Advent Week 3 – December 12, 2022

The Wisdom of Advent – Learning to Wait

Week 3: Joy.

The concept of God’s kingdom being simultaneously here in time but not yet here is an idea that both confuses and inspires me. It feels like a Zen koan, designed to jolt the mind out of our usual method of linear thinking and inspire a burst of insight.

Jurgen Moltmann (a German theologian) describes this in a way that is easier for my brain to grasp. He says Christ isn’t sitting on some celestial throne, waiting for a particular moment to plunge in and reappear. Instead, Christ’s coming runs like a thread through history. This thread is God working in the world. And if this thread isn’t to break, Christ must always be arriving in each moment of time.

This means that Christ is already here, now, working in our lives.

• Can you see some evidence of Christ’s work in your life now?
• If you can’t see it now but have been able to see God’s work in your life at some point, can this give you hope that the thread is still there and God is still at work, even if it’s not visible at this moment?