Sunday, November 27, 2005
It's Coming
Stones Cry Out reminds us that today marks the beginning of Advent. They quote Charles Moore
I have a hard time with this time of year. It just seems like an enormous amount of effort, for a couple of days pay-off, then an enormous amount of effort to tear it all down again. And I wonder does all that effort celebrate what truly matters?
This much I know -- it celebrates that which I decide it celebrates. I am the one that permits Jesus to be "the reason for the season," or not. I can choose to focus on Him when I am making all that effort, or I can choose to focus on the effort and be my normally curmudgeon self.
I do think the incarnation gets theological short-shrift sometimes. We get so focused on the cross and the theology that surrounds it that we just sort of assume that what gives the cross it's power is the fact that it was God Incarnate than hung upon it. That whole God Incarnate thing is a miracle to my mind greater than the resurrection. After all, Jesus raised Lazurus and promises to raise us -- but He has only once managed to stuff all that into such a small and insufficient package.
Sometimes during Advent, I feel like I am kind of stuck in a womb. So many demands on my time, so much that has to be done. It is confining and constraining and uncomfortable. I am sorely tempted to try and break out of the confinement. But this year I think I am going to try and find a way to jump for joy in the confinement. Hopefully, it will be contagious.
Mother Teresa once noted that the first person to welcome Christ was John the Baptist, who leaped for joy on recognizing him, though both of them were still within their mothers' wombs.Are you that excited about the coming of your Savior? Do you recognize who He is even now as He but gestates in His mother's womb? Do you jump for joy at His approach, even in rather cramped and uncomfortable quarters?
I have a hard time with this time of year. It just seems like an enormous amount of effort, for a couple of days pay-off, then an enormous amount of effort to tear it all down again. And I wonder does all that effort celebrate what truly matters?
This much I know -- it celebrates that which I decide it celebrates. I am the one that permits Jesus to be "the reason for the season," or not. I can choose to focus on Him when I am making all that effort, or I can choose to focus on the effort and be my normally curmudgeon self.
I do think the incarnation gets theological short-shrift sometimes. We get so focused on the cross and the theology that surrounds it that we just sort of assume that what gives the cross it's power is the fact that it was God Incarnate than hung upon it. That whole God Incarnate thing is a miracle to my mind greater than the resurrection. After all, Jesus raised Lazurus and promises to raise us -- but He has only once managed to stuff all that into such a small and insufficient package.
Sometimes during Advent, I feel like I am kind of stuck in a womb. So many demands on my time, so much that has to be done. It is confining and constraining and uncomfortable. I am sorely tempted to try and break out of the confinement. But this year I think I am going to try and find a way to jump for joy in the confinement. Hopefully, it will be contagious.
