Dear Friends,

Each year, the lectionary for the first Sunday of Advent gives us a version of Jesus’ words about the end of days. This year, from the Gospel of Luke, we read of celestial signs, cataclysms of nature, and distress upon the earth. Jesus speaks of fear and foreboding that will come upon the people. He tells of how, in the days to come, the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

These alarming words of Jesus aren’t quite the ones we’d choose to hear on the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new church year and the “holiday season,” but there they are.

Of course, there’s plenty going on in our world right now to make us worry.  Climate change wreaks havoc, the Coronavirus continues to mutate, racial tensions loom large, and millions of refugees have been displaced from their homelands abroad. Even as our economy “recovers,” individuals and families are struggling financially and every other way, trying to hold things together during the holiday

And yet, our gospel writer also tells us, even as we endure all this turmoil, the “‘Son of Man’ is coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”  God is on the way, bringing justice and peace.  Tomorrow. So, “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

This is a common biblical theme from both testaments:  that no matter how bad things seem, no matter how bad things are, God is there.  Hope isn’t lost.  These ancient writers tell us that the story of the world is not yet finished.  It is a work in progress.  This place we inhabit often looks so bleak.  Yet, behind the scenes, God is at work– in individuals and in systems, in families, in churches and communities, and even in governments – to do away with injustice and to bring about goodness.

For those of us who elect to enter the season of Advent as a Spiritual practice, our tradition invites us to peer through the lens of scripture into a world of hope and peace.  And then, to turn around and look at what’s already here.  At the strides we’ve made through the centuries in the areas of justice and peace.  At the very long way we have to go.

This may sound like “magical thinking,” but a fundamental characteristic of the Judeo-Christian tradition is that we are people of hope.  We believe that God will make all things new someday.  Someday the wrongs will be made right, and justice and fairness will rule.  Someday will dawn with no one hungry, or weary, or poor.  And God will touch our cheeks where tears have streaked their way down and will gently wipe those tears away.  Someday.

In the meantime, we touch the cheeks of others.  Through the life and the strength of God’s love, we can help to make things new.

As we turn the page to start the new calendar of our church year, I invite us all to pause and whisper a prayer of thanks and hope.  And then, let’s roll up our sleeves and get back to work.  Tomorrow is already on the way, with God’s help and God’s hope.  Raise up your heads.

In Christ,

Amelie+