“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence”
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.” (Isaiah 64:1, 2b-3)
Happy New Church Year! I’ve always loved how the Christian church goes its own way in deciding when a new year begins, rather than going by the calendar of most of the Western hemisphere. After all, if you’re looking for a new beginning, or a sense of starting anew, these are just the best four weeks you could hope for. The time before the birth of a child is filled with anticipation, excitement, and some apprehension, and these emotions are reflected throughout our season of Advent.
We’ll hear the prophesies of the Old Testament, telling of a Messiah, God’s promised Savior, the One sent to save God’s people from their sins and relieve them from the burdens of the law. Centuries of being oppressed and enslaved by invading foreign powers had left the people of Israel craving a leader who would bring them to a position of prestige and strength. Many envisioned the miraculous arrival of a warrior king with an army to enforce his rule and destroy all who would oppose him.
Isaiah is filled with poetic, dramatic images, such as the passage from chapter 64, in which the prophet calls upon God to “come down” and show the world that the very mountains would shake in his presence. As the prophet pleads with God to tear open the heavens, we envision a barrier existing between God and humanity. The suffering and hardship brought about by sin and evil does create a distance between people and God, and it may well seem impenetrable. The image of God fiercely ripping into the fabric of human wrongdoing tells us that God’s strength is greater than the barrier created by sin and evil, and he will rescue and protect us.
The centuries come and go, and the world still hungers for the reassurance that God will come among us and overcome the forces of evil and hatred. Come to worship during these weeks and hear the timeless message of God’s commitment to his people, the events leading up to the arrival of the promised Messiah, and how the world was changed for all time.
The prayers during Advent are some of the earliest of the Christian church, and are timeless in expressing our trust that God is present in our world and our lives and that his faithfulness endures to all generations.
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Protect us by your strength and save us from the threatening dangers of our sins, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. AMEN.
Your friend in Christ,
Mary Rogers