Reflection by Annabelle Cleeve:
It is a great pleasure to be able to write this week’s midweek message, and it is strange coincidence that I also wrote one at exactly this time last year! I remember because we had just had the Christmas pageant and I wrote something about the children teaching us to look at the nativity through their eyes.
Last Sunday they did another great job. A very big thank you is due to the children and adults who worked so hard to bring everything together, especially to the adults who actually took part!
This year we did a more spontaneous nativity than we have in previous years. The introduction asked us to imagine that we were experiencing the scenes for the very first time. How would we have felt if we had been there? Would we have understood the significance of what was going on?
The Israelites had been waiting for their Saviour for a long time, and it seems significant that the second Sunday in Advent is one traditionally associated with preparation and waiting.
“Advent symbolizes the present situation of the church in these “last days” (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2), as God’s people wait for the return of Christ. The church is in a similar situation to Israel at the end of the Old Testament: in exile, waiting and hoping in prayerful expectation for the coming of the Messiah. Israel looked back to God’s past gracious actions on their behalf in leading them out of Egypt in the Exodus, and on this basis, they called for God once again to act for them. In the same way, the church, during Advent, looks back upon Christ’s coming in celebration while at the same time looking forward in eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people. In this light, the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” perfectly represents the church’s cry during the Advent season.” (https://www.christianity.com/christian-life/christmas/what-is-advent.html)
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
The captives from their prison free,
and conquer death’s deep mystery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.