Advent Reflection

By Rev Philip Gardner

Posted Dec  5, 2023 in Faith

This has been a most difficult year for many people. In Australia rising interest rates and inflation has taken its toll. The Voice Referendum became a divisive process for many people across the nation. Overseas the war in the Ukraine remains a brutal grind and we had the horrors of Hamas’ attack on Israel followed by a concerted military response and its associated humanitarian crisis. We have watched play out daily on our screens. Then there are those crises and wars that we don’t read about or see. In the light of these events, it is easy to despair or simply harden our hearts and become cynical. There seems no hope for our world at this time.

We are now entering Advent, the season that begins the Church’s year, and it reminds us that our hope is not in ourselves but in God coming to us. The key events of Advent are the birth of Jesus and the longing for his return to make visible everywhere the work completed in his life and death, resurrection and ascension. It is also an invitation to be alert to God’s entering into our lives, for signs of God’s reign in our daily lives. Nowadays this is often focussed on the four Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, the gifts that come to us through God entering our world in Jesus and can break into our world though the presence of God’s Spirit.

One of my favourite Psalms is set for the third Sunday in Advent, Psalm 126. The Psalm begins:

     When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
         we were like those who dream.
     Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
         and our tongue with shouts of joy;
     then it was said among the nations,
         ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
     The Lord has done great things for us,
         and we rejoiced.

It is likely that the Psalmist is referring to the return from exile in Babylon, and the people rejoiced in their unexpected good fortune, ‘their mouths filled with laughter.’ This joy is possible because of the surprising work of God in their world. They have returned to their homeland, something many thought impossible. Now they are facing new difficulties, and they are longing for God to act again. They are weeping now, ‘sowing in tears’ but hoping to reap in joy (5). Hoping that God will act in unexpected ways again.

Plenty of people are sowing in tears in our world at this time. In this Advent season we allow our lives to be touched by sorrow and brokenness, and we offer it to God in prayer and service, longing for God to act anew in our world. That those who weep may yet shout with joy because God has acted anew in our world.

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