Waiting for the Light of Truth

In the Christian Calendar, this past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent – that time of waiting and preparation for celebrating the birth of Christ and anticipating His reappearing in glory. Most of us probably feel the tension of “waiting for the celebration of His birth” more than we do “His reappearing in glory.”

 

But it seems to me that many thoughtful followers of Jesus are especially longing for His reappearing these days. The tension in our culture is so apparent it is as though we are walking through some sort of dense and devilish fog. Civility – or the lack thereof – makes us wonder what is going on. 

A week or so ago I ran across the name Carl Ketcherside. Many who are reading this will remember the great work he did back in the 1960s/70s is trying to get believers to take Jesus’ prayer that we all be one more seriously. At one time I had some of his books, but some how they aren’t around anymore. I did a search on Amazon’s used book link and discovered several of Ketcherside’s book and ordered Adventure of Faith.  There is no publishing date in the book, but my guess is that it was in the mid-1960s.

Though a bit dated in places, it has been well worth reading! Here’s my favorite quote: 

It is a sad error to mistake being loyal to a party or to partisan position with being loyal to Jesus and the ideals which He espoused and for which He died. It is possible that nothing else in our day so stands in the way of genuine Christian living as sectarian prejudice. It places a blindfold over the mind shutting out the light of truth. It acts as a shackle for the heart making further progress impossible. We need men who will rise above narrow concepts of brotherhood and restore to our aching hearts the real Jesus, in all the glory and majesty of that divine love which sent him to an unworthy world filled with sinners. (Pages 51, 52)

Did you notice the phrase “it is possible that nothing else in our day so stands in the way of genuine Christian living as sectarian prejudice”?  I think that is the tension so many of us feel right now. Neither the left nor the right is innocent on this issue and it is as though we are being crushed by a massive vice that seeks to squash out any sense of being Jesus to the world around us. 

My favorite Advent Hymn is O Come, O Come Emanuel. Among the prayers of that great hymn is “and ransom captive Israel.” It is hard to forget the glorious words of its refrain, “Rejoice, Rejoice, Emanuel, Shall come to you O Israel.” There it is – a longing for ransom and hope that He comes. That seems to be a very good idea of what Advent ought to be about.

Ketcherside’s words are convicting. My focus for Advent this year, and I invite you to join with me, is that I will find a way to “rise above narrow concepts of brotherhood and restore to our aching hearts the real Jesus, in all the glory and majesty of that divine love which sent him to an unworthy world filled with sinners.” 

A longing for ransom and hope that He comes.  Let’s celebrate together.