Genesis: Advent, Christmas & New Year: From Trinity, Upperville.

The Rector writes...

The season of Advent is one of my favorites in the church calendar because it’s so full of hope. As a child I would eagerly count down the days of Advent, knowing that at the end was Christmas! It is the greatest day the world has ever known, and yet it’s a time of waiting and preparing. In this season we prepare for our great hope of rescue and deliverance from something we have no power over… ourselves.

Many of you know that I’m president of the Mockingbird Ministries board of directors. Several years ago my partners at Mockingbird wrote The Mockingbird Devotional: Good News for Today (and Every Day), which is the first of two wonderful yearly devotional books. One of my favorite entries was written by David Zahl on the following Advent scripture from Matthew 1:21: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” I share it with you now: The poet W.H. Auden once wrote, “Nothing that is possible can save us/ We who must die demand a miracle”. This is a bold statement, and one whose truth might not be self-evident in everyday life. Many of the problems we face on a daily level can be fixed, or at least, addressed: If our car breaks down, we can take it to the garage. If we get a headache, we can take some aspirin. If we say something mean, we can apologize, and so on.

Auden’s meaning becomes clearer when we consider problems of a less everyday nature. The kind that keep us up at night. I was speaking with a friend recently who had just separated from his wife.

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