But all that they knew by way of offerings and sacrifices was not the fulfillment of that. It was merely another way of giving the promise and of indicating in a measure the way in which it was going to be fulfilled.
But here now, says Mary, is the great anti-type himself. Now God is going to fulfill all this mercy that he had promised “to Abraham, and to his seed forever.” And this means there is only one way of salvation; it means that all salvation and every aspect of it comes in this one way—in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and him crucified, made an offering for sin. “A body hast thou prepared me” (Heb. 10:5, KJV). What for? In order that he might be the Lamb of God. That he might be slain, that he might be offered. One sacrifice forever. “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, KJV).

That is what Mary is saying. Here is the fulfillment of all mercies. There is no forgiveness apart from Jesus Christ and him crucified. There is no true knowledge of God apart from him. There is no blessing apart from him. As the apostle Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 1:20 (KJV): “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” “He hath holpen his servant Israel.” Israel is the seed of Abraham. Yes, but under the law and condemned by the law. Not able to be free; held in bondage and in captivity; living on the promises, thank God, but nothing more.

But here is the great fulfillment; and so you will find all the Old Testament prophets, psalmists, and seers have seen this. They are looking forward; they know that this is what will fulfill all the promises and bring the mercy into the individual experience. It is all in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and what he did when he was in this world, and what he is now continuing and applying in the glory.

What God did when he sent his Son into the world is an absolute guarantee that he will do everything he has ever promised to do. Look at it in personal sense: “All things work together for good to them that love God”—that is a promise—“to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28, KJV). “But how can I know that is true for me?” asks someone. The answer is the incarnation. God has given the final proof that all his promises are sure, that he is faithful to everything he has ever said. So that promise is sure for you. Whatever your state or condition may be, whatever may happen to you, he has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5, KJV)—and he will not. He has said so, and we have absolute proof that he fulfills his promises. He does not always do it immediately in the way that we think. No, no! But he does it! And he will never fail to do it.

"The Great Fulfillment" by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Excerpted from Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, edited by Nancy Guthrie. Copyright © 2008 by Nancy Guthrie.

Glorious Impossible, or, my post on Wendy Wills.

Happy third week of Advent. As I learn a little more about it, I find that Sunday was the day to celebrate joy... a personal goal I'll have for the rest of my life!

One of the interesting things about living in Nashville is that everyone is a musician, aspiring musician, or (like me) horribly untalented but loves music. I have a songwriter friend who wrote, a few years ago, a beautiful song that I always love singing this time of year. Unfortunately I don't have a link to her recording it, but it's on the internets by other artists out there. The lyrics are incredible.

See the Virgin is delivered
In a cold and crowded stall;
Mirror of the Father's glory
Lies beside her in the straw.

He is Mercy's incarnation
Marvel at this miracle!
For the Virgin gently holds the
Glorious Impossible.

Love has come to walk on water,
Turn the water into wine,
Touch the leper, bless the children
Love both human and divine.

Praise the wisdom of the Father
Who has spoken through His Son.
Speaking still He calls us to the
Glorious Impossible.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glorious Impossible

He was bruised for our transgressions
And He bears eternal scars.
He was raised for our salvation
And his righteousness is ours.

Praise, oh, praise Him, praise the glory
Of this lavish grace so full.
Lift your souls now and receive the
Glorious Impossible!

I also love that this is the title of a beautiful Christmas book by Madeleine L'Engle, illustrated by Giotto. Yes, the one from Art History, who could draw a perfect circle. (Not an easy feat, just try doing it. Without a compass. Or Illustrator.)


Last week I enjoyed a good Jewish breakfast at a local deli with Wendy, while the snow poured out of the sky. We also were able to do a bit of illustration/design work for her and give her a new identity (the graphic design kind, not the witness protection kind). I've always been amazed by musicians and writers, but songwriters are especially in the "I don't even begin to understand how they do that" category. But what I especially love about Wendy is her kind heart and infectious laugh, which is surprisingly easy to get going. So, thank you, Wendy, for the opportunity to do work for you, for a chilly breakfast date, and for one of the most lovely songs I've ever heard. And, happy birthday tomorrow.

Her site is in progress, and if you google her you'll find a realtor and a country music artist. When it's up I will post links and a sample of the graphic identity we worked on with her. Fun working with a friend.

Waiting music.

I love Sting's music from the Police til now, and last year's If On a Winter's Night is no exception.
This year I ran across a lady's blog that made me think a bit, and appreciate the message that, no matter how many times I hear it, gives me a bit of a chill... unrelated to the weather! Read her words below:

Sting writes about the background of each song with a clear respect for the history and mystery of each one.  It is not a collection of  Christmas music… it is ‘winter’ music.   But he does allude to The Christmas Story, saying…

Since the first millennium the festival of Christmas has become the central and defining event of the winter season; the story of Christ’s birth contains many magical elements, prefigured by ancient prophecy… I appreciate the beauty of these stories and how they have inspired musicians and poets for many centuries.  It was my desire to treat these themes with reverence and respect, and despite my personal agnosticism, the sacred symbolism of the Church’s art still exerts a powerful influence over me.

After describing the songs which come from the Christmas story, he wrote the paragraph at the top of this post.  You might want to read it again.
Do you see it? A man who respects the story of Christ but does not hold the belief still sees how God’s story of redemption is echoed in the cyclical nature of the world around us, and in the art we have created across the centuries.
Do you feel it? A simple sense of awe.
Oh that we who know this story and do believe may keep this same sense of awe.

Hoping that this second week of Advent brings the awe, hope, longing and gratitude for that which we are waiting.

Smelling sunshine.

Trying to capture sunshine is fruitless when one doesn't know how to manually operate a camera. I wish you could smell the incense-laden sunbeams. I can't seem to put it away after Christmas. So, Happy Epiphany, then. Here's a snippet from the link:

Epiphany is the climax of the Advent/Christmas Season and the Twelve Days of Christmas, which are usually counted from the evening of December 25th until the morning of January 6th, which is the Twelfth Day. In following this older custom of counting the days beginning at sundown, the evening of January 5th is the Twelfth Night. This is an occasion for feasting in some cultures, including the baking of a special King's Cake as part of the festivities of Epiphany (a King's Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Grasin French Catholic culture of the Southern USA). In some church traditions, only the full days are counted so that January 5th is the Eleventh Day of Christmas, January 6th is the Twelfth Day, and the evening of January 6th is counted as the Twelfth Night.

A manifestation. Kind of like a sunbeam but infinitely more real, and without the dirty windows.


Here's another little home I love, far away on the West Coast, with an eerily similar theme! Thanks, Kerri, for sharing!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, friends... enjoy the last days of Advent with a little bit of Medieval loveliness, one of my favorite songs. The lyrics are posted below, and this song is featured on a lovely recording that a friend of mine introduced me to years ago. (Thanks, Abe!)

Adam Lay Ybounden

Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond,
Four thousand winter thoughte he not too long;
And al was for an apple, and apple that he took,
As clerkes finden writen, writen in hire book.
Ne hadde the apple taken been, the apple taken been,
Ne hadde nevere Oure Lady ybeen hevene Queen.
Blessed be the time that apple taken was:
Therfore we mown singen Deo Gratias.

Here's a little explanation from someone wiser and wittier than I. Merry Christmas!

Advent Imminent

http://bit.ly/2Se9cI

Saw this in Reader's Digest with this quote:

"A little care and concern in the midst of war will not redeem a violent world. The Christmas promise of peace and goodwill, cynics say, is an illusion. But then there are a million small stories, like the story of a soldier and a dog, to remind us that the impossible is always waiting, straining to become real."

A little reminder of Advent too.

Advent...of Noah.

It's raining cats, dogs, elephants, turtles, and guinea pigs here. Even though it's not Christmasy or even halfway Winter-like, it's still Advent, barely. I thought I'd share a little from what I'm reading right now:

...Scriptures [accent] three Advents: the Advent of Christ coming into our own lives, the Advent of Christ's physical birth in Bethlehem, and the Advent of his second coming at the end of history...
...the hope of a world restored under God proclaims that evil is not the final word. If we were to read only the newspaper accounts of murder, espionage, violence, wars, and the like, we would have only a negative view of the world...What the second coming says to us is that the evil of this world is doomed. It will be judged and burned by fire because God in Christ has already dealt a decisive blow to the powers of evil... the second coming says that the ultimate word in history is the triumph of God, the reign of God's kingdom, the eternal and lasting rule of the good. Here is where our Advent meditation rests. By faith we are promised that evil will be judged and done away with and all will be made whole. This is the vision we want to carry with us as we view the news and visit the hospitals, psychiatric wards, and prisons of our world. Christian hope is an optimism about life that is grounded in Christ and celebrated again and again in the liturgy of the church...
Advent is a time to review once again where our faith is placed and how our lives are lived. Trust in Jesus is not merely a onetime act but a continuous state of being, a moment-by-moment existence in Christ. It is a daily turning from a life lived for self to a life lived in tune with the power of the Spirit who continually calls us to be like Jesus.

Often during this time of year I feel that I couldn't possibly be less like Him, but thankfully it's not up to me completely. And there's always something more to strive for.

A Prayer for Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer:

Merciful God, who sent your messengers, the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Adam Lay Ybounden.

Adam Lay Ybounden relates the events of Genesis, Chapter 3, namely the Fall of Man following Adam's temptation by Eve and the serpent. The third verse suggests the subsequent redemption of man by the birth of Jesus by Mary.

Adam lay ybounden,
Bounden in a bond;
Four thousand winter,
Thought he not too long.

And all was for an apple,
An apple that he took.
As clerkes [clerics] finden,
Written in their book.

Ne had the apple taken been,
The apple taken been,
Ne had never our ladie,
Abeen heav'ne queen.

Blessed be the time
That apple taken was,
Therefore we moun singen.
Deo gracias!

She did it!

Nanette, you did it! A daily Advent ornament post.
I love this. Thank you. My intentions are nothing to your reality! :)
Maybe I'll get my act together next year...

Joy.

I don't have these particular Christmas albums, but I think the artwork is adorable. (Anyone know who illustrated? I don't.) Lots swimming in my head regarding Advent this year, but our laptop had a monitor issue and I have to sneak in to use the Internets here in the office. Which involves me being a little restricted but in my situation, that is a good thing. A little Advent-time fast. I hope you out there are finding meaning in our busy Christmas shopping/partying/over-indulging season. Leave me a note if there's something especially sweet to you this year.

Ready?

It's time for Advent...
Here is a little reflection from the Archbishop of Canterbury.


Here are a few more links to help think about Advent. And below is text from this article, which quotes some of the video above. If you have any Advent traditions or readings, or favorite meditations, I would love to hear of them. What good timing it is to start up Advent right after Thanksgiving! May we all have a chance to really ponder it this year and every year.

"I suppose if you did one of those word association tests on 'Advent', the other word you'd come up with straight away would be 'calendar'.
"That's all that most people these days are really aware of where Advent is concerned. The Advent Calendar is a countdown to Christmas, and it means daily sweets and chocolates.
"It's a slightly thin and inadequate account of what has been for a long time one of the most important and significant times in the Church's year – a time of waiting, we sometimes say.
"But once we've said waiting, of course that's not a very attractive word. We're not a culture that's very used to waiting."

He said the advertising slogan once used by the credit card Access – "take the waiting out of wanting" – illustrates how many people want to possess things the minute they decide they want them, whereas waiting is seen as passive and boring.

But the Archbishop went on to say that waiting is central to the Biblical story of Advent, when John the Baptist announced the coming of Christ and Mary quietly waited for the birth of her child. He said Christians should see Advent as a time to reflect on this waiting, and also to examine the extent to which they have allowed Jesus into their lives.

Dr Williams went on: "It's been said so often it hardly needs saying again, but it is rather a pity that for a few weeks before Christmas we are saturated with Christmas carols. We don't have quite the sort of quiet we need to think, 'Well what would it be if Jesus really came as if for the first time into my life'. All those bits of our contemporary culture which are about rushing to get gratification, all those habits of our culture which so drive the crises of our culture, whether it's the credit crunch of the environmental crisis, all those things we have to cast a rather cold eye on during Advent and say slow down, take time."

Still longing

I've never been to Heaven, yet I miss it. Eden's in my blood. The best things of life are souvenirs from Eden, appetizers of the New Earth. There's just enough of them to keep us going, but never enough to make us satisfied with the world as it is, or ourselves as we are. We live between Eden and the New Earth, pulled toward what we once were and what we yet will be....
Desire is a signpost pointing to Heaven. Every longing for better health is a longing for the New Earth. Every longing for romance is a longing for the ultimate romance with Christ. Every desire for intimacy is a desire for Christ. Every taste of joy is but a foretaste of a greater and more vibrant joy than can be found on Earth as it is now. A.W. Tozer said, "In nature, everything moves in the direction of its hungers. In the spiritual world it is not otherwise. We gravitate toward our inward longing, provided of course that those longings are strong enough to move us."
from Heaven, by Randy Alcorn

This seemed to fit into the spirit of Advent. Still longing for something unpurchasable, not found at the new lifestyle center, nor found when I have perfect health and sculpted abs (as if), or when I finally learn how to not sin (bigger as if). O Lord, may the greatest desires in my heart someday be related to You, and not the gifts You bestow.

O Come, O Come!

O Come, Emmanuel

Daily Reading for December 14

Advent. A time of waiting and watching and preparation. A time, if we are not careful, of rampant materialism and tension that looks forward only to a too-secularized and too-commercialized Christmas holiday. On the other hand, Advent can be a time like no other—a time in which we pause and ask Christ into our hearts, invite God into our world.

But who is this God who comes to us and enters into our life? How do we invite God into our lives? How do we know Christ Jesus? One way to discover Christ and to pray for God’s coming is to use the ancient prayers of the early church together with a present-day understanding of what Christ’s coming will mean for us.

The well-known carol, “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” provides just such a passageway linking the old and the new. The carol’s familiar names for Christ are based on the Advent Antiphons—the “Great O’s”—which date back possibly to the sixth century. These antiphons—short devotional texts chanted before and after a psalm or canticle—were sung before and after the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, at Vespers from December 16 through December 23. Each of the antiphons greets the Messiah and ends with a petition of hope. The simple refrain of the carol, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” sets the tone for this Advent time of waiting and expectation.

From Hasten the Kingdom: Praying the O Antiphons of Advent by Mary Winifred, C.A. (Liturgical Press, 1996).

Created to Long

If you visited the site I mentioned in the previous post, you might have visited the page for today. Oh, how there is always something we crave in our hearts (minds, stomachs, etc!) and how often it is not God. As much as I desire unconditional human love and acceptance, good coffee (with half and half), a fulfilling job, and a warm soft bed, no thing on this Earth will ever make me stop wanting. It's a built-in innate need to need God, and so often I try to circumvent it by filling that space with junk. This time of year is especially difficult, because Heaven knows I need that ________. I deserve it, I should treat myself this time. If I've seen or heard that once this year, it's been 1000 times. God knew we need saving, so He came Himself to do the job. Why He cares so much, I'll never fully understand.

Come!

Daily Reading for December 11

Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise. Every year we roll up all our needs and yearnings and faithful expectation into one word: “Come!”

And yet, what a strange prayer this is! After all, you have already come and pitched your tent among us. You have already shared our life with its little joys, its long days of tedious routine, its bitter end. Could we invite you to anything more than this with our “Come”? Could you approach any nearer to us than you did when you became the “Son of Man,” when you adopted our ordinary little ways so thoroughly that it’s almost hard for us to distinguish you from the rest of our fellow men?

In spite of all this we still pray: “Come.” Is it true, then, that we only “celebrate” this season, or is it still really Advent? Are you the eternal Advent? Are you he who is always still to come, but never arrives in such a way as to fulfill our expectations? Are you the infinitely distant One, who can never be reached?

You promised that you would come, and actually made good your promise. But how, O Lord, how did you come? You did it by taking a human life as your own. You became like us in everything: born of a woman, you suffered under Pontius Pilate, were crucified, died, and were buried. And thus you took up again the very thing we wanted to discard. You began what we thought would end with your coming: our poor human kind of life, which is sheer frailty, finiteness, and death.

From “The God Who Is to Come” by Karl Rahner, in Encounters with Silence, translated by James M. Demske (St. Augustine’s Press, 1999).

Wake Up Dead Man

Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be

It's Advent. I've been thinking about it in a new light, more like second advent than anything related to Christmas. Maybe it's the Heaven book, or maybe (likely) I've never really paid attention to the "being watchful" part of this first week. Maybe it's because I've never officially celebrated Advent, a sad thing... being ignorant for the most part of the historical significant Church calendar. I visited a little Lutheran church down the road for a Wednesday night service this week, and then to a local college with a kicking gospel choir, and then read this little snippet which tied them all together for me. Somehow, God will be praised through our paltry efforts, whether we're into it or not, whether we mean the words we sing or recite or pray, God will have the glory despite our sin. I am finding that very comforting.
Here is the quote from the little Lutheran Advent booklet:

What God has done for us in Christ is what motivates all our preparations during this Advent Season... The preparation we make as Christians does not mean that we have to remove ourselves from the world. It doesn't mean that we hold back from caring and sharing and sacrificing, however small it may be, our investment of ourselves in others—these are all acts of preparation. The preparation we make as Christians means that we live with Christian certainty—certainty of the one thing that matters, and that is this: the Christ who came once for mankind's salvation is the Christ who seeks every day to invade the lives of people, to fill us with Himself, to speak His forgiveness for our sins, to demonstrate the love that makes our loving possible, to give us strength and courage, joy and gladness. The fact that we have salvation, not only beyond the grave, but now, today, is what moves us to rejoice.

Here's a little Episcopal online Advent calendar too, complete with devotions and carols. I'm up for anything that turns my thoughts towards our Christ's coming (first or second times) and off another trip to the mall.