The Third Sunday of Advent 2008

Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach 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,

Yes, the Spirit, the ruach (breath, wind) of the great I AM is on us, not because we have been holier or to give us a sense of comfort or hope. No, the Spirit is given for a task of some kind or other:

• to preach or
• to bind (heal) brokenhearts or
• proclaim freedom and
• release from darkness and
• the day of vengeance or
• to comfort

The ruach comes rushing in, opening our eyes and mouth and lungs, filling us with hope and power.

The ruach comes blowing from out of the blue heavens or the towering clouds and pushes us, sends us out to do what we are called to do.

At that first advent it was John the Baptist who felt that wind at his back. He had a proclamation to make even as he had little understanding of what that might mean.

John 1:14- The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Those words, that proclamation, were but the start of what we today understand the Christian calling to be. There was now a light shining in the darkness, John tells us as that passage goes on. There is a light that darkness cannot overcome. Moving it forward from the Baptist to us takes us back to the proclamation from Isaiah- or rather the calling of those who would follow in that calling.

Where this season can I live that calling? I have to take the time to settle away from the rush of the season and allow the Word that became flesh to enter my flesh and soul and spirit. I have to live and move in such a way that I can proclaim or comfort or release or heal.

These are the four tenets of the Advent Conspiracy I mentioned a few days ago. It is a movement to return the scandalous and radical to Christmas. As they say on their web page, "What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?"

What if?....