Missing some Traditions... Advent 2010

I miss some traditions of this time of year...

I miss getting together with a group of friends to go Christmas Caroling.

I miss gathering for Sunday worship at church for a Festival of Carols and Hanging of the Greens Service - where we'd retell the Christmas story in scripture, song, and symbol reminding us all of the true meaning and the profound depth of Christmas.

I miss the crazy late nights my wife and I used to spend getting ready to host a Christmas Open House at our home... we always had the best time and some of the greatest conversations.

I also miss the tradition of lighting an Advent Wreath to remind us of the significance of the season we are in. So, if you'll indulge me... I'd like to spend the next few weeks On the Potter's Wheel, lighting a Virtual Advent Wreath and reminding us all of the Hope, Peace, Love, Joy and that Christ offers to each of us not only in the Advent Season but each and every day.

The first candle is there for hope.

Hope is a sometimes (all too often for many) rare commodity in our day. With so many different things pulling on our time, our attention, and - at times - our last nerve, hope is something we may long for but not always feel. We want something to hope in, something to hope for. And its not really a "Pie in the sky in the sweet by and by" sort of hope that we long for either. Instead, it's hope in (as a classmate in seminary once put it) "Something sound on the ground while we're still around."

We long for a tangible hope. A hope that can hold onto us even while we hold onto it.

As much as we might like to think that our day is different that all those that have come before us, and that our situation is somehow unique... they're not.

For hundreds of years, God's people had been longing for tangible hope. They had glimpses of it... times when hope glowed a bit brighter, only to fade again. Four hundred years passed since God had sent His Word through a prophet. Four hundred years of longing, of waiting, of wondering.

The New Testament book of Hebrews begins with these words: "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets..." But, four hundred years had passed with no word, no prophetic voice, no whisper of a still, small voice.

Hope had become for many of them what it has for many of us - a hope for Hope. A longing for that tangible hope to get us in its grip once again.

The first Advent Candle is the Candle of Hope because the Advent Season is a reminder to us that God brought Hope back to all his people with the birth of Jesus. Hebrews 1:2 goes on to say, "but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son".

Jesus came to be God's Word-made-flesh for us. He embodied the Hope of God's people throughout the ages. Our Hope finds its home and fulfillment in Jesus. The Christmas hymn, O Holy Night, says it well...

"Long lay the world
In sin and error pining,
Till He appeared
And the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope,
The weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks
A new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees,
O hear the angel voices!
O night divine,
O night when Christ was born!
O night divine, O night,
O night divine!"

Advent begins today - November 28, 2010. And it begins with Hope. Not some sappy, sentimental, greeting card kind of hope. But firm, tangible, can-take-hold-of-you-and-see-you-through hope. Hope that the New Testament calls "this mystery... Christ in you, the hope of glory". Hope that comes to us clearest when we keep ourselves where God can work it into our lives and minds and outlook...

On the Potter's Wheel.