25, 9, 15
Isaiah 5:8-12, 18-23 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Luke 21:20-28
When I was first learning to read, this passage from Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians struck terror in my little, literalist heart. So afraid was I of the “sudden destruction” associated with the day of the Lord that I often fell asleep holding on to my sister’s nightgown. If Jesus came like a thief in the night and found me sinfully sleeping, perhaps he would take pity on me for her sake, since she was too small to understand. This Advent season, I find myself surprised to discover that I am still learning to read, still struggling not to respond too literally, and therefore too fearfully, to the signs of economic, social, and ecological collapse that dominate my daily newsfeed. It is hard sometimes to see why we shouldn’t all just hold tightly to our loved ones and hope for suffering to pass us by. This Advent, Paul’s prophetic imagination invites us into a different kind of waiting, grounded in a different habit of reading. As heirs and agents of Christ’s coming Kin-dom, we are called to be alert to the “hope of salvation” lying between the all-too-literal lines of sorrow and suffering written on our bodies and the bodies of our neighbors. Armed with this hope, we can carry on, giving ourselves away to each other after the pattern of Christ, “who died for us.”
Living Word and author of our hope, open our eyes to the work of salvation written in our hearts and in your your world.
Listen to Nandra read her Advent meditation and prayer:
