Devotional 12-11-11

The season of advent is one of waiting…eager and watchful waiting. It is a season of waiting, but it is not about the waiting, it is really about the coming of the one for whom we wait – The Christ, God with us. The advent season is about more than a Christmas countdown, and about more than remembering the coming of the God in the flesh “once upon a time”. We wait now for that same Christ who died, who rose, and who comes again. Though the season we call advent culminates with Christmas, the present advent, the second coming, will go on (unless Jesus shows up at our Christmas service!). We're living in an advent all year, every season,

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” (Psalm 126:5-6)

These lines in the psalm speak instruction to the spirit. The image of those who wait in the psalm is an image of a people not simply mourning as they wait. They are working as they wait. They go out sowing even as they weep, groaning with all the creation for better things and better times. Even if the seeds fall on hard ground, they sow. Even if the seeds fall in shallow soil, they sow. Even if they fall in choking weeds, they sow. They weep. They groan. They wait. And they keep sowing – hoping, waiting, for the Lord of the Harvest to perfect their work. Let us not grow weary in our labors, knowing that the time of joyous harvest comes.

Come quickly. Lord Jesus

Rev. Joseph Hill