Streams of Mercy

Each year I choose an Advent Devotional to use in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This year I’m using “Imagining a New World” by Terri Hord Owens. Advent’s scripture passages call us to imagine a new world, one free from fear, not one based on a “return to normal.” We are called to reflect on God’s vision for our world and how we might find the courage to imagine, permission to change, and freedom to fear no more.

In her introduction to the study, she writes: “2020 has been a challenging year in the life of our families, the church, and the world. The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought changes, sickness, death, and disruption unlike anything in most of our lifetimes. We simply could not have anticipated these circumstances, and as I write, we do not really know what the world will look like in Advent 2020. While we miss what was, we realize that the world will never be quite the same again. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are now called to imagine a new world, and who we will be as church in it … We must have the courage to imagine not only a new church for a new world, but how we as church could help to shape that world.”

As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s coming as a baby in Bethlehem, and his coming again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we’re called to reflect on all the ways his coming will make all things new. A part of his making all things new is the change his coming brings to our lives. We must learn new ways of worshiping and serving, of connecting to and caring for one another; we must learn new ways of caring for ourselves, and call on God to help us imagine new ways to live out God’s love and witness for justice and peace from beyond the walls of our sanctuaries. As we welcome Immanuel, God-with-us” in our midst – “Who are we called to be? How are we called to love? What then are we called to do?”

Each Advent I turn to Cloth for the Cradle, a worship resource used by the Iona Community. This Advent Litany gives words of hope and promise:

Among the poor,

among the proud,

among the persecuted,

among the privileged,

Christ is coming,

CHRIST IS COMING TO MAKE ALL THINGS NEW.

With a gentle touch,

with an angry word,

with a clear conscience,

with burning love,

Christ is coming,

CHRIST IS COMING TO MAKE ALL THINGS NEW.

Within us,

without us,

among us,

before us,

in this place,

in every place,

for this time, for all time,

Christ is coming,

CHRIST IS COMING TO MAKE ALL THINGS NEW.

With that faithful promise, we begin our 2020 Advent journey, filled with the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ. May ours be a journey of hope and promise!

Elizabeth