Pastor's Page: "Keep Christ in Christmas"
December 5, 2010
Christmas Carols have been playing on WALK radio for weeks now, in concert with the constant din
of ads for Christmas shopping gifts. Consumerism is even more high paced than in past years it seems. We
may wonder what ever happened to the economic downturn?
Just as our church begins celebrating Advent, the beginning of a new church year, and the time for us
as Catholics to spiritually quiet down, the world around us is revving up for Black Friday and Cyber
Monday, and the enticement of free shipping via the Internet.
How can we listen attentively to the Advent Scriptures that tell us of a peaceable world and the coming
of God's kingdom of love and justice and peace in its fullness? The blare of commercials drowns out even
the voice of God.
In our church we are singing Advent hymns that call for the coming of Emmanuel, the God who is
with us already, but also the God for whom we passionately long, to fulfill our deepest dreams.
Simultaneously, the box stores at the shopping malls are resounding with Christmas melodies!
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ is with us now, and Christ will come again!
The Scripture
readings are filled with hope and expectation. God has heard the cry of his people, has sent his Son to save
us from sin and death, and that Son will come again in glory transforming these lowly bodies of ours and
making them like his own. The ancient cry of the early church was "Come, Lord Jesus!"
Advent means "to arrive" or "to draw near". God has drawn near to us and come to a people whom
he cherishes with boundless love. One day, at the consummation of human history, God will draw near
once again and lift us up into the glory of God.
The story of the Bible is a story of God's love affair with us, an intimacy with human beings that
begins in the garden with Adam and Eve, and continues through the Bible in its entirety until the end of the
book of Revelation, and the completion of our union with God in the heavenly Jerusalem.
The 19th century Catholic poet Francis Thompson's great work "The Hound of Heaven" tells of
God's search for us, panting after us like a giant basset hound. The great Jewish theologian, Abraham
Heschel wrote, "the Bible speaks not only of man's search for God but also of God's search for man." The
book of Job, the man crushed by the injustice of life yet unwilling to let go of his love for God, says "you
have hunted me like a lion." And the prophet Jeremiah tells of this love in sensual terms "you have seduced
me oh God, and I have let myself be seduced."
We make our Advent journey with four figures taken from the Scriptures: the prophets (especially
Isaiah), John the Baptist, Mary, and Joseph. We remember their hopes and their longings, and their
actions and words quiet our restless souls. They are people full of trust and hope in God, and so must we
be. "O come, O come Emmanuel!"
Peace and Love,
Father Bruce
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