FROM THE PASTOR
Shaping Our Expectations
I want to share some readings, both ancient and new, which can help to arouse our imagination of our awareness of what Advent’s time brings: a mature expectation and sensitivity toward the lord’s coming. Advent summons us to the beginning. The lavishness of God’s compassion and mercy frame yet another year of the church for us. In my blog each week I will share some reflections to help us shape our expectation of the coming of Jesus. I hope and pray that these readings will speak to your hunger for deeper relationship to God through the advent of Jesus Christ into our world and our hearts.
“Advent is both a beginning and an end, an alpha and an omega of the church’s year of grace. Too often considered merely a season of preparation for the annual commemoration of Christ’s birth, this rich and many-layered season is actually designed to prepare the Christian for the glorious possibilities of the parousia (Christ’s second coming). It is a season of longing and expectation-”Come, Lord Jesus.” (William G. Story)
“With inward pin in my heartstrings sound,
My soul dissolves away;
Dear Sovereign, whirl the seasons round,
Dear Sovereign, whirl the seasons round,
And bring, and bring the promised day,
And bring the promised day.” (Early American hymn)
“Our time is a time of waiting; waiting is its special destiny. And every time is a time of waiting, waiting for the breaking in of eternity. All time runs forward. Al time, both history and in personal life, is expectation. Time itself is waiting, waiting not for another time, but for that which is eternal. (Paul Tillich)
“There is an appointed time for everything and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to be born and a time to die:
A time to plant and a time to uproot the plant:a time to weep and a time to laugh:
A time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4)
Come into my heart, Lotd Jesus. There is room in my heart for you.
Stephen Paul Bouman
St. Luke’s, Park Ridge
Advent 1, 20023
