Tag: Nahum

Nahum 1.15
Look, there on the mountains,
the feet of one who brings good news,
who proclaims peace!

Luke 17.20-21
“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed…because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Reflection: Expectation Affects Anticipation :: Hope of Advent
By John Tillman

The good news that Nahum prophesied was on the other side of exile for his readers, and the kingdom that Christ’s disciples anticipated, was mysteriously already present among them. How do we anticipate the “already and not yet?” How do we wait for what is already with us? Among us? Part of us?

Advent is a time of anticipation. But anticipation with the wrong expectation, can lead to dissatisfaction or cause us to miss what we have been waiting for completely.

Those who anticipated the day of the Lord in the time of the prophets were wrong about what they waited for. Amos, Zephaniah, and other prophets knew that day would be one of darkness, not light.

Those who anticipated the coming of the Messiah were wrong about what they waited for. The Pharisees, the Zealots, and the people all expected a king who would violently defeat the Roman empire. They rejected the humble, donkey-riding healer who would violently disrupt their economic system at the Temple.

Even the Disciples expected the restoration of an earthly kingdom, asking Jesus, “Is now the time?” “Are you going to restore Israel?” Even the people who were closest to Jesus anticipated political salvation, not spiritual.

“Managing expectations” is sometimes cynically viewed as not allowing customers to get their hopes up, so that they won’t be angry when you let them down. But when it comes to our expectations of Advent, we don’t need to manage them by lowering them. We need to raise them above temporal, earthly, material matters. We already know that what we receive will be beyond what we can ask for or imagine.

The gifts we anticipate have already been purchased at great cost, and contain more than we can ever hope for. We will focus this Advent on the gifts of Jesus in the Gospel of John (which doesn’t enter our reading plan until next Monday) and on the question “What are you waiting for?”

Many have asked this question during Advent, a time of waiting and anticipation. We will attempt to not just passively dream of what we would have from God, but to turn the question into a prompt to action in response to God. He has shown us what is required.
Do good.
Shun evil.
Give extravagantly.
Live sacrificed.

This Advent, we ask ourselves, “What are we waiting for?”

Get on with it.

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.— Psalm 118:23

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

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Nahum 1 (Listen – 2:24)
Luke 17 (Listen – 4:22)

Additional Reading
Read More about Restful Meditations :: Advent’s Hope
Focusing our hearts on Christ, the hope of Advent, expands the holiday experience beyond mere merriness. In the gospel our hearts find rest from pain and hope for renewal.

Read More about Anticipating His Advent
In the Old Testament, hope is often translated from the Hebrew word yachal meaning “trust.” In the New Testament, the word hope is used for elpis, which can be translated “to expect or anticipate with pleasure.”

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The story of Christ’s birth is the story of giving. Christ humbled himself. He was familiar with financial tension (his family lived at the sustenance level). He knew the pressures of vocation, and of working one job though he was designed for another—the Messiah was a carpenter for well over a decade. He gave himself to obedience, even to the point of death.

The words of Scripture instruct us to live as Christ lived, and draw models for Christian living from those that came before us. One such person to examine is Wenceslas I, the Duke of Bohemia, who later became a king and a saint. Ed Masters, writing for Regina Magazine, chronicles Wenceslas’ reputation:

He was generous to and provided support for the needs of the indigent, the widows and orphans. He bought freedom for slaves and even visited prisoners during the night, giving them alms and listening to their concerns as well as exhorting them to leave their former ways of life behind and to repent of their crimes. He was known to have carried wood on his back in the middle of the night to those that needed it for fuel and assisted at the funerals of the poor.

The saint was memorialized in the 1853 song, “Good King Wenceslas,” which celebrates the power of following the footsteps of a holy man. The fourth verse opens with the king’s page weakening as they press into the night to serve a poor man in the snow:

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”

“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed.

Wenceslas did not walk under his own strength; the king was often found at night praying in the church. His gifts of service were expressions of Christ’s ultimate gift—something our service to others can bring to life this holiday season.

Listen: Good King Wenceslas by Downhere (3:03)

Today’s Reading
Nahum 3 (Listen – 3:04)
Luke 19 (Listen – 5:29)