Advent has come to us. Anticipation, expectation, promise, fear, doubt, sorrow, and joy
make their presence known in these days that lead us to the manger. I am grateful for their companionship on the journey to Bethlehem. Last year, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith wrote the song Almost There for Christmas. It has stuck with me since then, and I am happy to share the words with you this day.
Mary, full of innocence
Carrying the Holy prince
You’re almost there, you’re almost there
Mother of the Living Word
Trusting in the voice you heard
You’re almost there, you’re almost there
You’re almost where the angels see
Redemption’s plan unfolding
All hope is in the Son you’ll bear
You’re almost there
A lonely road, a willing heart
Pray for strength to do your part
You’re almost there, you’re almost there
Trust the Father to provide
Bread of heaven prophesied
You’re almost there, you’re almost there
You’re almost where the waiting ends
Delivering the life within
The answered prayer, Emmanuel
You’re almost there
You’re almost where the journey ends
Where death will die and life begins
The answered prayer, Emmanuel
You’re almost, almost there.
I have held on to this quote as we have entered these days of Advent. I share the quote with you to remind all of us that God is not content to be contained in our self-made boxes.
God travels wonderful ways with human beings, but he does not comply with the views and opinions of people. God does not go the way that people want to prescribe for him; rather, his way is beyond all comprehension, free and self-determined beyond all proof. Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely where God loves to be. There he confounds the reason of the reasonable; there he aggravates our nature, our piety—that is where he wants to be, and no one can keep him from it. Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly….God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.
These are the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book God is in the Manger. (Please forgive the masculine pronouns Bonhoeffer uses). These words are my reminder that the journey we travel in Advent is often a time of reflection and a bit of wandering about in the more definite journey of faith we travel to the cross and the empty tomb.
In my Advent journey, I can often find myself working to be present in the moment for fear that I forget that the waiting and the surprise of these Advent days is exactly where God will find me and share with me once again the wonder of the miracle of a baby born in Bethlehem.
Blessings on your journey in this season,
Pastor Chris Marien
(This post was taken from Ascension’s December newsletter).
