Advent

Today I lit the third candle... this month has been flying past!  A few nights ago I watched part of The Nativity Story with some sisters and some of their friends.  It provided a good backdrop for them to have some conversations.  I had never seen the movie before, and it made me think about some things too.

The movie opens with a voice singing
Veni, veni Emmanuel
Captivum solve Israel
Qui gemit in exilio
Privatus Dei Filio...
and the next scene is Herod's men butchering the babies. 

It's a gruesome and sickening scene, but I am so thankful that the Word has such gritty and dreadful stories. 

Because if that wasn't the kind of unpleasant, bloody,sarx world that He came into to save, there would be no reason to celebrate at all.

But He came here.

Into this world where people starve and fight and abuse and cheat and hate and kill and die.  And didn't I just tell all of my students last week that's why we decorate with lights at Christmas time?  Because we know that the world is darker and harsher even than the cold, early-dark nights here in DongBei, in the northeast.  And we rejoice (because what other response could there be?) because He came here.

And after we talked about that in all of my classes, we sang (in English though, not Latin).  It's a song of longing.

And I long for Him to come in so many ways.  To come again and renew this world and make all the sad things come untrue.  To come to my students.

These Hebrew words seem incredibly appropriate at this time, as we wait and long together: ברוך אתה ה' א‑לוהינו מלך העולם, שהחינו
וקימנו והגענו לזמן הזה.‏

Blessed are You...Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.

Happy advent.