I will sing for joy in God, explode in praise from deep in my soul! He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jeweled tiara. For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers, and as a garden cascades with blossoms, so the Master, God, brings righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before the nations. – ISAIAH 61:10-11 (MSG)

We have a massive advent calendar. It’s wall-sized — no less than eight feet square. It’s the artful combination of a silk-screened Christmas tree on a cotton sheet from IKEA with homemade pocketed enhancements courtesy of Pinterest (the “craft-cult”). Each morning, as you might expect, there are little treats in the calendar pockets and a Bible verse detailing a part of the Christmas story. Yesterday, I had to navigate through this most awkward of all Christmas verses: “But [Joseph] did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son…” I read it quickly so as not to welcome any questions about the significance of what Joseph didn’t do from my eight year old daughter. Rather, mostly out of fearful parenting, I admit, I put the emphasis on what Joseph did do: “And he gave him the name Jesus.”

The name “Jesus” means, roughly, “God rescues.” People at the time of Jesus’ birth were longing for a rescue. They had known captivity and pain. Their parents had known it. Along with their parents’ parents’ parents and so on…  They had felt the sting of cruel and selfish dictators. They were trapped. In exile, God’s people cried out for a time when God’s rescue would arrive. They were certain when God did show up, it would look like a cosmic display of military power. At the outset of God’s rescue, the whole world would be forcibly and rightly reset — the way God intended it. They waited and waited. They were the people of the first advent. Finally, God’s rescue did arrive, but in a surprisingly unmilitary, unsophisticated, gradeurless package — a baby.

But, in all fairness, maybe it (God’s rescue plan) didn’t work. The world isn’t exactly a shining example of peace and harmony, after all. It’s as if God, through Jesus, started a project He decided not to finish. Surely, there have been great things that have happened:  addictions have been broken, greed can mysteriously become generosity, anger curiously can become compassion, backbiting can morph into affirmation, and all the “-isms” that divide people are occasionally overcome in Jesus. But, the world is still the world — often cruel and heartless.

So, we wait. We’ve been waiting. In waiting, we’re no different than the people longing for God’s rescue operation to begin in Jesus. We’re in a different kind of exile. But, we’re longing nonetheless. We’re advent people, advent for the second time. We’re waiting for the day when God completes the work He started as He “brings righteousness into full bloom.” That day will come. It will come when Jesus returns to complete the work He started.

So, how do people-in-waiting live? We live, as one scholar puts it, “in anticipation of God’s intended future.” We get to proclaim God’s good (unfinished) work by living in the reality that will one day be. We are the people of God’s future-world now: compassionate, joyful, selfless, courageous, righteous, peaceful, and clothed in love. That’s how we wait during the season of Advent.

This Sunday, we’ll take a look at the single most important definer of Jesus’ mission on earth in our current message series, “CHRISTMAS IS _________.” We’ll talk about the most compelling feature of Jesus’ ministry. If you’ve been thinking about bringing friends to church, this Sunday, will be ideal. I can’t wait to meet the friends and neighbors you bring.

See you Sunday,
Jeff