Lindy Thompson

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

– Isaiah 64: 1-2

This is the scripture for the first Sunday of Advent, when we light the candle of hope, and God, we need hope!  We need hope so much!  We need light to illuminate our path, strength for the road ahead, and hope to keep us moving.  O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, come dwell with us, come make yourself known to us, move in us, love through us, create with us.

Ah, but you have!  You have!  You did tear open the heavens and come down, though we did not know it.  We were expecting a weapon-wielding warrior to cleave down the enemy before us and make our way easy, the scythe of righteousness mowing down our trembling adversaries so that we could move ahead freely, because obviously we are in the right …

… but that’s not how you showed up.  Not like that.  Not like we had hoped, and not at all like we expected.

You showed up … small.  Vulnerable.  In immediate need.  Available to all.  And over time you would teach us a way so different than we anticipated – a difficult way, certainly, but a rich and beautiful one, in the company of the wise, patient, steadfast cloud of witnesses who make straight the way of the Lord for us.

This is our next Advent.  We come to it with grateful hearts and expectant minds, ready to be surprised, ready to be challenged – ready for hope.