4th Sunday in Advent

We had a most wonderful celebration yesterday, the 4th Sunday in Advent.  Our theme for 4th of Advent was the Incarnation.  Doug preached an amazing sermon that challenged us to think about how we REALLY feel about God coming so near to us in the person of Jesus Christ.  He said that if we allow God to come really close to our lives then God will also see all of the messiness, all of the failure and sometimes we feel too much shame.  But that is when we must remember that the whole point of the incarnation is to redeem all of those sad points and usher us into a new and beautiful relationship with God.  One of Doug's points was that God ultimately became separated from his son in order for us to become his children.  It was a beautiful and poignant thought as we ponder Christ's entrance into our world once again.  Our music director, Rigael Drake, sang one of the most beautiful renditions of O Holy Night I've ever heard.  Rigael's usual style is gospel but he really captured the essence of this song on Sunday.  It brought me to tears, actually.  The whole day was such a warm celebration of the love that surrounds us.  The kids shared in a wonderful Christmas pageant after the service, we had some dear friends in for a beef burgundy stew lunch, and all in all I was wrapped in feelings of love and warmth all day.
I feel inspired and ready to enter these final days of our journey towards Christmas. Reading Bonhoeffer and Nouwen is defintely an amazing way to prepare for the incarnation once again.

2nd Sunday in Advent

     We lit the second candle of Advent today.
Our theme for today was mystery.  I spoke of a concept that C.S. Lewis wrote about called Sehnsucht —the longing for the mysterious, the wonderful, the other-worldly that our daily experience does not satisfy. I also noted that the dictionary definitions of mystery included references to the divine, the sacramental and aspects of Christ's life, like his passion and the incarnation that have a mysterious quality to them.  I believe that God as our creator designed Christ’s coming into this world to have an air of mystery about it so that we would curiously be drawn to this amazing event year after year.  
     But what I really concluded was that the greatest mystery of all however is the fact that the God of the universe, in all of his vastness, decided to enter our world through his Son Jesus Christ, in humble circumstances, through ordinary people in order to reveal his great love for us.  God draws near to us so that we might draw near to him.  And by doing it through humble means, He ensures that anyone, no matter their lot in life, regardless of race, class, gender, intellect, virtue, family lines or age, may come to know God through Jesus Christ.   
      Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “this is the unrecognized mystery of this world:  Jesus Christ.  That this Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, as himself the Lord of glory: that was the mystery of God.  It was a mystery because God became poor, low, lowly and weak out of love for humankind, because God became a human being like us so that we would come to him.  God is the one who becomes low for our sakes.  This is the depth of Deity whom we worship as mystery and comprehend as mystery.” 
     It is mysterious that the God of all creation would care so much for us.  And yet he does.  All he asks of us is that we accept His gift of love.  I hope you do.  

 
 

Advent day 21

Snowy, Snowy Stockholm. Took Tanner out to the woods again.

Tromped through the freshly fallen snow and marveled at the beauty.
Had dinner out in a great pub in Gamla Stan with good friends.
Talked about all manner of things. It was refreshing and relaxing.

My energy level is low tonight and I am very tired. I don't feel very inspired to write something great so I'll just say that I feel thankful for the relationships in my life.
It's been great to be able to walk the woods with Doug and Tanner again.

It was wonderful to get out and enjoy our friends tonight. I look forward to the week ahead when we will have many opportunities to be with people. I am thankful that God saw it fit to send his son into our world so that we could have a relationship with him.
God coming near...that's what the week ahead is all about.