Advent

December 8, 2021

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 12:2-6

Surely God is my salvation;
   I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
   let this be known in all the earth.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
   for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

The song Where is Love from the movie Oliver played in my head has I read this Scripture. The singer is a little boy who runs away from an orphanage in search of something better, in search of his mother. All alone and afraid in the darkness he sings:

Where is love?
Does it fall from skies above?
Is it underneath the willow tree
That I’ve been dreaming of?
Where is she
Who I close my eyes to see?
Will I ever know the sweet hello
That’s meant for only me*?

Surely my brain, or perhaps my heart, thought that Isaiah’s Scripture above answered Oliver’s questions. Recently, I have been thinking that we have pushed God to the back of the pantry as we sit alone in the dark, hopeless and helpless. We are neither. We serve a mighty God who loves us deeply and thoroughly and wants the very best for all God’s children.   Jesus, the Christ, came to show us the way, the truth, and the life*. Part of our problem is that we get distracted by life’s complications and have difficulty accepting that the solutions are straightforward as the love God expects of us. We are like toddlers fighting sleep when sleep is what they need.  We readily respond to challenges with strong emotions such as hate, anger, bigotry, and others when love is the required response. We cannot love like Jesus until we clear the clutter of what stands in our way of doing what is right, what is just.

Prayer: Lord, clear the clutter of selfishness and self-righteousness that limits our ability to love ourselves and others as you love. Amen.

*First verse of Where is Love by Lionel Bart see at https://genius.com/Oliver-musical-cast-recording-where-is-love-lyrics

**See John 14:6

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.