"Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin.
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps."
------Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 (NRSV)
I find the words of this Psalm (subtitled, incidentally, "A Prayer for the Restoration of God's Favor") to be filled with hope and longing...and strangely comforting to the spiritual (and physical) landscape I find myself. This text is part of the Revised Common Lectionary for the Second Sunday of Advent (December 4, 2011) for Year B (Mark's Gospel) and will be read in worship at Community Presbyterian Church this week.
The author of this Psalm has a memory of being counted among those whom God has blessed. And something has changed, and God's blessing is distant and undetectable, and so there is a longing for that time to return in which God's blessing, God's presence, and God's peace is more tangible and more evident.
As I prepare my own heart and mind for the celebration of the birth of Christ this Advent season, I find comfort in the words of Psalm 85 as a way to wait patiently for God to, not only return, but to act, to reveal, to love, and to bear witness. And I am reminded that my waiting is not a passive kind of waiting, but I wait in a very active sense - by preparing. I prepare my home (we did manage to find the box of Christmas decor in our basement last night - and even managed to locate the new Advent calendar and the Advent wreath - with new candles). But I also prepare my interior by quiet reflection and by prayerful action. The question that came to mind as I read the scriptures this morning in preparation for worship next Sunday was this: how can I bear witness to the coming of Christ through faithful waiting? With the Psalmist I lift my prayer, "Let me hear what God the Lord will speak..." In a world filled with anxiety, filled with the hustle and bustle of being busy, filled with over-commitments and questionable priorities, I hope to find God's peace and to wait for God's presence to come to me by actively seeking and hoping for God's return.
In many ways I am not ready to turn the calender to December. It seems like the list of what should have been done in November is still to long. My learning curve is still pretty steep as I grow into my new calling. The beginning of Advent, and the words of Psalm 85 are good reminders to me that although I have a place in mind where I should be, an agenda of what I think I should be "getting done," and feel behind, that God's time (and God's agenda) are not mine. And I need to be patient and re-orient myself to wait for God's coming presence to reveal itself. It would be a shame to be so busy doing my checklist, that I missed the presence of Christ, born again into the hearts of good folks around me.
No comments:
Post a Comment