Raise your heads

Luke 21 : 20 - 28

Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads....

These readings before Advent all stress the necessity to be prepared for what the Lord will do.

The picture we get of world affairs is a mixed one. Some days the news reports are pessimistic, and we get the idea that humankind is really on the brink of a major catastrophe. At other times, it does seem that there is hope for us. I guess both are true. We do believe that at some point, as Jesus seems to indicate, there will come the end of the earth as we know it now. How and when it comes we are not to know or predict.

These words of Jesus echo the instructions to the Israelites as they left Egypt in the Exodus. They were to leave "with heads held high" and not in any skulking or surreptitious manner, as if there was something to be ashamed of. They were to leave in confidence and hope, because God was leading them. This is our comfort in a day and age when many, many things are happening that we can hardly comprehend. We should have nothing to fear and nothing to be ashamed of, from the darkness of this world. Words from God do bring comfort, even though they do also alert the hearers to the seriousness of the message.

I am looking forward to the Advent season which begins this Sunday. It will be good to begin singing songs of "Waiting" like "O come, O come Emmanuel" and "Come Thou long expected Jesus". It will help me keep balance during the next few weeks where there will be much commercialisation of the festive season.