____________________
LENTEN DEVOTIONALS
To read a devotional, please click a link below.
____________________
Covenant
Why Musings?
- The Musings Page will be a place to consider thought-provoking, evocative, sometimes polemical but not overtly political, writings, quotes, ideas, and poetry on the Christian life in all its facets: spiritual, religious, ethical, and practical.
Lagniappe
____________________
December 21, 2011
posted on December 21, 2011 by Musings
Fourth Wednesday in Advent – Our God Comes
3Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.
4He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5“Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
Psalm 50:3-5
“Our God comes.” In three words, that’s Advent. But this Psalm describes a thunderous, if not downright terrifying arrival. God comes loudly, with a destructive fire running ahead of him, and in the middle of gale-force winds. And if that wasn’t intimidating enough – God goes on to define the foundation of our relationship with him as sacrifice.
Can this Psalm be describing God who comes to us as a child, the loving and forgiving Christ? The images of fire, storm, judgment and sacrifice seem so at odds with the sweet, smiling baby in the manger.
But you know, as I reflect on it, perhaps there isn’t a contradiction here after all. This tumultuous arrival is a bit what having a new baby is like, isn’t it? Our children come into the world and are immediately our masters. They do not keep silence. The devouring fire? The mighty tempest? The sacrifice? Absolutely. Where is the old life we parents enjoyed before, the one where our free time was ours? Where our precious sleep wasn’t interrupted by a howl in the night? Gone, swept away by the miraculous and beloved child that has arrived in our home.
As a new mother, I used to joke that, “the world’s cutest bomb has just exploded into our lives.” I felt blown apart, my old self destroyed – but also created new again, in a new life as a parent and a mother. What a marvelous, joyful and terrifying thing it was – and continues to be! Out of the destruction of my old life something wonderful, new and deeper than I ever imagined was born.
Perhaps the image of the Christ child at Advent can summon us to the same kind of tender sacrifice we make as parents – that radical re-centering of our lives in love and service to another.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for breaking into our lives and lighting them up with the joy of your presence. Give us the grace to release our fears of change and loss, and to recognize, embrace, and serve you when you arrive. Amen.
Today’s reflection was written by Wesley Hall Parker, a member of First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport.
Tweet
