Advent Hope

I have been sitting looking at this empty page on and off now for about 2 hours. I heard a wonderful sermon on Advent Hope this morning at 1st UCC Elkhart, I've read some wonderful Advent reflections over the past couple of days ... and yet I do not feel a flow of ideas that are forming themselves into words.

It isn't that I don't have hope. Hope is my fuel. Sometimes my tank runs low, but mostly I have enough to get where I need to go.

The ritual of Advent appeals to me, so there isn't a hurdle there. This year I am looking forward to adorning my small tree and setting up other Christmas decorations.

And still ... I can not find within me an inspiring reflection.

Here is what is rolling around in my head. It is a phrase from the Roman Catholic Mass. I was born and raised a Roman Catholic. Even though I am a Protestant now, my R.C. upbringing vibrates within me. Sometimes it vibrates in harmony, sometimes (tho rarely) it is the melody, sometimes it is discordant. What I have been hearing these last few days is a part of the Lord's Prayer. In the R.C. mass where I went to church the Lord's prayer was sung. Toward the end, just before "For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever." there was a pause in the song when the priest says or sings this,

"Deliver us, Lord from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ."

In the church where I grew up, after the priest sung this in his monotone style the organ music would swell and we would have a grand finish"

"For thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory
forever!"

Our organist was amazing. Amazing, I tell you!! And her voice was as big as the 40 acres of our farm. As we sang the "Our Father" we started out confidently though quietly. The song would build and then pause for the priest to pray for us - praying that we would be protected so that our joyful hope would not be blocked by evil and anxiety. Then ... the big finish ... glorious and exhilarating. Each and every week this happened for at least 3 years of my teenage life.

This is what stays with me, this glorious finish preceded by the calm yet fervent prayer that our joyful hope be not extinguished by evil or anxiety.

Oh God ... hear our prayer.