Dear Members and Friends:
Grace and peace to you all!
Advent and Christmas are approaching faster this year than I can remember. Perhaps this is due to the calendar congestion we are already experiencing. Last week, in particular, was one of the busiest of the year in our house since it was Nutcracker Week and the last weekend of the Fall soccer season.
This is the time of year when we simply cannot do everything and/or please everyone. We have to make choice about which events some, or all, of our family can attend. Doing so requires us to weigh our priorities and focus upon what is most important. Providentially, Advent begins on Sunday, December 1, and it will help prepare us as the season of giving and our celebration of the birth of the Christ-child nears.
Advent is a time of watching and waiting, which is very difficult in our fast-paced society. Commercialism often seeks to steal the limelight from the true light that has come and is coming into the world, Jesus Christ. This consumer-driven component of our culture often dictates and directs us to believe a false narrative regarding what we need to be happy or fulfilled. It feeds our desires and fuels those of many others. “Wish Lists” are compiled and distributed that rarely reflect real needs.
The proclamation and prophecy that we hear in Advent asks us to consider what is really missing in our lives and the world in which we live. In a country and world so divided, we certainly need peace and unity. Scripture gives us hope and calls us to look beyond the darkness and embrace the true light that has come, and is coming, Jesus Christ.
The following passage from Isaiah (9:2, 6-7) is frequently read in our Service of Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve.
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
It evokes the covenant God made with David of blessing his house and making it into an everlasting kingdom known for justice and righteousness, resulting in a reign of peace with prosperity for all. Such a reign was not at all a present reality in the time of Isaiah, nor entirely under David as I shared in last week’s sermon on his “Last Words” (2 Samuel 23:1-7). However, these passages encourage us to look forward and work toward an ideal time that is still to come. Today, more than ever, as we prepare for the Nativity of the Lord, let us be aware and ready to welcome the Christ-child, and all God’s children.
With gratitude and thanks for our life and ministry together!Faithfully,
John