Scripture Focus: 2 Chronicles 2.5-6
5 “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? 
 
1 John 2.7-8
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 

Reflection: Scandalous Surprise of Hope — The Hope of Advent
By John Tillman

Who are we to have such hope as advent promises? That Christ would come to us is baffling, surprising, and to some, scandalous. Yet he did and does and will do so.

Past promises pave a way for faith in the future. God’s gift comes to all as assuredly as it did before. Darkness will pass and true light will shine.

Christ was at one time hidden but was then revealed. He is the peasant child foretold by a star. He is the lowly babe, announced in the heights of heaven. He is the pearl discovered in the field. He is a treasure in a jar of clay. He is the lamp placed on a stand. He is a candle revealed when the bushel is kicked over. He is the light from the holy of holies spilling out when the curtain was torn from top to bottom. 

We see Christ as a living paradox and a mystery, a foolish farce to some and a source of unshakable faith for others. He is the uncontainable God, “tabernacling” in a human-made temple. He is the good which comes from a town no good thing could come from. He is the God who could not be seen, being born with a face to be kissed by his teenage mother. He is the source of life, whose life was snuffed out on a Roman cross and the source of light whose death put out the light of the sun that he called into being.

As we have written before about Jesus:

This is the glory of the incarnation— that God draws us in and shows us the fullness of who he is and what he is like in the form of a baby. He was hidden in the darkness of the womb, hidden in the darkness of the night of his birth, hidden in the arms of peasants from the eyes of the powerful. He was revealed to the outcasts, the unworthy, the foreigners, and the humble.

What is hidden will be revealed and what seems mysterious or foolish in the gospel will prove to be greater than all the wisdom of humankind. God will surprise us. New things, new light, new hope springs up even now for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the morning Lessons
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. — 2 Corinthians 4.6

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
2 Chronicles 2 (Listen – 3:41)
1 John 2 (Listen – 4:04)

This Weekend’s Readings
2 Chronicles 3-4 (Listen – 5:42), 1 John 3 (Listen – 3:21)
2 Chronicles 5-6.11 (Listen – 9:47), 1 John 4 (Listen – 2:58)

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Read more about The God of Light, in the Dark :: Hope of Advent
This is the glory of the incarnation— that God draws us in and shows us the fullness of who he is and what he is like in the form of a baby.

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Scripture Focus: John 2.8-9
I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.

Reflection: The God of Light, in the Dark
By John Tillman

We may, at times, speak of darkness as an analogy for evil or for sin, and biblical authors do as well. However, actual darkness is not evil in itself. God created light and darkness and rules in each equally. We hide our sins in darkness, but only out of our ignorance. Darkness hides nothing from God. Our sins hidden in the dark, to God, may as well be in a spotlight before the world.

It is God, says the psalmist, who gives songs in the night and through the darkness of the heavens pours forth speech. In this way, the movements of the heavens were chosen by the ancient church as a teaching tool to show us God’s light coming into the world at the time of gathering darkness.

The darkness is not dark to our God. He is moving in the darkness, coming closer to us than we could stand him being. The presence of his glory is too much for us. The knowledge of his holiness is to great for us. The full light of his presence, is blinding to us. So, God draws down the veil of dark at the end of the year. He creeps up to us cautiously and secretly, so that we can be close to him. 

The time of Advent, of waiting in the deepening darkness, may seem to us as if we are huddled around the waning light in fear of evil. But the dark is also used by God to herd us close and near, so that he can intimately, softly, and gently reveal himself to us.

This is the glory of the incarnation— that God draws us in and shows us the fullness of who he is and what he is like in the form of a baby. He was hidden in the darkness of the womb, hidden in the darkness of the night of his birth, hidden in the arms of peasants from the eyes of the powerful. He was revealed to the outcasts, the unworthy, the foreigners, and the humble.

So may he be revealed to us. So, may we wait—humble, outcast, huddled in intimacy, hearing God’s approach in the dark. Come, Lord Jesus.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus said: “For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved… — John 3.16-17

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
2 Chronicles 2 (Listen -3:41) 
1 John 2 (Listen -4:04)

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At the year’s darkest point, humanity waits until the light returns, like a second Easter.

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