PSALM 31: "But I trust in you, Lord; I say ‘You are my God, My times are in your hand….Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.’” Vs. 14-15.5, 24
We are familiar with the start of a “new year” on our secular calendar. It arrives with “resolutions, parties, promises, and celebration.” The Church Year begins with Advent and…well…it arrives with far less fanfare. The dictionary’s definition of Advent suggests “Arrival, esp. of something momentous.” And the Church presents Advent as a time of penitence, prayer, even fasting. Two different definitions for the beginning of a new year; but, each is leading up to “something momentous.” What are your thoughts about the New Year that began with Advent? The media screams: “Christmas Shopping”! Our Church advises: “….Be strong, let your heart take courage, trust in the Lord, wait for the Lord.”
Have you needed to “be strong, let your heart take courage, trust, wait for the Lord” during this past year? I believe most of us have, and you will truly have known the emotional and spiritual difference between Advent 1 and January 1. Someone wrote: “When you come to the end of your own strength, you have reached the beginning of God’s.” Advent encourages us to humbly recognize the limits of our own strength, and the folly of our determination to “ lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps,” Advent says, “Get ready for a New Beginning” but, we have first to ask for God’s Help, Forgiveness, Mercy, Healing, and Courage. When a loved one is very ill, when sorrow arrives at your door, or an accident changes one’s life forever, those words aren’t “just words.” You breathe them into your being with every breath, and, you “wait for the Lord.” Even in all of life’s wonderful, positive and joyous times, we “wait for the Lord.”
And, miracle of miracles, THE LORD COMES! OUR SAVIOR HAS ARRIVED! The dictionary reports: “Something Momentous has Arrived.” Advent promises that God knows our needs, loves us beyond measure, and wishes to create the Birth of Jesus Christ within each of us. May we try to be faithful to Advent’s gift and promise with a promise of our own to grow in trust, prayer, penitence, and hopefulness.
(Lorraine Hennigar)
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