https://sacredquest.substack.com/p/advent-1a-recognizing-the-wonder
We begin the season of Advent and a new liturgical year this Sunday. Through Advent, we are reminded of the long history during which people waited for the coming of God among them, waiting for the justice and compassion foretold to become present here in their midst. We are not unlike our ancestors in faith who look at the world around us and wonder when justice and mercy, righteousness and compassion, will come to our world, to our nation, and to our families. It seems so lovely an image being bid by Isaiah to “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord” to witness a time in which “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” We wonder, “how long must we wait?” and we remember that longing over centuries and millennium before us. How long?
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King, and we looked at the Kingdom that we all desire to be apart of, the Beloved Community, in which we all hope to help build and make present in our world. It isn’t a kingdom like the empires that had dotted history nor a king like the historic kings who have made history through events both deemed great and terrible. The Kingdom we celebrate is one of compassion and mercy, one in which a man executed through political violence is celebrated as king, and one in which the poor, marginalized and lost are at the center of the message of the Kingdom’s reign. It is a lens through which we look that turns the world’s view upside down to reveal the true vision of paradox by which God is recognized, known and celebrated.
I think that Advent calls us to look through a slightly different lens as well. I think Advent calls us to remember the longing over history for God’s presence, but to recognize that God is always breaking into our world if only we have eyes to see. God is always present in our midst in ourselves and one another, in our creation, our world and universe at large. As much as we await the time when swords are turned into plowshares, I think we must wonder and recognize that God is always present and working in our daily lives. The message of Advent is of God’s coming to dwell among us, and certainly he is – he dwells among us every day in numerous ways, and he will continue to dwell with us – that is His promise. We do not know the time or place, but we know that God will continue to break into our world in small and large ways every day, if only we continue to foster eyes to see and recognize him.
So, this Advent, nourish your wonder and waiting. Know that we do not know the time or place when God breaks in upon our world, upon our living, to dwell with us. But God’s promise is to be with us always – and God is always with us, ready to break into our world and lives, and if we have eyes to see, we will recognize the ways in which God continues to come and dwell among us. And we can continue to hope for that Kingdom, that Beloved Community, to break upon us so that the prophets’ call can become reality so that spears can be turned into pruning hooks, that the wolf can dwell with the lamb while the leopard lies down with the goat, and that the deaf and blind will hear and see while the lame and mute leap and sing. Our God breaks into our world in numerous ways every day, may we continue to recognize God’s presence among us so that we can help do our part to help to bring about the Beloved Community in our world today and to help lead others up the mountain of the Lord.