Words of Reflection
I have a friend who, when she was a young child, looked to her dad as the one who fixed things. When something was broken, she knew she could turn to him with the words “Daddy fix” and he would do his best to make it whole again.
In the story of Christmas there is very much a sense of something broken that needs to be repaired. Humanity’s relationship with God has been broken by sin, and that brokenness has seeped into all of creation, as the Apostle Paul notes:
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”—Romans 8:22 (NIV)
Do you feel the brokenness of the world as we enter Advent this year? We live in a time when we seem surrounded by reminders that all is not as it should be. We see it in the breakdown of relationships, in the bitterness and hatred that is all to prevalent in our world today. We see it in the despair and sorrow of those who feel hope to be distant and fleeting. We see it in the eyes of the hungry, the lonely, the dispossessed, the grieving…there hardly seems to be any part of creation it fails to touch.
But we don’t even need to look around us to find evidence of that brokenness. We only need to look within, because it is all to clear even within our own hearts and souls.
We, too, are broken.
During Advent we are reminded, though, that God does not leave us in this state. The hope of Christmas is that the God who loves us has come to restore us, and one day to restore all of creation. The one who dwells with us will make us whole. As Paul puts it in Colossians:
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”—Colossians 2:9-10 (NIV)
What a wonderful statement of the Incarnation, and what a powerful reminder of the hope that we have: that in Christ, we are brought to fullness.
May Advent enable us to draw near to the only One who meets us in our brokenness and draws us into new life.
Scripture for Meditation:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”—Isaiah 61:1-4 (NIV)
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”—John 10:10 (NIV)
Song: O Come, All You Unfaithful (lyrics here)
Questions for Contemplation:
How are you most aware of the brokenness in the world right now? Is that sense of brokenness more likely to provoke you to despair, or stir you to prayer? What makes the difference in that particular movement of your spirit?
How does this season of Advent move you to hope? How does it move you to seek restoration and healing for your own sense of brokenness? Spend some time in prayer meditating on the coming of Christ and his desire to give you “life to the full.”
Today’s song repeats the invitation: “See what your God has done.” Not only is it an invitation to consider the Incarnation, it is also a chance to choose gratitude for God’s movement in your own life. Spend some time reflecting on that movement, on God’s good gifts, and how his faithfulness has been demonstrated to you in the past. Ask him to remind you how that same faithfulness meets you in the present and will be there in future.