O Come O Come...Advent

And ransome captive Israel, who mourns in lowly exile here until the Son of God appear..

REJOICE, REJOICE

It is in the waiting that  we understand hope. It is in the hoping we figure out Faith. It is in Faith that we love and it is in love, we know God.

What a poignant song this song of advent.  A lament almost, a plea for relief . Come, please come and see me for where I am. Collectively we sing and long for the begining of somethign differnt because our reality is suffocating. O Come, please Come.

In that longing is a simple command..REJOICE, REJOICE, He Came.

I have been listening to Rikk Watts of Regent College in Vancouver,WA. His series on Life in God is changing the way I think about everything I have learned and understood. I listen while I run to distract me from...well, running.  There have been times when he has said something so profound that I sit on my yoga mat and just ponder how this truth will change my life.

One thing I am hearing will  make Christmas different this year. It is the fresh perspective of God being here. God as a baby: the most approachable human being on earth, is a baby.  Not a baby in a temple, or a mansion, or hospital, or a suburb ranch house, but a baby in a manger.

O come, O come so we can.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
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.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home