sunday pm

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This morning we went a different direction at our two services. I knew the 2nd service was the Children's program and I wouldn't have to preach, so I was able to base my message around hymns for the more traditional service.

Of course, not everything I selected was traditional (wink, wink). We have the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship, so I wandered through the Advent section and we took a trip to France (Wait the Lord), Finland (Lost in the Night) and Cameroon (He Came Down). It was fun. I didn't sing off key. Our organist had fun - and since he works with the band - He Came Down will probably join the rotation.

Some excerpts:
We wait – the time of Advent is a time of waiting – waiting for the day of Christmas – waiting for answers to our questions to God – realizing that waiting – living in time with expectation – or dread – of the future – is our human condition. We wait for joyful news – a grandchild is born – we wait for sad news – someone has lost their battle with illness – we wait for the economy to improve – we wait, we wait. And we wait for the promises of God to be fulfilled. That is the huge dominant theme of ‘Advent’ – we wait for the promise – Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

So we can sing: "Wait for the Lord, whose day is near, wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart."

From Finland we receive a different perspective, a haunting folk tune, full of yearning and heartache.

This was first a missions hymn – and the first English translation had in the first line – lost in the night the heathen do languish. Changed to “the people” do languish in the 1960s it was placed in the Witness part of the LBW. Now it appears as an option for Advent – the mournful tune and depth of yearning expressed capture this time of our church year.

Now we see that the need for new life and light does not just apply to ‘them’ out there, but is a need that exists among us, right here. "Those who live in deep darkness, on them has light shone” – the old prophet’s words were taken to heart in the Scandinavian countries, where winter’s darkness lasts longer and comes to symbolize all that weighs us down. We experience the fear of death, the weight of despair, the overwhelming sense that we are powerless to change for the good our lives or the lives of others.

Together we turn to God plaintively sighing, "Will not day come soon? Will you help us soon?"



“Lost in the Night” was originally directed at those in far-away lands, but in the lands where missions have taken hold, such as Cameroon, the culture transformed the hope that Christ will come into a joyful affirmation of that he has come, and his coming has made a difference.

The Advent theme that Christ has come, is present, and will come again is joyfully expressed in the Cameroon song – “He came down.”

He Came down that we might have love - Hallelujah forever more.

So we live – knowing that He has come and he has not yet completed his work – and, as the scriptures today remind us – we are allowed, even encouraged – to rejoice.