"In my beginning is my end," asserts T. S. Eliot in Four Quartets. Much of what we believe about God and Christ is reflected therein: the God who made us will be the God who judges us; Christ is the Alpha and the Omega; the God who created the world out of nothing will at its consummation be "all in all." So with ritual cycles. We begin them where we end. The Advent season begins the liturgical year and the lectionary year and the lectionary cycle with stories about the end time: "Stay awake!" "Live in expectation!" "Watch for the signs of the reign of God!" But in our end is our beginning: the signs of God's reign point us to the birth of something new. The color for Advent is deep blue. For some, the blue reflects the color of late autumn's night, a sky lit by moon and stars. The days are short. The long nights mark the end of the year's growing season. But the long nights are fertile ground for dreaming - imagine the desert blossoming and sheltering a mother and child; imagine peace prevailing; imagine God all in all, Joseph dreams in this season - of the child to be born soon, whom he is to name Emmanuel, God-with-us. Advent: watch and wait; imagine and dream. The signs of the season are all around, pointing us to our beginning and our end. God with us!
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Melanie Stanley-Soulen pastored Allen-Lee United Methodist Church from 2007 until 2013. Archives
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