Wednesday of Advent 2; Holy Cross Parish.
Being
tired and weary is rarely something that gets extolled in Christian
preaching. But in the midst of all of our
winter activities, dealing with the weather, finding that extra time to spend
with family with friends (joyous, but exhausting at times!), as well as all the
day-to-day striving in Christian virtue and just getting all we need to done,
all these Advent calls to wakefulness can get a little… well, tiring. And that’s when things are going OK. What about people who are tired of being
victims, tired of injustice, tired of being alone, tired of feeling like God
has abandoned them?
The
things in life that test and try us, that mean we need to be the most attentive
to the gracious action of God; they’re often the things that leave us too tired
to listen for the still small voice, too weary to discern how God is actively
at work in the world. Being tired and
weary are impediments to awareness of God’s action; but they’re not roadblocks
to grace. In fact, their opposite is
what can be. Self-surity, reliance on
one’s own power: these are the things that become shields, strong walls that
deflect God’s tenderly offered hand.
Our
reading from Isaiah is good news for the tired and weary. It reveals the paradox that we come the
closest we can to understanding God’s power and might precisely when we feel
powerless. Paradoxically, the more we
realize how distant we are from God with respect to power, that we are not his equal; then, the closer to God
we find ourselves. When we raise our
eyes in awe to the ruler of the heavens, we find our bodies follow, raised up by
a strength not our own. Encouraged, we
walk towards the source of this life and God who proved his faithfulness in that
while we were still sinners he sent his only Son for us, God lends us His strength
that we might run into the arms of the one running still more urgently to us.
Advent
is a good time to be tired; because it’s the tired who will soar like eagles.
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