Is there a point to all of this? Does Life really mean anything beyond Thursday night football, Dr. Who, and the new Mazda that’ll stop on a dime? As we come to the dark bottom of the year, it’s only natural to fill the uncertainty with tinsel and glitz. By the way, I love tinsel & glitz–yet there must be something else. Readings for the upcoming Second Sunday in Advent offer some respite from the Same Old Same Old.
The only thing we know for sure about the prophet Malachi is that his name means “messenger”. His oracle, sort of tacked on to the end of the Old Covenant, carps about the insincere worship and the neglectful ethics of Israel. Malachi looks for better days to come: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple….Indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts.” (3:1) There’s disagreement about whether this messenger is the prophet himself; or John the Baptizer; or Jesus. Whatever we read, the news is that God is doing Something to purify Creation.
St. Paul doesn’t spend much time or energy in nostalgia; he sees each of his adventures as the first day of a new life! My own Christmas card selection shows me to be mired in homey villages, little white churches and horse-drawn sleighs. But Paul sees Advent as a time for progressive thinking: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) Dare we affirm that we’re being gradually made more and more complete?
John, son of Zechariah, called “the Baptizer”, was an enigma: Luke gives us some remembrance of his birth, yet we lose track of him until he appears near the mouth of the Jordan baptizing and calling for repentance and renewal. (Luke 3:1-3) As biting as his words were, John preached Grace and Second Chances: there’s still time to turn your life around, he said. All-at-once or bit-by-bit, God is bringing this Good Work in you to completion!
John Wesley spoke a lot about “Going on to Perfection”. This journey to completeness is the soul of Advent, and those who come to worship during these weeks need to hear that God’s Not Done Yet! Most of us whimper in the dark. Our comfort is in hearing that day is almost here.
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
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