My Advent Prayer

Brothers and Sisters,

This past Sunday marked the beginning of Advent, the church season in which we take on the "expectant waiting"—the anticipation—of Christ's birth. In the centuries leading up to the nativity, Jews were expectantly waiting for their Messiah as well—the exalted one who would deliver them from their oppressors with fanfare, might, and power.

But they were so wrong. That's not how or why Christ came at all.

Over the last few weeks, I've been called on to speak out on behalf of Holland Christian Schools about the presidential election, our country's reaction to it, and the way we've seen those reactions play out in our own school community. I've been told by people from both sides to denounce the words and actions of the other. And that pains me because I know people on each end of the political spectrum who are committed Christians and genuinely believe that their faith is properly informing their politics.

I've written at least seven different drafts of this message, spanning a wide range of emotional responses to what has happened, but every time I get ready to publish or hit "send," Scripture just keeps smacking me in the face. I read:

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.  Leviticus 19:18

You have heard it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy," but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  Matthew 5:33-34

But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.  Matthew 5:39

If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.  Matthew 5:41

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:10

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!  Philippians 2:5-8

In the Lord's grand plan to bring Shalom to the Chaos of this world, He decided to use human partners for this work. The nation of Israel was set apart as a Kingdom of Priests whose job it was to use their actions to show the world who God was. In all that they did, they were to put Him on display. When God created that covenantal relationship, He designed it independent of political structure. In fact, Israel was not to have a King or a ruler at all. Even when they clamored for one so that they could "be like the other nations" (1 Samuel 8), God warned them about the effects of aligning themselves with earthly power—the way it would bring them pain and ultimately compromise their witness to the rest of the world.

But they wanted it anyway.

Let's avoid the same mistake.

I understand that there are hard feelings about what has transpired in our country over these last months. 
I understand that some of us have directly felt the sting of cruelty as a result. 
I understand that there is righteous indignation swelling up inside many of us that makes us want either to gloat in triumph or to protest powerfully. 
And there are certainly injustices in our community, our nation, and our world that need to be addressed. 

But I'm hoping that we can loosen our collective grip on resentment and that we can cling to our identities in Christ before our political affiliations.

Because we are the new Israel, and "Love your enemies" isn't a metaphor. Jesus actually means that the people who make our blood boil deserve the level of respect, the benefit of the doubt, and the magnanimous kindness that we normally reserve for our families, for those who agree with us, and for our good friends. We can't wrap our human minds around how crazy that sounds, but that's exactly God's way. He takes our notions of how the world should work and flips them on their head in His model of the Kingdom. 

I'm willing to put my personal agenda aside for your sake.
Your needs are more important than mine.
I am less and you are greater.

It's incredibly difficult to enact these perspectives, but what would it look like if we were willing to live out the gospel's call to "the large and demanding life" as Eugene Peterson writes? What if we marched out an army of cheek-turners, extra-mile-walkers, self-emptiers, and enemy-lovers?

I have a feeling that interaction by interaction, relationship by relationship, and community by community we would see a radical expansion of God's Kingdom here on earth. We'd be doing exactly what priests are supposed to do: putting God on display.

I pray that this Advent, the community of Holland Christian Schools gets it right. Because after 500 years of failed King experiments, Israel still didn't understand. So God sent His Son to earth to take on the mantle of the ultimate loser.

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem . . . He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  Isaiah 53:3&7 

This is the Messiah we are eagerly anticipating this Advent. This is His example to us. Not a desperate grasp for power, but an emptying of self for the good of others. A person who reaches out a hand of unity where society wants to entrench division. A person willing to lay down His very life for us.

Please join me in living out our expectant waiting of the Messiah by doing the hard work of empathy. Let's have more "we" conversations. Let's bring some Shalom to the Chaos we've been experiencing.

In doing so, we'll make space for God that He will come and fill.

Merry Christmas to you all.