The First Week of Advent
Advent, "the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the coming of the Christ". (Wikipedia)
It is a already and not yet reality for us, isn't it? He has come, yet we are awaiting his coming again. In the mean time, His kingdom has a present reality through the church; enabling Christ to come in a variety of ways.
This is a plaque that is in the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, South Africa, where students gathered for meetings during the riots in 1976-77. It was a place of refuge and violence at the same time. Many were killed in spite of where they gathered. The church itself still bears the scars from the conflict; yet great was their hope.
I'm reading the biography of Nelson Mandela, which is no small read by the way, and I'm amazed at his perseverance for the sake of his people and country. How long they waited, how dark it was, yet their persistence and belief changed the face of a nation.
That's the story of hope we live in this month, is it not. Their story, the students of the 70s in South Africa, is a living parable of the light that shown in this lost, dark world of ours; and yet, the darkness did not understand what the light was about.
The present reality of the kingdom seeks to bring hope into the dark places of this world, living with a perspective that sees what is to come, and lives with that as our reality. We don't see like the world sees. We look through a different set of lenses. This "seeing" is happening all over the world all the time, the work of kingdom folk.
Here is my prayer for us as we enter this advent season; that we don't miss it. That our religion doesn't get in the way of our kingdom business. That we not miss the real purpose of his coming; that we get to be hopeful people, bringing the light of hope to the dark places in our world. Pray with me that we see beyond the lights, the glitter, the sales, and realize that Jesus came so, "all that received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God".
The darkness is great, but the light has broken through. Lord help us to live in that light.
It is a already and not yet reality for us, isn't it? He has come, yet we are awaiting his coming again. In the mean time, His kingdom has a present reality through the church; enabling Christ to come in a variety of ways.
This is a plaque that is in the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, South Africa, where students gathered for meetings during the riots in 1976-77. It was a place of refuge and violence at the same time. Many were killed in spite of where they gathered. The church itself still bears the scars from the conflict; yet great was their hope.
I'm reading the biography of Nelson Mandela, which is no small read by the way, and I'm amazed at his perseverance for the sake of his people and country. How long they waited, how dark it was, yet their persistence and belief changed the face of a nation.
That's the story of hope we live in this month, is it not. Their story, the students of the 70s in South Africa, is a living parable of the light that shown in this lost, dark world of ours; and yet, the darkness did not understand what the light was about.
The present reality of the kingdom seeks to bring hope into the dark places of this world, living with a perspective that sees what is to come, and lives with that as our reality. We don't see like the world sees. We look through a different set of lenses. This "seeing" is happening all over the world all the time, the work of kingdom folk.
Here is my prayer for us as we enter this advent season; that we don't miss it. That our religion doesn't get in the way of our kingdom business. That we not miss the real purpose of his coming; that we get to be hopeful people, bringing the light of hope to the dark places in our world. Pray with me that we see beyond the lights, the glitter, the sales, and realize that Jesus came so, "all that received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God".
The darkness is great, but the light has broken through. Lord help us to live in that light.
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