If Advent is in need of a gracious introduction, I think the prophet Isaiah has a really good one. His words have a way of making us want to "run, not walk" to Advent's door....
"Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. ….Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; … For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…... For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." (Isaiah 55:1-13 (NRSV) selected verses
I can’t know for certain, but I like to imagine as the Jewish exiles first heard these words they experienced profound Grace and sobering Challenge at the same time. Grace in receiving God’s great faithfulness to remain steadfast, adamantly refusing to let these oh so wayward people go…. And Challenge to live into such grace… to live as those who’ve been given the biggest second chance of their lives. I suppose I think of it this way because that’s how God’s word often touches me… profound Grace and sobering Challenge. To receive one without the other feels something like receiving the best possible gift imaginable and then not taking care of it. And yet, Isaiah’s words reflect God's unwillingness to leave the exiles, or any of us as to how we go about embracing such gifts at the same time. With God’s gracious pardon comes instruction….
"Listen carefully"…. Isaiah writes…
Eat what is good….
Delight yourselves in rich food…
Seek the Lord while He may be found….
Call Upon Him while he is near….
God’s thoughts are not your thoughts
Nor are God’s ways my ways….
For you shall go out in joy…
You shall be led back in peace….
The Mountains and Hills before you shall burst into song….
All the trees of the field shall clap their hands…
Mindful of the Grace God has granted to my life, I find that Isaiah's instruction is a welcome Challenge. It's not always easy but such abundant pardon can create a yearning to live for God. There’s not a “have to” but a “want to” to the Challenge God’s Grace presents. So much so that I find I “want” to “listen carefully” not simply to the words, conversations, and sounds around me but to the quiet… what’s not being spoken or said, the stillness of the night sky and all that’s stirring deep inside. I find I want to “eat what is good” and “delight in rich food”… not just delicious, well-cooked food, but the "rich, delicious food" that comes by sharing in meaningful conversations, endearing friendships, giving myself to work that brings me joy, reading good books, serving others, listening to beautiful music, delighting in wonder, and laughing a good bit every day. To give myself to such Challenging instruction is to deepen the Grace God so lavishly gives and gives and gives. It is to “seek the Lord while He may be found…to call upon Him while He is near… to learn a thousand times over that God’s thoughts and ways are not my own…to catch glimpses of the joy and peace God longs to give and to imagine God’s great delight as the wind moves through the trees, causing their leaves to clap their hands….shouting, “YEAH! Leslee is living Grace and Challenge at the same time!”
I know…I know. this is a bit much. But it’s an imagined delight I choose to hold onto and carry with me…especially now….as we approach the threshold of Advent. Advent seems the perfect territory to explore such profound Grace and sobering Challenge as we embrace, once more, the paradoxical invitations of waiting and preparing, darkness and light, despair and hope that Christ's story brings. As we do, we may find more than enough ways to practice holding Grace and Challenge together. And it won't be just Advent asking us to do so. We live in a world that is forever throwing us off balance with the eternal mix and presence of Grace and Challenge. The temptation to pit these two against one another in place of holding them together is fierce. To live only with Grace is to deny and look away from the world's suffering and need. To allow the Challenges of this life to overpower any sign of Grace is to live without hope and with no means whatsoever to combat the Challenges we and the world face. This is why Advent is the perfect companion and guide. Its days, mysteries, and gifts help us learn again how to hold and faithfully live with the countless complexities of life. Its path is marked with purposeful steps that can guide our own. Its textured presence points us to the One who is all Grace walking with us into every possible Challenge. Maybe this is reason enough to hold these two together.
Oh, how the “mountains and hills before us are bursting into song”…..” Oh how the trees of the field are clapping their hands” in thanksgiving and praise for all the ways we may, in faith, say “YES” to both God’s Grace and Challenge. May we look for such affirmations and sense the delight of God’s unending love as we find endearing ways to walk the path of Advent. May we be encouraged, blessed, and toppled over by God’s Grace with every gift of love we receive. May we find that such Grace enables us to share such love with those around us, meeting the often immense Challenges that come. May we continue to trust... and learn to trust again that the One who is coming, has already come. Thanks be to God.
May your Advent hold every life-giving blessing that this One offers and brings.
Advent Blessings, Friends.
Leslee
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