“For everything its season, and for every activity under heaven its time”. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Advent comes—a sacred season.
Advent comes—a unique time
when the Child born in Bethlehem can be born anew in us
Advent is a time of promise…
“Comfort, comfort my people; —it is the voice of God…”
A time of preparation…
“Prepare a road for the Lord through the wilderness, clear a highway across the desert for our God.”
A time of new beginnings…
“Thus shall the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all mankind shall see it…”.”He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free…The tide of time shall never his covenant remove; his name shall stand forever; that name to us is love.”
Advent is a time of expectancy…
“Come, thou long-expected Jesus…born to set thy people free…”
A time of happenings…
“I cannot see the life of Jesus as other than God trying to disclose his love for us and his attempt, at any price, to show us that the cosmos is grounded in love. All hate, all sin, all discord, all clefts, all ignorance, all confusion will finally give way to love.” (Douglas Steere)
Advent is a time of waiting…
“O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.”
A time of transition…
“Blessed be the God of Israel, who comes to set us free, who visits and redeems us, and grants us liberty. The prophets spoke of mercy, of freedom and release; God shall fulfill the promise to bring our people peace.”
Advent is a time for “new things” and a time of openness…
“…and now I declare new things; before they break from the bud I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:9)
A time of new songs and new dreams….
“Despite all the crassness of life, despite all the hardness of life, despite all the harsh discords of life, life is saved by the singing of angels”. (Howard Thurman)
A time of searching and for finding…
“Redeemer, come, with us abide; our hearts to thee we open wide; let us thy inner presence feel; thy grace and love in us reveal.”
Christmas is waiting to be born:
In you, in me, in all humankind.
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