Yep - happy new year - liturgically speaking, that is. Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and therefore a new liturgical year begins. I love Advent! It is my favorite liturgical season. I love the incarnational emphasis; my favorite hymn is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; I love blue; I love the anticipation; and I hate the waiting. Not just waiting for Christmas (although at 40 years old, I don't mind that so much), but the waiting for the return of Christ. Partly because I'm not sure what that's going to look like and I'm partly afraid that I'll miss it. I'm a bit worried that Jesus will return, not in a cloud of glory, but as a helpless baby again, and I'll not notice. I'll be so wrapped up in my own stuff, my own expectations that I'll miss it.
I know I miss it every day - every day I miss glimpses of the kingdom of God breaking into the world. I don't help as many others as I could/should, I don't accept help many times when it's offered, and I miss it. Or, I'm so caught up in my own stuff, that I don't notice when those things do happen, and I miss it. The final words of the gospel today are "Keep Awake!"...and I suspect I'm sleeping or clueless much of the time. So I continue to pray for eyes to see, hears to hear and a heart to respond.
About Me
- ktjhawk
- I grew up in North Dakota, lived in Kansas for 11 years spent 5-1/2 years in the San Francisco Bay area for seminary, and I am now an Associate Pastor in California, at Anonymous Lutheran Church (ALC).
1 comment:
I actually forgot today was the first Sunday in Advent. My brain remembered that next Sunday is the 2nd one, and that I preach, but today I forgot. Talk about needing to keep awake! Hope your liturgical new year was lovely.
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