Season of Advent

 

 

On this fourth day of Advent, verses 7-10 of this passage really struck me.  You know, if I'm being honest, the God who has overflowing wrath isn't a God I particularly like to think about.  The God that I see in the infant in the manger and the one I see in the grown man on the cross don't exactly scream rage to me.  But something occurred to me while reading this. Have you ever had it "up to here" with someone? (Make sure you do the hand motion up by your forehead). Have you ever just walked away from a person or a situation because you were so infuriated? Can you imagine being God, having to witness how disfigured your creation has become? I'd probably be a little upset, too. 

 

But here's the thing. In this passage, we hear God admit that for a brief moment we were abandoned. Yet, God comes back.  Why? Because of God's steadfast love and covenant of peace with creation.  And this covenant is not from a God who is far-removed from the pain, heartbreak, and downright ugliness of this world, but from a God of compassion. Compassion literally means "to suffer with". We have a God who not only understands, but feels our brokenness and longs for reconciliation, just as we do.  

 

I love that again and again in scripture we hear about God's covenant with creation.  A covenant is not just a promise made from one person to another.  A covenant takes two parties and here those parties are God and us.  In this life, particularly in this place, it is often easy for God to be clouded by the ongoing occupation, the checkpoints, the wall, the house demolitions...need I continue? But the season of Advent brings us both hope and a challenge.  I think that in the same way that we are waiting in anticipation for the reconciliation of creation, so is God.  We certainly cannot accomplish anything without God, but I have witnessed more times than I could count the Spirit of God working through people toward peace on earth.  My prayer is that guided by the wisdom and steadfast love of God, we may all continue to prepare the way of The Lord and live into the hope and the promise of a reconciled creation. 

 

-Sarah