Advent involves waiting! We all have experienced waiting in our lives. Sometimes that waiting can be filled with preparations for what will be a joyful celebration. At other times in can be tedious, filled with anxiety in anticipation of an outcome we dread. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who stood against the evils of the Third Reich during World War II. His witness, including his preaching, cost him his freedom and ultimately his life. On December 1, 1943, Bonhoeffer wrote from prison to his young fiancee. Unable to prepare for Christmas in the ways he always had when he was free, he wrote:
“I think we’re going to have an exceptionally good Christmas. The very fact that every outward circumstance precludes our making provision for it will show whether we can be content with what is truly essential. I used to be very fond of thinking up and buying presents, but now that we have nothing to give, the gift God gave us in the birth of Christ will seem all the more glorious…” “The poorer the quarters, the more clearly we perceive that our hearts should be Christ’s home on earth.” That certainly puts things in perspective in this year of 2020. In spite of his own unjust imprisonment, the loss of good friends to war, separation from those he loved and dealing with evil all around him, Bonhoeffer believes it would not just be an endurable Christmas, but an exceptional one. Let me encourage you to prepare for an exceptionally good Christmas, regardless of the circumstances, that you can welcome again Christ into your hearts. “No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.”
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February 2021
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Starkville Presbyterian Church PC(USA) Starkville, MS | Ron's Reflections |