Advent Day 1
Sunday, December 1st
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it[a] will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.’ – Jeremiah 33:14-16 (NIV)
Biblical prophets are my favorite because they never shy away from hard truths. They speak plainly about the problems in the world. They weep and mourn for the brokenness, the pain, and the suffering that they witness—especially a guy named Jeremiah (he wasn’t called the weeping prophet for nothing!). Jeremiah noticed the ways that the world was not as it would be, not as it should be. He glimpsed the world through tears. Yet he also saw something sacred shining through.
Long before the birth of Christ, Jeremiah predicted His coming, and he told everyone: “The days are coming...they are coming,” when someone will come whose very name means truth and justice and love and compassion and peace and safety and righteousness to make all things right (a paraphrase).
Fast forward over 500 years, and enter a baby born to usher in a new creation, a new hope, a new truth—a truth that the world would one day be restored. This
is the very promise of God that began in creation and is now being fulfilled in the person of Jesus. And perhaps this is what the season of Advent invites us to bear witness to.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t tell the whole truth about what we are experiencing here and now. It takes courage to wrap our minds around the inconvenient truths, the difficult truths, and the complicated and seemingly contradictory truths. God has made us for truth-telling, to have eyes that glimpse through tears at the already-and-not-yet that we live in. And at the same time, these same eyes are trained on Jesus, who embodies the compassion, restoration, and justice we long for. So, this Advent, may we have the eyes to look long and see this promise of truth coming toward us once again. Let’s meet it with joy together.
Oh God, may this Advent be the new beginning, as we learn to live by the light of Your coming promises. Glimpsing the world through tears, while also seeing something sacred shining through too. Our Truth. Our Light. Our Promise incarnate.
Amen.
