The Lenten Feel of Advent

Reflecting on the First Sunday of Advent: One Day After Sunday (Year C)

Scripture

Psalter: Psalm 90

Old Testament: Numbers 17:1-11

Epistle: 2 Peter 3:1-18

___

Prayer

O God of all the prophets, you herald the coming of the Son of Man by wondrous signs in the heavens and on the earth. Guard our hearts from despair so that we, in the company of the faithful and by the power of your Holy Spirit, may be found ready to raise our heads at the coming near of our redemption, the day of Jesus Christ. Amen.

___

Reflection

The Lenten Feel of Advent

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

The first two verses of Psalm 90 remind us that God’s presence is always with us. The story of the Bible is one of covenant making and keeping on God’s part, as well as covenant making and breaking on our part. And yet, through all the generations of human disobedience, God remains our dwelling place. God is indeed always with us.

Advent is a time of preparation. That preparation not only involves festivities, but prayer, self-examination and repentance. The God whose dwelling place among the people of Israel, first in the Tabernacle and then the Temple, is preparing to come dwell in bodily form in a newborn baby. Throughout the generations, human beings have abandoned God and gone their own way, but God has never abandoned us; and will prove it to be so in Jesus Christ.

In the early centuries of the church, Advent was much like Lent—a time for self-examination and repentance. In the twenty-first century, the Lenten feel of Advent has been lost in many churches. While I think it is good to distinguish between the two seasons, we should ask ourselves if it is possible to prepare for the visitation of God without self-examination and repentance. In Jesus, God’s holy presence comes to us, we who find ourselves to be lacking in holiness. In our Savior, God has given humanity God’s very presence. We need to be ready on the day of that divine visitation.

Like the ancient Psalmist, we can say in all truth: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

___

Check out my YouTube channel “Faith Seeking Understanding” here.