THE ADVENT CHRONICLES

CHRISTMAS EVE REFLECTION

I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to David my servant: I will establish your line for ever, and preserve your throne for all generations. (Ps. 89:3-4)

Let ' s jump for a moment on this day before Christmas to its counterpart in the Christian liturgical year...the Feast of the Ascension, traditionally celebrated on the fortieth day after Easter. As on Christmas we give praise to the God who comes straight down from heaven in the person of Jesus, on Ascension Day we celebrate his going straight up, taking our own human and frail, but resurrected, flesh with him, in order to be crowned the Sovereign of all sovereigns.

The Ascension, that almost-forgotten feast of western Christianity, has its foundation in Christmas-the two go hand-in-hand, and lie at the heart of our bond in Christ. To borrow a metaphor from B.B. King, "love comes to town on Christmas, " and on Ascension Day we will take Love' s train to the Heavenly Places.

Then, you and I and all humanity, are invited to share in the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, in whom we are united in baptism. You and I are joined in Christ in the mysterious union of the Holy Trinity itself! No wonder that in the Eastern church children, and the newly baptized, and newly wedded couples, are crowned with garlands of flowers, symbolizing the royalty we have in the God who came among us and then carries us up to reign with him on the throne of God.

We Americans, sadly, in our squeamishness at royalty, abandoned all of that. What a pathetic loss! So on this day of preparation and waiting and busy-ness, when we meditate on these verses from Psalm 89, and listen to God's words establishing the royal line of David, know that ultimately, God has you in mind. You, with all your pain and preoccupations, all your worries and hidden fears, God is coming to your house tonight to invite you to a new life of peace, courage, freedom, and holiness. God will come to your house, the house of your soul and body, restoring its dignity and holiness, and then invite you to God's house.

God comes down that we may rise, lifted by him to the skies;
Christ is born for us that we born again in him may be.
(Christopher Wordsworth 1807-1885)
Hymn 88, Hymnal 1982 (Church Publishing)

-exerpt from a publication by the Higher Education Ministries Arena.
used with permission