Waiting

Well, today begins Advent and the journey towards Bethlehem. But this year Bethlehem seems a thousand miles away...and the walk to it seems impossible. However, I am reminded of hope...and I decide to undertake the journey anyway, for what seems impossible to me is just the ordinary for God....

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4

     "Christmas is the promise that the God who came in history and comes daily in mystery will one day come in glory. God is saying in Jesus that in the end everything will be all right. Nothing can harm you permanently, no suffering is irrevocable, no loss is lasting, no defeat is more than transitory, no disappointment is conclusive. Jesus did not deny the reality of suffering, discouragement, disappointment, frustration, and death; he simply stated that the Kingdom of God would conquer all of these horrors, that the Father's love is so prodigal that no evil could possibly resist it."  - From Reflections for Ragamuffins, by Brennan Manning

The world had waited...
From the casting out of Eden's bower 
And the promise of serpent crush'd,
Through quiet mist
And thundering deluge
Between seas parted
And people freed
And mountains quaking.

And still the world waited...
Through judges tried and trying,
And kingdoms united,
The divided.
Through fall, separation, and exile,
Amid prophet's cries
And armies turmoiled.

And still the world waited...
Through kingdom rebuilt,
Freed, then conquered -
Hellenistic, Antiochan, and Eagle standards unfurl'd.

'Til then, when angel voices proclaimed
That in a quiet manger in Bethlehem
Eternity and time were joined together inseparably
And the waiting was over...to begin again.

And now the world waits
Anxiously, hopefully, expectantly
For the final act,
The curtain ringing in
Where time will become eternity
Unto the ages of the ages.

There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey

And all those who seek it shall find it
A pardon for all who believe
Hope for the hopeless
And sight for the blind

To all who've been born of the Spirit
And who share incarnation with Him
Who belong to eternity
Stranded in time
And weary of struggling with sin

Forget not the hope
That's before you
And never stop counting the cost
Remember the hopelessnessWhen you were lost?

There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey
          - Michael Card, Copyright 1986 Maple End Music/Birdsong