Welcome! Thanks for joining us in our 2024 Advent Observances. These short daily thoughts are designed for us to sit (if possible in a quiet place), be still, be present to the Lord and ourselves for thought and prayer.  

Day 4 

While Advent looks back in celebration of Jesus’ arrival on earth there is also a forward-looking aspect as we anticipate His arrival again referred to as the second coming of Christ. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was executed by the Nazis just days before liberation, said that “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.”

This longing for healing, for salvation, for wholeness, is the state of the church just as it was the situation for ancient Israel. Just like Israel, we are in exile, in a world gone mad, waiting, hoping, and praying for the Messiah. In what the New Testament calls these “last days,” God’s people are waiting for the return of Christ to consummate his eternal kingdom. And in the same way that Israel looked back to God’s great deeds of the past and forward in hope of relief, Christians look back to the birth of Jesus and look forward in anticipation to his return to free his people from the bondage of suffering.

O Come O Come Emmanuel is an Advent hymn, the words of which apply, to Christ coming to this earth as well as to His return.

Listen to this hymn and receive the beauty of the music and the truth of the words.

CLOSING PRAYER

Thank you that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who is, who was, and who is to come  (Revelation 1:8). Father, help me to hold this beautiful mystery and truth during the season of Advent – Jesus – Emmanuel, God with me, who came to earth as a child, lived the life of a servant, and who will come again as a King.