ANTICIPATING GOD IN THE CHRISTMAS SEASON (A Daily Advent Devotional)
Over the next few days till Christmas I would like you to take a journey with me in anticipation. Let's daily look at the events leading up to the birth of Christ with a sense of anticipation of His arrival into this world and into our lives. (Inspired by the Book "The Miraculous Journey" by Marty A. Bullis).
Advent Day 9 - A NEW BEGINNING
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1 ESV)
Mark's theme at the start of his gospel is repentance, getting us back on track, starting us anew. He captures us with his opening word: "beginning" - (arche) in Greek. "Arche" is a central concept with gospel - where time is renewed, lives started again. John's gospel starts with the phrase - "In the beginning" (arche), and Luke uses it in the opening lines of his gospel, speaking of those "who from the beginning (arche) who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word" (1:2). The word (arche) draws us in and produces a longing in us. We want to be in on (arche) and we don't want to miss a thing. Like the play we're dying to see or the concert we want to hear - we don't want to be caught in traffic and to be there when the opening curtain rises.
As we read Mark during this Advent week - we are given a remarkable and sacred gift. We, like eyewitnesses in Luke's story, have gotten in on this (arche). We are getting ready now and anticipating and preparing for the coming of the Messiah. We have time now to get ready and enjoy the coming event.
And, if the truth be known - Christ is waiting for you and I also. He is waiting for us to journey with Him to His birth. Time stops, reverses on itself and ticks in Bethlehem again. Time whirrs past and leaps forward to the new beginning - the next advent of Christ - where beginning and end are one. Christ, the Alpha and Omega become one and bookend our lives (and time itself) shouting - "He's here" (in God-time) and we haven't missed a anything."
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