Fourth Sunday in Advent (O Oriens)

O Dayspring, Brightness of the light everlasting, and Sun of Righteousness: come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

Gen. 3:8-15; Rev. 12:1-10; John 3:16-21

O Dayspring!  You’re my favorite.  (Don’t tell the others.)  You make my heart leap and my eyes brighten.  Sun of righteousness, you never really go away; like the moon we can’t always see all of you, but you are there.  Come, Dayspring, enlighten us.

Today we make the final turn toward Christmas.  No more parables (unless you see all these readings as parable).  Instead we have the condensed version of the Christmas story: 

We hid from God, who sought us out.  God loves us enough to send Herself, really, if you hold to the Trinity, to call us back.  And in the end, the breach is repaired.  The force that led us astray is seen for what it is, and is overcome.  The continuing fertile power of creation includes our hearts and souls and minds, calling us to renewal.

Some of us won't let ourselves be renewed.  Some of us will choose to stay in the dark, hiding from God, making our own pathetic clothing instead of being clothed with the sun.  That is nothing short of tragic, but we are given choice.

Now, for John the line is always between those who “believe” and those who don’t.  This has done a lot of damage over the years, as people used litmus tests to condemn others and examine themselves anxiously.  So let’s just put aside the modern idea of “belief,” and think about what we’re all doing here.  You may think you’re an atheist or agnostic, or you may have another faith tradition.  You may not know what you believe about Jesus, or God.  But I bet you’re reading this because you hold on to something, you trust in something, you know you need something that speaks to you from the Jesus source.  If you’re still reading by this late in Advent, you’re looking for the light.  And you probably know times in your life when you wanted to hide from it rather than live in it.  So you know the difference.  

Choose light; choose life.

Dayspring, shine on us.  Shine especially on those who fear you most, who hide out of guilt or shame or anger.  Let us see the salvation and power and the dominion of our God.  

Glory!

Homework: Repeat after me: “Behold the servant of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word.”  Then go sing, say, dance Mary’s Song today (Luke 1:48-56).