Monday, November 29, 2010

Waiting in Darkness

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.  In our family Advent celebration, I have tried to focus the first week on the waiting aspect of Advent.  We emphasize that Israel had been waiting essentially for all time for the Messiah, but that for the last 500 or so years before Jesus's incarnation, they had been waiting in silence.  God had not spoken through a prophet for centuries. They were waiting in darkness.


A friend of mine posted a quote today that sums up the feeling we're trying to convey to our children about what that waiting was like:

‎A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes... and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
As we sit in a darkened room, the oldest child lights the first candle, and when the flame is lit, my husband or I read, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light." Then we sing what I consider the prototypical Advent hymn: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."


One of its verses particularly captures what I want my children to take away about the dark times of waiting for a word from the Lord. I want us to have a sense of the Lord's absence so that we may even more rejoice in his presence.


O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

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