O come, O come

My goal is to celebrate advent this year.

When I was at Regent we sang the hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" during advent.  We only sang the verses - the chorus was omitted.  The reason for this is that advent is not the celebration of Jesus' birth but the preparation for his coming - so we could not rightly since "Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel - has come to you oh Israel!"  Every week we would sing this carol incomplete and every week I would leave with a sense that something was not finished. I guess the act achieved it's aim.

It seems appropriate that advent is celebrated at the darkest time of the year because there is darkness in advent.  We enter into the words of those who sat at the rivers of Babylon  wondering "How Long O Lord, How Long".  (I recognize this is a mixture of Psalm 137 and Psalm 13)  We can look at our world and be angered and discouraged by the same things they noticed:  people not caring for the poor, hatred, pain, dishonest gain, destruction of the world, rejection of God.  These prophets are our comrades for they too lived in a broken world and experienced the pain of loss and rejection and loneliness.  They desperately knew their need for a Messiah who would heal the broken, rescue the weak and restore the lost. And so during advent I am likewise reminded of my own need for a Messiah to further enter my life.

We know that God has made a way for these things to change even though the world has not been made perfect.  He has begun the restoration of his world and reconciliation of man to God.   This great and powerful ruler who would thwart the wicked and tear down nations enters the world so weak and fragile. how can a little baby hold within itself the dynamic tension of fully God and fully human?  I cannot understand.  But it is a blessed thing none the less.