Arrivals and Advent #2
“All we know is that we are tired of waiting but waiting is all we have.”
Can you remember the trajectory of your life before the pandemic? I remember that up until March 11, 2020, I was thinking that 2020 was going to be ‘the best year ever’. It just had to be because it carried the weight of destiny even by the ease with which it rolled off my tongue. 2020. New decade. New opportunities. New goals to check off. New everything. That was my hope, anyway. Maybe you were thinking the same thing?
And then…the detour. The slowly dawning realization that a redirection down a different unplanned road was really a roadblock that none of us could move through, around, or over, without the supernatural guidance and presence of God in our lives.
By now we all know that there is nothing any of us can do to speed up the process of getting to the other side of our new normal. It takes as long as it takes.
We are waiting for the arrival of something, someone, to let us know that help is on the way.
Maybe it’s a vaccine. Maybe it’s economic relief. Maybe it’s opening up air travel and borders so we can see our loved ones.
All we know is that we are tired of waiting but waiting is all we have.
Are you tired of waiting? Are you stuck somewhere between where you were headed and where you want to go? Are you wondering if you will ever ‘arrive’?
The world into which Christ came really wasn’t much different than the one we live in now. It was defined by weariness, gender, race and class inequity, much like the one we live in now. Those who were the minority, outside of the inner circle of political, religious and Roman superiority, lived in fear that they would be taxed to death, ridiculed to death, or face death itself if they dissented. Those who held the power lived in fear of losing it, and resorted to treachery and bullying to keep the system unfair, but beneficial to them.
We are experiencing unrest in our world as never before. Political factions have widened the divide and pitted friends and families against each other. Economic inequity has kept the top 5 percent of the world’s resources in the hands of a privileged few. And gender and race inequity continue to experience the slow burn of things not changing fast enough to liberate their voices so they can bring their unique anthems to the church in harmony with those who are gatekeepers of the status quo.
Christ, in all his fullness, but laying his deity aside, transported himself into a world, ‘in the fulness of time.’ Galatians 4:4 (TPT): “But when that era came to an end and the time of fulfillment had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the written law. Yet all of this was so that he would redeem and set free all those held hostage to the written law so that we would receive our freedom and a full legal adoption as his children.”
His arrival was designed for the Kairos moment of time that an unsuspecting world not be that thrilled to see Him. They weren’t expecting Him and resented what would need to change upon His arrival. It was perfect timing, nonetheless. No promo or marketing campaign was letting anyone know that He was on His way. The many had the scriptures which clearly told that He was going to be arriving but it was only the few who recognized Him when He did.
Christ’s arrival brought to an end an era where God had been silent for quite some time – close to 400 years. Christ brought not only God’s voice to earth but unlocked the praise symphony of humanity’s voice, raised together in the refrain of “Joy to the world, the Lord has come, Let earth receive her King!”
Every Advent, and with hope, this Advent 2020, will remind us of the arrival that still continues to change everything. If we receive Christ now, in this unprecedented year and allow Him to be the glorious intruder that swoops in and can change everything for us, what possibilities for the future does it open up?
He can change our hearts.
He can shape our character.
He can bring restoration in our relationships.
He can bring healing to our souls.
This is what the world was waiting for in His first arrival.
This is what we still desperately long for Him to do this Advent.
His arrival unveils the mystery and the certainty that our arrival home to our final destination is secure.
Jesus’ arrival into our world secures our safe arrival to our final home.
If Advent is about the arrival of someone awaited and anticipated, then the arrival of that person means that something has made it to its destination.
Jesus strategy was to arrive into our world,
but His final destination was to live in the center of our hearts.
We celebrate and sing in the sacredness of this Advent season. We know that even in this crazy world turned upside down, Christ’s arrival makes the promise of our arrival into His eternal presence is a sure thing.
We are waiting, hoping, praying and waiting some more.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
Are you weary and waiting? This Advent is an invitation for you to ask Jesus back into the center of your life.
Advent is an invitation from the One who loves us beyond words.
It’s a lifelong opening of our hearts to God. Humble adoration and praise emanates from our lips even as the weary world awaits.
If Advent is an invitation, then you need to ask yourself if you will accept?
Will you see that the arrival of Christ in your world means that He is the Saviour who will raise you up to arrive with Him in His eternal home?
I believe in you.
Cathie