There is a timeless wisdom and majesty in the flow of the church year. We participate with the ages in the anxious waiting for the coming of the Promised One in Advent. We witness with the shepherds and the kings and the wounded people of all time the birthing of God in the earthy space of his creation at Christmas.
Through Lent we know with the One who came to stand with us what it means to love in a world of hate, to make whole in a world of brokenness, to set one's face resolutely to overcome sin and its most potent weapon, death. At Easter we know resurrection, and the power of new life. Resurrection life gives birth to the church at Pentecost, and then we review and reaffirm Sunday after Sunday the beliefs of the faithful as the gospel teachings unfold.
Advent tells us again, Christ is coming. He who has come at a historic point of space and time, comes anew each time a heart turns and opens to him. And when the times are fulfilled he will come again to be with us even beyond the reaches of our time. In Advent we watch and wait expectantly to see the wonderful unfolding of the works of God's love in our own space and time. Each new year is new time, and every year we are occupying a particular space in the workings of our own lives. Advent invites us to come and adore the Christ who has come to dwell in the manger of our own hearts. And for the one who is born anew in Christ, this is an ever new and exciting event.
So I invite you to open yourself to the birthing of the Christ child at this new and pregnant time in your life, that it might become holy time for you. And I invite you to do so through a pondering of the lessons from Scripture which are designated for the four Sundays of Advent in 1977.
First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 1977
Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:37-44
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