iCrucified

Advent: Remembering and Longing for Eden…

Remembering…pondering from beginning to end

(Genesis 1-2) God created the heavens and the earth and it was good. And God created human beings, man and woman, then He blessed them and said:

“Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground… See, I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life…” Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good! (Genesis 1:27-31)

It was good. It was right. It was perfect… God and man walking together in perfect unity, and it was very good. The tragedy is that we (mankind) weren’t satisfied with God’s very good. In our effort to improve His Creation (Genesis 3) we created a “fail” of epic proportion. While our nature and soul have been created with Divine and Eternal DNA (Genesis 1:27 and Ecclesiastes 3:11), we have been doomed to disease, deterioration, destruction, and death because of our disobedience and rebellion against God, our Creator-Sustainer. We have struggled…groaning laboriously for the day of reconciliation since we became outcasts and enemies of God. And so, we long for Eden…we long for true reconciliation; we long for the ultimate and eternal City of God, the New Jerusalem where God will live with and alongside man as Friend, Father, Savior, King, Creator, and Sustainer (Revelation 21:1-8). This is the hope looking forward.

Advent: Remembering and longing with repentance… Hope; looking forward (Isaiah 11:1-10)

“In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will really to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.” (Isaiah 11:10)

Joan Chittister writes in her book, The Liturgical Year:

“Advent, from the Latin, means “coming.” But Advent is not about one coming; it is about three comings. The great spiritual question the season poses for each of us is, which coming are you and I waiting for now? At this moment of our lives, at this present stage of our spiritual development, what we’re waiting for surely determines how we will wait for it… Advent asks the question, what is it for which you are spending your life? What is the star you are following now?”

I’ve shared some thoughts about a musical release from Phil Wickham that has really moved me in recent months. As I remember and long for my Savior’s return and His righting of all things, I am drawn even more to this song, Eden. I cannot imagine what Adam must have thought, how he must have felt after breaking union with God…remembering when the stars were young…meeting His Friend and Creator at the gates of Eden to play and converse with God about the mysteries of the universe. Yes, I long for ultimate reconciliation…I want to be naked and unashamed with my God…in Eden.