Sunday, November 30, 2008

Advent - A Season Of Hope


Jdimytai Damour, the Walmart maintenance worker who was trampled to death by a shopping mob was described by his friends as a gentle giant, who loved movies. Two men shot each other to death in a Toys 'R' Us store, Nearly 200 are dead and hundreds wounded in Mumbai, India, from bombings and shootings. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to take their toll in lives and maimings.

Here in the US, people lose their jobs, their homes, homeless numbers grow, food banks run low on supplies, family budgets stretch beyond the breaking point. Around the world adults and children go hungry and die from lack of food, die from treatable diseases, die from clashes of armed groups within their countries and invaders from outside. I could go on. There's much in the world to lament and cause us to be sad, even despondent.

And yet, and yet, the season of Advent is upon us - Advent, the time of waiting with expectant hope for the celebration of the birthday of the Babe in Bethlehem, the Christ child, who grew in wisdom and grace and changed the world and changed my world.

Advent is my favorite season of the church year. I love the readings in the Lectionary and the hymns which say, "Come! Prepare! Make way! Praise the Lord!" - the promises of blind eyes opened, prisoners set free, widows and orphans cared for, the brokenhearted and mourners comforted.

I am neither Pollyanna, playing the Glad Game, nor a cock-eyed optimist. If I lean in any direction, it's somewhat toward the depressed end of the personality spectrum, and yet the season of Advent fills me with hope. I have no explanation for my hope in these terrible times other than my faith in God, who calls us always to be children of hope.

The season is a special time to give attention to prayer and good works as a way of preparing for the celebration of the coming of the Prince of Peace. The call to prayer and good works is for all year round, but Advent is the perfect time to renew our dedication to continue the practices all through the year.

Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

A voice says, ‘Cry out!’
And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.

Isaiah 40:1-8

Thanks to MadPriest for the inspiration for this post.

8 comments:

  1. I love Advent too...thank you for the inspiring post which was inspired by your friend in England...inspiration after inspiration...and people, including ourselves sometimes, wonder why we are so enthralled with our international friends.

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  2. Leonardo, I'd have done better to say that my friend across the sea inspired me to write an anti-post to his.

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  3. I think you and Maddy are so good for each other.

    Advent for me is about signs and wonders and an increasing awareness of the miracles of life.

    Hope is one of those miracles.

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  4. Maddy and I good for each other? I don't know about that. I know that he's maddening.

    Hope is a miracle.

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  5. The Advent Calendar is up. The girls refuse to accept that they are too old to cries of
    "Thats ageist" and
    "It's a family tradition"

    I'm secretly pleased.

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  6. Thanks Mimi for this hopeful casting of thoughts, or thoughtful casting of hopes. Advent is surely a time of mixed messages, but still the light does shine in the darkness...

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  7. Advent means more this year than ever. Given all that is and has happened, it couldn't come too soon this year. We are deeply in need of its soothing embrace, and I am fully desireous of making this the most meaningful Advent/Christmas season in years. We are a people in need and God always is generous in his giving.

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  8. DP, you ageist! Yay! for your girls.

    Tobias, thanks be to God for the light that shines in the darkness. Truly, I have no other explanation for my hope, except faith.

    AFeather, this year, especially, Advent comes at the right time - as it always does.

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