For the Eve of the Nativity. . .

An echo from the past. . . 

 ...all our pleasant places have become ruins...so says the prophet Isaiah in 64:11.  It is not simply a call to acknowledge the sorry state of affairs in the broken and fallen reality of what once was.  It is also a call to see in the ruins the former beauty and the present promise of the restoration at the hands of God.  The nature of Advent's call to survey the ruins of our fallen lives is not the lament of the hopeless but the sight of the faithful who see in those very ruins the pattern of what was and what will be again by God's gracious intervention.

Repentance in Advent does not end with the lament of the ruins of our lost lives, the mountains of our sin, and our inability to correct the sinful desire of our hearts.  No, indeed.  The ruins are ruins, to be sure, but they are the visible pointers not only to what was lost but also to what Christ has come to restore.

Walking in the ruins of once noble buildings we are left with two choices.  We can lament their state and grieve over their loss.  But that is not all we can do.  We can imagine their glory within the limitations of human frailty and be encouraged even by those ruins.  So it is with repentance.  We survey the ruins of our lost lives and our world of darkness and death but we can also be encouraged by the promise of Christ and the restoration of what these images point to.  Ours is not the lament of a people who have no hope.  Ours is the repentant heart of a people who see in the images of our fallenness also the promise of what is to come.  What we lost because of Eden's rebellion will be restored to us in Christ.  What was stolen to us by death (the unknown consequence of that rebellion), Christ has come to replace, but with a twist.  Death will no longer threaten us and that which Christ restores will no longer live in tension with the potential for its loss.

Faith trusts not in what is seen but the unseen.  This is not only the hiddenness of God but the promise of what will be.  Faith affirms that despite what we see in the ruins of our world and our lives, God is trustworthy.  He is even now at work in the midst of the broken nature of our lives and our world.  So the Advent cry is not only to look around but to look up, not only to shed the tears of regret that accompany honest repentance, but to weep with joy at the God who gives back what was lost and more.

Advent seamlessly gives way to Christmas when in the midst of the ruins hope is born.  A child's cry stirs the night.  Angel voices and shepherd eyes behold the promise of our tomorrow right in the ruins of the present day.  The shape of our redemption is flesh and blood of the God who has kept His promise and become His people's shepherd and savior.  Christmas seamlessly gives way to Lent and Easter as the promise unfolds.  In the ruins of defeat and suffering, crucifixion and death, God has hidden our hope -- the dawn of the new day of salvation.  Easter confirms that the dead lives so that the dying may live through Him.  And all of this seamlessly unfolds into the waiting of a world living in the in-between of the promise and its unfolding end.  All along the way the Church speaks with the voice of faith.  Maranatha.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Luke2:1-20

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. ² (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) ³ And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) ⁵ To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. ⁶ And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. ⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.  ⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ¹⁵ And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. ¹⁶ And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. ¹⁸ And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.