December 21, 2022

Christmas Eve and Day are right around the corner. The time we celebrate the birth of Christ, God incarnate, and see God among us with our eyes is upon us.

I picked up several copies of Holy is His Name: Daily Devotions for Advent for people to use during this season of preparation. This devotional is a daily meditation on the Canticles of Luke (the Magnificat, Benedictus, Gloria [a song of the Eucharist with its first lines found in Luke], and Nunc dimittis). As we approach Christmas, I thought today's meditation was particularly appropriate, so I include it here in full for this Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Advent.

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

We will not know the time or day of Jesus's second coming. Early Christians knew that this day could be at any moment. In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, Jesus explains that five of the young women brought oil with their lamps to meet the bridegroom. The other five, however, were foolish and did not bring oil. When the bridegroom was late, the wedding party grew tired and fell asleep. At midnight, a cry came that the bridegroom had arrived at last. The ten trimmed their lamps, so that the flame could burn bright and free of smoke. But the foolish bridesmaids had no oil and had to go and buy more. They stumbled back to a closed door and a bridegroom who did not know them.

We must not assume that we are wise and ready for the day of the Lord's coming. We are all sleepers who must awake and meet Christ with a ready heart. While we profess our belief that Christ will come again, there are things to reconsider. The first Christians devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and to prayer. In taking seriously the teaching of the apostles, they held all things in common, selling their possessions and giving their money away to those in need. Without earthly possessions, the early churches entered into a new economy where every need could be met and satisfied.

The need for new life can be found everywhere. We tire of the status quo that only benefits the 1 percent. Abuse in our churches and communities demand of us better systems of accountability and repentance. Wars started for the sake of ego leave us all broken and bleeding. The deluge of sins can leave us feeling defeated and discouraged. But evil does not tell the complete story.

The church continues to wait for the return of Christ the Bridegroom some 2000 years later. If we take seriously Jesus's promise that his return is still just around the corner, what changes will we make in our lives? How do we enter into God's work to ready a broken and grieving world for salvation?

We have seen the Savior whom God has prepared for all the world to see. How might we make him know to the world around us?

May you have a joyful Christmas and blessed New Year.