Psalms 61, 62 * 112, 115; Isaiah 11:1-9; Rev 20:1-10; John 5:10-47The 4th week of our Advent Season is one of those odd liturgical weeks. Odd, because sometimes it is one day long and on other years the week is five or six days long. This year we are blessed to have a longer Advent 4 week, with Christmas Eve falling on Friday. (BTW, this coming weekend is somewhat nightmarish for clergy - Friday = Christmas Eve, Saturday = Christmas Day, Sunday = 1st Sunday of Christmas..... A minimum of three different sermons, three different liturgies, etc. So keep your loyal clergy in your prayers as they prepare for the onslaught.)
Back to Advent 4..... I say these next four days are "gift" because we are given a bit more time to prepare for the celebration of the Divine becoming human. Prepare, because this basic tenet of our faith is part of the great mystery of God's interaction and participation in our daily lives. And beyond that, and more importantly there is an act of love here that is not comparable to anything else in our experience: also part of the mystery of our faith. So prepare we must, if we are to try to live into this mystery of the Incarnation we celebrate in five days.
So we should take a little time this last week of Advent and open ourselves to the mystery of God becoming fully human, and yet still retaining the full divinity. We can think on the beauty of that love that is available to all of us, as God has created us in all our wild diversity.
jfd+
Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
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