advent
during this advent season leading up to christmas this year, god has been directing my thoughts to the hope and reality of jesus’ return someday. as i think about how amazing that will be, i am thankful for the resurrection and new life Jesus makes available to us now because of what he did when he came into this world the first time two thousand years ago. i’m thankful that he has made it possible for us to experience a restoration of shalom again – peace with him, ourselves, others, and the creation itself. i am thankful that what we were made for and what god dreamed for us in the beginning, we are invited and enabled to pursue and experience. there is so much to celebrate.
as much as jesus began and accomplished as a result of his first coming though, there is still so much to be done and look forward to. as a pastor, i have a unique opportunity. in addition to the effects of my own fallenness and those of my family, i am also continually exposed to tragic effects in this lives of many others in my church and community.
there are marriages falling apart, people being destroyed by drug abuse, bodies that are wearing down and being ravaged by disease, and all sorts of terrible consequences that come as a result of foolish and rebellious choices. sin and evil have really done a number on all that god has made. jesus made it possible to overcome these things and to stop our rebellion, but what he started will not be completed in its entirety until he returns.
so this advent season, as I reflect on his first coming, i am also reflecting on the hope that we have in his second coming – when all things will be made new, sin and evil will be done away with, there will be no more suffering or pain or tears – just a complete restoration of the way things were always supposed to be.
