Wistful Longing

Advent has what might be described as a wistful dimension.  Or, maybe the right word is that it gives expression to the sense of longing in all of us.  We look around at the world in which we live and we long for a reality which could be, but is not yet.  We see brokenness and we long for wholeness, we see injustice and we long for rightness to overcome, we see the killing of war and we long for peace to forever prevail.  We see people who are hungry midst visions of lush green fields, people who are shivering in the cold while smoke rises from nearby chimneys, and suffering people dying at the doors of research labs preaching, "Soon, but not yet."    

We long for the child to no longer be harmed by the snake, the lamb to no longer fear the wolf, and the cow to graze alongside of the bear.  (Isaiah 11:6-8).  We wistfully long to see the not yet come to pass visions of our heart.  We wait for what is not yet.  We hope that one day soon the things invisible now to the human eye will not only be seen, but will be the norm in which all people live.  In these first days of Advent we long for the Kingdom of God which is promised to come as reality in our world.    

Jesus taught us to pray for this Kingdom.  With the ears of His disciples turned toward Him, He said pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." (Matthew 6:10). It is a word which teaches us to pray that the peace which hangs heavy in heaven's air will come to saturate everything upon which it might fall on earth.  The Kingdom is here in our midst.  The Kingdom is not yet here.  Both are true.  As the ancient Witness said to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, "Surely I am coming soon."  And the people of God on the threshold of Advent respond with words of longing, "Come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20)