Advent Longing…

The calendar for the traditional church year begins, not with January 1^st, but with Advent. Advent is a time to get simple, get quiet, and stir up a longing for Christ's 2^nd Coming. Only recent history starts the frantic rush of the "Christmas Season" the day after Thanksgiving. No, advent is actually a "mini Lent" intended to strip our souls of acquired excess and prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. We stir up that longing by reading the prophets and other Bible passages that point us to Christ's return.

Last week I was meditating on the traditional reading for the day from the Daily Office of the Book of Common Prayer - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words"

As I meditated on these verses, I was nurturing a hunger and desire to see Christ face to face. I was reflecting on the amazing thought that one day I will really see Jesus with my own two eyes! I was forcing myself to slow down and move deeper in my relationship with my Savior, because at the time I was feeling the pressure to prepare a message about Jesus for our church!

Then I realized the danger of knowing correct doctrine about Jesus, but failing to press in to know the person of Jesus. The core of our faith is not a dogma, it's a person. I can know right truth about Christ and communicate right truth about Christ. And I must. But I want my knowledge to feed a relationship.

I don't want to "meet the Lord in the air" like a blind date! I don't want to say, "Oh, you're the person I've talked so much about! Glad to finally meet you!" I want to meet Jesus like someone who has been talking on the phone with a friend, only to see him drive up in the driveway! It's not a new relationship, but it's so much more immediate.

Yes, I realize that now we walk by faith and not by sight. And I know that the return of Christ will take that relationship to a whole new level. But I want to spend my Advent getting quiet, getting simple, and stirring up a deeper longing for my Lord!

The well wisher of your soul's happiness,

Pastor Tom