A Furious Longing
“I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”
Today marks the first day of Advent. I grew up in a tradition that paid little attention to Advent. If it was mentioned, it wasn’t communicated clearly enough. As I have grown older and have explored ancient traditions and disciplines practiced by the early Church, I've come to appreciate Advent for what it offers: a furious longing for the Messiah.
When we celebrate Advent, we are joining in with ancient Israel on this longing. They were a people who had been through it: from living in a work-around-the-clock land as slaves, to wandering the wilderness highway depending on the provisions of YHWH, to making frequent sacrifices drenched in blood as means of atonement, to pining after false gods and eventually getting ransacked by foreign rulers who dragged them away into captivity.
They knew what it was like to live in exile. They knew how it felt to live in a land with systems in place to make them forget about their God as they were introduced to foreign gods, being encouraged to worship and sacrifice to them. No wonder the prophets came into their lives at such a time and had such a message to give to them. This message of a Messiah, of one who will make it all right again!
Then, there is us. We are not much different than the people of Israel at the end of the Old Testament: living in exile in anxious, prayerful expectation for the Messiah to come.
Our news media keep us tightly wound, making us wonder when things like threats of nuclear war are no longer than just threats. They report on the moral failure of those we’ve looked to for entertainment, for legislation, and for governance of our country, making us ask, “Is there one good soul left?”
Topsy-turvy Capitol Hill makes the marionettes of health care and tax reform dance clumsily before us, hoping the audience will laud applause and not throw weeks’ old produce on the stage. We shamefully throw our ticket stubs into the bin on the way out, trying to remember why we thought it’d be a good show.
If that were not enough, there is the anxiety of our personal lives that repeatedly strike us. Questions like:
- Who am I?
- Where have I been and where am I going?
- Who will be there to walk with me as I grow older?
- Do my friends really know me and do I really know them?
- Will I have someone in my life to love intimately?
- How comfortable am I with my view of my god?
Pour all of that together into the tank and you feel the engine failing: a tailspin, a hopeless corkscrew to acquiesce.
Yet, there is a Messiah coming. A light-bringer for a world flooded with darkness...
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—light! sunbursts of light!...For a child has been born—for us! the gift of a son—for us! He’ll take over the running fo the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings”
So, why celebrate Advent?
Advent gives us the opportunity to look back on Christ’s coming into this world as a means of celebration. It also gives us the opportunity to look expectantly for the return of Christ and his promenade, heralding the Kingdom of God, fully experienced and realized.
Advent reminds us to:
- rediscover hope when all of it seems lost,
- to reconcile and find peace,
- to awaken our senses and live with joy,
- and to love beyond measure.
We are invited to join with the Israelites, the saints of old, and the millions of followers of Jesus around the world to usher in this wonderfully good news that “a child has been born--for us!”
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Celebrate Advent this season. Day by day, “let your heart prepare him room.”
