A wAy iN tHe wiLLdERnEsS

I always imagine myself arriving in this season bursting with joy + energy, hopeful + anticipating all the goodness, when in reality I can be found limping in, weary, haggard, heavily burdened with the brokenness around me + within me. I regretfully resonate more with Ebenezer Scrooge, weighed down by the demands of work, life, fending off a lingering cold + feeling that one more request might actually push me past my breaking point. I feel distracted, frazzled + worn through.

Encouraged as I take a brief pause from the frenetic pace + demands today to turn to Isaiah 9. The language of breaking yokes + the joy people experienced in the coming Prince of Peace. If we already have peace in spades, what delight is there in having more? It's the American child flush with toys opening yet one more novelty, destined to be soon forgotten. Perhaps advent is most dear to those who are keenly aware of their need, of the reality that they are yet waiting for the one who will bring light, ruling with peace + justice + righteousness. Perhaps it is letting these ancient words connect to my present moment weariness, to know that the light haas come + we are yet in a posture of waiting, a waiting we are quick to throw off in our distractions + delusions that we could somehow obtain peace cheaply, of our own creation.

But you are God’s “chosen generation”, his “royal priesthood”, his “holy nation”, his “peculiar people”—all the old titles of God’s people now belong to you. It is for you now to demonstrate the goodness of him who has called you out of darkness into his amazing light. In the past you were not “a people” at all: now you are the people of God. In the past you had no experience of his mercy, but now it is intimately yours. -1 Peter 2.9-10

Meaning, it is now, in this age + season for us, who personally breathe + dwell in the mercy of God, who operate from an economy of grace, who speak personally with the Most High as a result of restored relationship, to paint + weave with the fiber of our life the very goodness of God’s nature to a world desperately in need of clear evidence of the gospel.