If you go to the trouble of googling the meaning behind the second Sunday of Advent, you will find a half dozen varying viewpoints, at least. Still, the one common theme behind them all is Peace.
Week two of Advent points us beyond the manger and to the promised second Advent—Christ’s return. In the first Advent, Jesus was born hard in vulnerability, laid in a wooden trough, and became well acquainted with all the suffering that it means to be fully human—including his last act on earth mimicking his first—to be laid hard, yet again, upon wood—and experience such profound pain that he felt bereft of God enough to quake open such a yawping crisis of faith that he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
In contrast, his second coming will be as Christ the King who comes to make all things right. To restore all that we’ve lost through war, pride, selfishness, greed, the groans of nature, and our broken hearts. In short, to restore our true humanity, our original beauty.
The peace of Christ is not just the absence of war, but much more it is a sustainable satisfaction, a permeating sense of serenity, and a continual cascade of gratitude for what is rather than a clamoring for what we want next. Christ’s second coming promises just such a Kingdom of Peace.
This week, let our prayers be for what piece of peace he wants to work in and through us, even as we patiently wait for that coming Kingdom. A reconnection with fractured family ties? An olive branch offered for someone who hurt or betrayed us? Forgiveness of ourselves for our own missteps and offenses?
Love, your sister along the journey,
k
Remember: this Thursday’s free Zoom (11 a.m. CT) where we gather together as an intimate community sharing our own journeys and supporting each other as we rediscover the depth and beauty of our own humanity.
ZOOM INFORMATION:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84928702034
Meeting ID: 849 2870 2034
Passcode: 299732
Go to: kimberlyhighland.com for more information or to book a private session
