Posts Tagged ‘advent’
advent: four
This, said Joseph to himself, is the one of whom the angel spoke. He dropped to his knees beside the manger. This was the messiah.
~ Jim Bishop, “The Holy Birth”
How humbling for Joseph to kneel before the manger of this son Mary had just birthed, a son he had no part of.
How curious that Joseph should call his earthly son King, Holy, Messiah; to know Jesus from the moment of His birth and know Him as the Son of God.
How liberating for Joseph, aware for the first time as he peered over the well-worn feeding trough, that he was beholding the One who would forgive his sin and redeem his soul.
1 Commentadvent: three
For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
~ Book of Habakkuk, Chapter Two & Verse Three
I am angry. Just plain angry. Fired up. Frustrated. With my unfinished self. With rude people. With the mad, mad, mad world.
And I’m weary. Weary. Beaten. Breathless. With worry. With the fight for justice. With battles that appear un-win-able.
I’m sad, too. Sad. Broken. Gut-wrenched. At the oppression in my soul. In beloved ones. In a harsh and inhumane humanity.
It seems the opposite of what I should feel this Christmasy time of year. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, after all. But I think I will embrace the reminder of crushed spirits, smoldering wicks, our great and wild need, and my fatal cut. I need to hold my breath in for a moment, hold my breath with the whole of creation, with universes, galaxies, suns, oceans, mountains, birds, trees and man.
Hold my breath. Because that is what we, all of us – stars, turtles and fetuses – are doing whether we know it or not. And we’re holding our hopeless breath for Him, for the completion of what He brought with His birth: the hope of an appointed time when all weakness and failing, striving and death will be fully redeemed.
But, for now, we are in a room where we wait – sometimes angry, weary and sad – knowing that this is the moment before the extraordinary thing will come to pass. And, as Buechner says it, the name of that moment is Advent.
2 Commentsadvent: two
“. . . He was a fugitive & a wayfarer upon this earthen ball.”
- Gene Edwards, The Birth
Lest we feel alone, misunderstood, rejected, forsaken, let us remember – however we can – that infinite perfection was born into a finite and broken world. Perfect and despised. Unwelcome amidst the ruins He came to rebuild. Hated by those He came to love.
And, in our remembering, may we know something of His presence, His acceptance, His favor, & His love.
No Commentsadvent: one
My song is love, love unknown. And I’ve got to get that message home.
“The Message,” Coldplay
Could we grasp the sort of love the Father, Son and Spirit enjoy…
Could we know that mysterious depth of love shared only between the infinite Beings who created all things known and unknown…
Could we utter the unutterable word of love the Holy Three-in-One sings in Their divine dance of intimacy…
Could we somehow glimpse these unsearchable reaches then we would know, without doubt, that the Father’s gift to us in the advent of His Son was the greatest message of love that angel or man has ever received.
We would know that we, in all our desperation and depravity, are the beloved.
No CommentsFollow
