Pleading with Joy

This is the last Sunday in Trinity Season. This is the close of the second half of the Church year in which we celebrate the work of the Spirit since Pentecost in the history of the Church. We remember the powerful work of the Spirit in the ordinary things of life and in ordinary people who are transformed into extraordinary saints by the grace of God. But next week we begin Advent, when we celebrate the fact that we serve the God who comes, the God who arrives, the God who intervenes dramatically at times. We serve God in the ordinary things, in the dishes and the homework, but we are not merely on autopilot to the end of history. The same Spirit that bids the sun rise every morning, the same Spirit that upholds every atom in our body, is the Spirit that hovers over the world and thunders the creative Word of God. The Spirit comes and transforms. The Spirit comes and gives life. The Spirit comes and raises the dead. Trinity Season reminds us that God is eternally good, eternally glorious, and He reigns over all things perfectly forever, growing us up in millions of little, ordinary things. Trinity Season teaches us to bow our heads and kneel before His majesty and wisdom, to receive from His hand all things and bless His holy name. But Advent reminds us to stand up on our chairs and cry out to God. Advent teaches us to sing, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. Advent teaches us to plead with God, How long, O Lord will you be silent? How long will you let our enemies triumph over us? So I encourage you now and in the coming week, consider how your family will use the coming weeks to prepare for Christmas. How will you teach your children to prepare for God to come? How will you encourage one another to be ready to meet Jesus? How will you get your home ready, your heart ready, your neighborhood ready for God to come? Whatever you do, as you do it, the loudest, biggest note sounded ought to be joy. You know you’re doing it right when people think you might be a little tipsy at nine o’clock in the morning. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.