pühapäev, november 28, 2004
Advent
Today is the first Sunday in Advent. For a while, we had been thinking how odd it would be to enter this season of anticipation without a corps of our own in which to mark it each Sunday. So we were thrilled when Majors Phil & Susan Wittenberg asked us to do the meeting this Sunday at the Kopli Corps in Tallinn. Somehow, being together with other believers during Advent seems even more important to me than at other times of the year. We enjoyed sharing together with the people there, Chris & Elizabeth were even able to light the Advent candle, and we closed by singing (in Estonian) one of my favorite carols of the season, "O Come, O Come, Immanuel."
There is something about the longing and anticipation of Advent that speaks to the depths of me, which is why I think I like this carol so much. One of my favorite writers, Fredrick Buechner, spoke some of my own feelings about Advent in his book Whistling in the Dark. After describing moments we may anxiously or excitedly anticipate, he writes:
"The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.
"The Salvation Army Santa Clause [he's wrong, but I forgive him] clangs his bell. The sidewalks are so crowded you can hardly move. Exhaust fumes are the chief fragrance in the air, and everybody is as bundled up against any sense of what all the fuss is really about as they are bundled up against the windchill factor.
"But if you concentrate just for an instant, far off in the deeps of you somewhere you can feel the beating of your heart. For all its madness and lostness, not to mention your own, you can hear the world itself holding its breath."
Something extraordinary happened at Christmas, and this is the time to anticipate it in our own lives. And then, of course, to embrace it!
--Tim
Today we prayed for my brother's daughter, Allison Joy Clark. "Whatever happens, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you joy." Philippians 3:1a NLT
There is something about the longing and anticipation of Advent that speaks to the depths of me, which is why I think I like this carol so much. One of my favorite writers, Fredrick Buechner, spoke some of my own feelings about Advent in his book Whistling in the Dark. After describing moments we may anxiously or excitedly anticipate, he writes:
"The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.
"The Salvation Army Santa Clause [he's wrong, but I forgive him] clangs his bell. The sidewalks are so crowded you can hardly move. Exhaust fumes are the chief fragrance in the air, and everybody is as bundled up against any sense of what all the fuss is really about as they are bundled up against the windchill factor.
"But if you concentrate just for an instant, far off in the deeps of you somewhere you can feel the beating of your heart. For all its madness and lostness, not to mention your own, you can hear the world itself holding its breath."
Something extraordinary happened at Christmas, and this is the time to anticipate it in our own lives. And then, of course, to embrace it!
--Tim
Today we prayed for my brother's daughter, Allison Joy Clark. "Whatever happens, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you joy." Philippians 3:1a NLT
