This Advent season has got me to thinking. Sometimes I think, I want, Jesus to come charging in to this world on a white horse “taking out” all the people who are are sinful (read here people I disagree with). Every year I am reminded that what I want and what God does are often radically different.
Every year we celebrate the incarnation of God on earth in the birth of a small, fragile infant. As I anxiously await the birth of my first child I am reminded that the light is powerful, but it does not exert it’s power in ways that I expect. The power of Christ, the light that I am journeying toward, is in his frailty.
God could send a representative to come charging in on a white horse to lay waste to the wicked, instead Emmanuel, God with us, comes into the city on a donkey, comes into the world not as a powerful triumphant conquerer, but as a small child in need of nourishment from his mother. This image is a constant reminder that God rarely if ever does what we think God should or is going to do.
God who called a child who “lacks self-discipline and self-control” to grow into a man called to be a minister of Word and Sacrament, is certainly not what I expected. If God can call me on this journey I trust that God is calling you in ways you might never expect. This advent and every advent I am reminded that my journey toward the light is never straight, is often unexpected, and always beautiful (not easy).
This year especially I await the coming of my own child as I await the coming of Christ.
Blessings,
Greg
BendFP Youth Blog 