November Pastor’s Page
When I was a kid, our family marked the days of Advent with a calendar posted on the wall. We took turns opening the little door on the calendar each day. Each door was opened to an image or picture from a scripture story or an image of the holiday like a candy cane. This little activity nurtured a lively sense of anticipation, wonder, and joy. At the same time, a merchant, not far from our home put out a sign announcing the number of shopping days until Christmas. Every day someone changed out the number. When the sign read “three shopping days until Christmas,” and you had not even begun to buy gifts, panic set in.
One practice, rooted in ancient tradition, fostered a sense of waiting and watchfulness. The other was a vehicle of pure, unreconstructed consumerism. Still, they overlapped and contributed to a sense that this season was a kind of “countdown” to something special. Counting down to something special bring a sense of excitement and joy. Such a feel to Advent, even with the impure motives of consumerism, can be very enriching. But there is more to Advent than merely counting the days. More than a countdown to Christmas, Advent is a time to embrace the full spectrum of Christian hope. Set in the context of dark winter as we hunker down and long for light, this is a time set apart to name lament, name longings, and yearnings — for ourselves, our neighbors, and all the world.
The focus of Advent is the manifestation of the full reign of God. Already, we have a sense of the season in the scripture we hear in worship during November. Stories and parables and the words of ancient prophets point us to that day when God’s glory will be all-in-all. Advent begins with an emphasis on the third part of the Eucharistic acclamation, “Christ will come again.” In the middle days of Advent, we hear the voice of John the Baptizer and the call to turn our hearts and minds towards the things of God. Like any faithful prophet, John calls us not to speculate on God’s promised day of renewing all heaven and earth, but to live into that hope now, every day, as agents of God’s renewed creation, sharing the gifts of forgiveness and compassion. It is a call to live each day with a sense of anticipation that God will again do something new.
Prayer is a way to keep awake to God’s newness and so live hopefully. One of the gifts of Advent is the opportunity to take a break from our busy and over-scheduled lives by dwelling in the grace of prayer. Just so, at PRLC we take a respite in December from many of our programs and commit to spending Advent together in prayer. Learn more about the opportunities in this edition of Tower Echoes.
Your staff took its inspiration from the first lesson for the Third Sunday of Advent: “For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:11)
The Kingdom grows in a mystery. God is at work, albeit silently. Sometimes we just need to take a break from our projects and plans and take time to listen, watch, wonder and wait. And so we pray: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Pastor Hansen