By John C. Odean
And so, we continue on through Advent, overwhelmed in the remembrance that God entered the world in a new way to reach out to humankind with encompassing love. Angels heralded the birth of the Messiah and kings came from the east to worship and marvel at what God had done.
We marvel that God would step into our world, broken and marred by our sin – and that His ultimate purposes cannot be stopped or deterred. Awareness of this can bring us great comfort and great joy, even as we still live in a world with sorrow, pain and sickness –particularly grievous during this time of COVID and the great division we have been experiencing in our nation as of late.
With that awareness, I would like to bring back two videos I shared with you during Advent 2015. The first is a wonderful rendition of The Prayer by David Archuleta and Nathan Pacheco. For me during this Advent season, the lyrics perfectly articulate my cry to the God who was so concerned about the plight of humankind, that He came to save us from our sins. We need Him to come and save us in the midst of the overwhelming sickness and death –as well as the hatred, strife and turmoil that is currently manifest in our world.
“I pray You’ll be our guide, and watch us as we go,
and help us to be wise in times when we don’t know.”
Lord Jesus, manifest your presence in us and through us… that the world might know your love, grace, mercy, peace…and great joy!
The second video is simply the beautiful biblical proclamation of our Savior coming into our humanity as portrayed by youth from around the globe. The whole Advent season is about knowing that God can be approached with our fears and cares (The Prayer video), and that there is a purpose for His coming to us (A Savior is Born video). I wish you Hope…and Peace…and Joy…and Love…all that find their source in Jesus.
