"Born thy people to deliver, born a child, and yet a king; born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal Spirit rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne" (ELW #254).
Time is a gift of God's creation. It is that measurement by which we mark events past, present and future. The church year is how we tell the story of God who stands above time, and yet has acted decisively in time. For its part in the marking of time, the season of Advent places us squarely between past and future events: Between the comfort of knowing that God so loved the world he sent his only son to die for it, and the discomfort of knowing that the crucified, resurrected and ascended Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.
The season of Advent reminds us that life beyond the bells of Christmas is fraught with crooked roads and cavernous valleys. Advent reminds us that like our ancient forebears, we often find ourselves in exile crying desperately for God to tear open the heavens and come down so that the mountains of brokenness and pain might quake in God's presence.
And yet in this season of Advent, we along with the prophet Isaiah are invited to see beyond our present time of exile to the day when hearts will be healed and those held captive will be set free. What better place to view life beyond exile than in that place of God's promised presence? In the word proclaimed and the sacraments shared.
In the coming weeks as we begin preparations for Christmas celebrations, let us also take God's gift of Advent time to prepare our hearts for that day when our exile shall be no more and we shall greatly rejoice in the Lord once and for all.
Peace in Christ,
Pr. Doug
