|
We
all know that Lent is a penitential season, a time when Christians get
in touch with their sins. But Advent has a penitential dimension, too.
It is the season in which we prepare for the coming of the Savior, and
we don't need a Savior unless we're deeply convinced there is something
to be saved from.
The
prophet Isaiah affirms this with a whole series of images describing
our sinful condition. For example, he offers this wonderful and terrible
line: “All our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered
like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.”
When
we have become deeply aware of our sin, we know that we can cling to
nothing in ourselves, that everything we offer is, to some degree,
tainted and impure. We can’t show our cultural, professional, and
personal accomplishments to God as though they are enough to save us.
But
the moment we realize that fact, we move into the Advent spirit,
desperately craving a Savior. We become ready for another of Isaiah’s
images: “Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you are
the potter: we are all the work of your hands.”
Today, let us prepare ourselves for the potter to come.
| 
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment