Greetings,
Advent moves inexorably on. The pressure to focus on the Birth of Jesus grows each day, but we are still awaiting the Advent of the Victorious Christ.
Why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.
Acts 1:11
Awake, my soul, arise and shake,
No time to ever ponder,
Keep awake, keep awake
Lest ye be rent asunder.
I will be good, I will be free,
I’ll hate the old deceiver.
No earthly tie shall fetter me,
I’ll be a good believer.
Shaker song, Nineteenth century
One of the earliest influences on my thinking was Dag Hammarskjöld and his marvelous diary Markings. He writes:
“’Night is drawing nigh—‘ How long the road is. But, for all the time the journey has already taken, how you have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes-by.”
I don’t know that Hammarskjöld knew the words of this lyke-wake dirge, but he certainly knew the spirit and meaning of them.
This old night, this old night,
Every night and all,
Fire, and sleet, and candle light,
And Christ receive my soul.
True, eternal, resurrected life is arrived at only by dying to the old life of this world. Hammarskjöld was not afraid of dying (as his life and death proved), but he understood that the journey was important, and that it was the journey which would give meaning to life and indeed, would enable the resurrection to follow the death. A life lived in faith and purpose and meaning will be honored by God with true life. As we journey, we are also waiting for the great Coming of the Christ who gives ultimate meaning to the journey.
Yours & His,
DED
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