Sisters and Brothers,
As we move through the season of Advent, we hold Christ’s first advent in conversation with his second. We anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth in Christmastide, but we are also surrounded by a world that is longing for Christ’s return. This is the story and tradition of our faith — we celebrate the Incarnation and the inauguration of God’s Kingdom while longing for the day when all of creation will be set right. We are a people of the in-between; a people of waiting.
Place and Promise give shape to our waiting.
Just as Fr. Matt preached two Sundays ago, we are not waiting for God to rescue us out of creation, but instead we wait for the rescue of all creation. As we live in this imperfect, broken Place, we don’t turn a blind eye to its brokenness. We seek to embody faithful presence in the Places we find ourselves day in and day out. In our relationships, in our jobs, our neighborhoods, our cities, states, countries, and so on.
We pursue faithfulness in place by holding onto the Promise. The Creator is setting all things right. Christ will return and things will finally be as they should be. The Promise equips us with a hope that will not be overcome by despair. The Promise empowers us to work for the setting right of all things in the concrete spaces we occupy on a daily basis. We are people of Place and Promise.
We live as travelers in a place that is promised. We live as Kingdom people in a broken world, but with the knowledge that the Kingdom has come and is coming.
Expand your tents, Kingdom people. Hide yourself in the Promise and receive the grace of God to be present in your Place. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Fr. Spencer
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