Advent's Vesper Light

The sun has already set on this First Sunday in this new Advent season. From the standpoint of the Church Calendar, we kicked off a new Liturgical year and a chance to try and "get it right" once more. News Flash... Try as we may, we're going to bollix things up once more for the umteenth time in our lives. Left to our own devices, we'll screw things up royally once more. But, this is the beauty of the Advent Season.


From Eden's treason to Malachi's indictments against the restored Israel, God's chosen people continually proved that they were incapable of making the "wise" choice, of living up to the dictates of a Holy God. Then, the Almighty intervened. In Mary's son Jeshua (or Jesus in our western sensibilities), the only begotten son took the form of a Semitic Jewish man in order to not only show us the way, but to pay the airfreight.


In these unfolding 27 days, we have an opportunity to contemplate a two-fold mystery. First, we have these days to consider just why, and how, the second member of the Godhead crossed to veil between the eternal and the temporal in order to walk among us. The very expression and icon of the Father, born to Judean peasants in a dank, dark stable. Too, we have these moments to consider how that same expression of the Holy will return, not to lowly estate but in regal battle array. The Carpenter will return as Commander of Heaven's host, and as King of Kings.