Third Sunday in Advent: The Candle of Joy

2 Peter 3:8 – But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
Psalm 126:1 – When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, it seemed like a dream.

What is your dream, this December, this Advent season? What Christmas miracle would you like to see?

It would be like a dream if we could wake up on Christmas morning to news that all the fighting had ended, all the homeless had been sheltered, all the hungry fed, all the sick cured.

It would be like a dream if we could say, today, that all that Christ's coming to the world means will be fulfilled this year.

Sometimes Advent and Christmas carry more disappointment and doubt than joy and faith. Are we dreaming of too much? We dream of all that we dream of coming true all at once. Today's verse from 2 Peter reminds us that one day and a one millennium are all the same to God.

In God's time, in God's way, with our cooperation, and our Spirit-empowered effort, God's saving will is accomplished. The stories, the promises, and even the sermons of Advent remind us of that truth.

Underneath the lights and the tinsel there is a grimy world that seems to deny us our dreams. But Christ has come; Christ comes to us every day; and Christ will come to us again, and again, and again. Isn't that like a dream?

Prayer: Keep me dreaming, dear God, and help me to see the dreams you have made real, the dreams you make come true today, and the dreams you will make real, in your time, in your way. Amen.

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