The Lord is Coming

I am a fan of tradition. There is something within me that embraces ancient, well-worn paths that meander through history. It has something to do with a sense of continuity. There is a certain comfort derived from embracing the acceptable, time-honored and tested.

Innovation is subject to uncertainty. Trailblazing might lead to a dead end. There is a cost, however, to maintaining the charted course. You might miss a lot, and lose opportunities to engage the unimaginable.

Our annual remembrance of the events leading to the birth of the Christ child is traditional. We share similar scriptures. We sing the Advent hymns. We contemplate similar themes.

What irony that we practice such tradition around one of God’s greatest surprises. No one expected God to enter history as the child of a middle class craftsman. No one expected the King of Glory to be born in such modest surroundings. No one expected all of it to come about so quietly and go almost without notice.

As we engage in our traditional ways of remembering, I hope we will start a new tradition, a new tradition of expectation. God has not lost God’s ability to come in ways unexpected and unforeseen. I hope we will come to expect the unimaginable.