Many followers of western Christianity celebrate Advent
beginning four Sundays before Christmas. It is a time of spiritual preparation
for and anticipation of the coming of Jesus. It’s viewed as a two-fold
celebration, both a commemoration of His first coming millennia ago as a humble
child in a manger and a hopeful awaiting of His future second coming in power
and glory to rule and reign on Earth for a thousand years of peace.
This Advent season has been particularly poignant to me as
I’ve been following the news. It seems that there is a new tragedy every day,
and much of that tragedy is caused by humans, compounded by other humans
heaping upon the tragedy by blaming the victims for their suffering. I’m a fixer
of things by nature, and I find myself feeling helpless because I’m powerless
to fix things that are so fundamentally broken. I find myself longing for Jesus
to come in power, take names, and set things right.
