"Come, Lord Jesus."

Early Christians prayed these words often, and their spiritual descendents have continued to do so through the centures and in the present day. The prayer is particularly apt during the season of Advent, the time in which we attempt to prepare hearts and minds to celebrate the past, present and future Christ.

We prepare ourselves to remember the first coming of Jesus. We recount the stories of how God worked in history to prepare for the Incarnation, seeking to plant them deeply in our imagination and memory. There they become the lens, as it were, through which we view history itself. God's selection of Abraham and his descendants, their shared journey through the long centuries, the gradual shift in focus from an entire people to a particular family and one particular child--all take on meaning in light of God's determination to reconcile us to himself. When finally we arrive at the manger and the birth of Jesus, we see in the baby the very hope of the world.

We prepare ourselves to celebrate the ongoing coming of Jesus Christ through the combined witiness of Holy Spirit, the scriptures, the Lord's Supper, the life of prayer and the life of the people of God. Advent reminds us that the One who came to us still comes to us. We are never alone. The season also challenges us to make the phrase "We are the face, feet and hands of Jesus" more than pious rhetoric as we realize that others most often first experience the coming of Christ through out attitudes and actions.

We prepare ourselves to remember and anticipate the final coming of Christ, when God will bring history to a close and creates a "new heaven and earth." In spite of all the images of the new creation available in the scriptures, song, poetry and prose, we are incapable of imagining life in the new creation. We can, however, cultivate what some have called a "taste for the Kingdom" and, thus, begin to become the kind of persons who will want to live under the final Lordship of Christ.

Advent matters. Let's make the most of the season.