Coming
32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake." (Mark 13:32-37)
We are in the season of Advent - anxious anticipation of Christ's coming, again, still. When Jesus was born, God's love broke into the world with helpless vulnerability. Jesus lived a life of self-sacrifice, he died as a literal sacrifice, and God raised him so that we can die to sin and live life abundantly, pleasing and glorifying God. Yet, we sin. Yet, the world is divided and distant from God and God's good intentions. We reject and abuse the helpless and vulnerable. What right do we have to expect God to do anything but leave us to our destruction? None.
We have no right to expect goodness and grace from God, but we never did - God just gave because God loved, because God is love. We may turn our faces from God as we turn from each other, but God remains present with us - just waiting for us to turn around. Perhaps we anxiously await God's coming as God anxiously awaits our realization that God is already always present. God never left us, it's we who forsake God. Christ's return will bring the ultimate righting of wrongs, and the restoration of creation to the perfection of wholeness and peace. But God is here now, and God is always still coming.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. 17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. 18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Psalm 80:7,17-19)
