Advent
December 8, 2018
Scripture Reading: Philippians 1:3-11
And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. –Philippians 1:9-11
My dad was a custom hay baler. He bought a new straw hat every spring to wear while working outside, A wise idea for most people working long hours in the sun, it was especially important for him because he was bald. He had a habit of tossing his straw hate into the baler as he completed the last row of the last field to commemorate the end of another season when the hay harvest was over. There is something special about finishing a task. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into baling hay with a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. Weather is a primary determinate of success over which the farmer has no control. Machinery breaks down and must be fixed. I remember many trips to town to get a new part to replace one that was broken. My dad was also his own mechanic, welder, and make-doer.
Paul’s prayer for Christ’s followers in the scripture today is grounded in a similar knowledge that sharing the love of God is hard work, requiring adjustments on the fly based on the realities we face each day. Advent marks the beginning of a new year in the church calendar. Staying with the idea of the harvest, Advent is the time to get ready for the planting or as my dad would do, buy a new straw hat. It is the time of darkness before the spring sowing of seed that allows us to assess where we are in our mission to love others while recalling what the world was like without the light and love of God through Jesus Christ. During this time, we welcome anew the coming of God in human form in preparation for another year of our love overflowing as we strive to be the Body of Christ in the world today.
Prayer: Lord, surround us with your love during this Advent season as we perfect our art of loving as Jesus loves. Amen.